Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s delay in paying compensation for a delay in processing her homelessness application. The Council has made a payment of £500.00 in compensation in view of the distress and inconvenience caused by the delay. There is insufficient injustice arising from any delay in making the payment which would warrant further investigation.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about delay in processing a homelessness aplicaiton to the Council in 2025. It upheld her Stage 2 formal complaint in October 2025 and confirmed she would receive £500.00 in compensation as a remedy. She stated the Council then failed to implement its own decision. She wanted the Council to pay the compensation without further delay, and that she should be awarded additional compensation for the lack of communication and chasing which has caused stress, and frustration.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. Service failure can happen when an organisation fails to provide a service as it should have done because of circumstances outside its control. We do not need to show any blame, intent, flawed policy or process, or bad faith by an organisation to say service failure (fault) has occurred. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1), as amended)
3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Miss X complained to the Council in 2025 and it upheld her complaint at Stage 2 in October 2025 when it confirmed she would receive £500.00 in compensation. She stated that the Council acknowledged their fault but did not award the compensation offered.
7. The Council recognised the unsatisfactory communication experienced with a housing officer and confirmed she was offered a new housing officer. The evidence suggest the Council reminded all officers of the importance of prompt and meaningful communication with applicants.
8. In addition, the evidence suggests the Council confirmed she has been placed in Band 1B of the housing register in February 2025, and that she has successfully bid and been offered a social housing tenancy of a one-bedroom flat, suitable for her needs.
9. We made enquiries of the Council and it confirmed that the payment was made on 7 January 2026. The offer of the payment was made on 7 October 2025 and we would expect that 8 weeks was a reasonable time to complete the payment. Miss X made a complaint and it took an additional month to issue the payment.
10. Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
11. In this case the additional weeks’ delay in issuing the payment agreed did not cause sufficient injustice to warrant an investigation.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s delay in paying compensation for a delay in processing her homelessness application. The Council has made a payment of £500.00 in compensation in view of the distress and inconvenience caused by the delay. There is insufficient injustice arising from any delay in making the payment which would warrant further investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman