Summary: We have upheld Miss X’s complaint because the Council did not consider her concerns about the suitability of temporary accommodation. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Miss X.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council placed her in unsuitable emergency housing, failed to review her case after 56 days and handled her complaints poorly, causing fear and distress.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
3. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement or
• it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal.
• (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

4. We will not usually investigate complaint handling if we are not investigating the rest of the complaint. This is because there is not usually enough injustice to justify us doing so. We collect information about particularly poor complaint handling practice and report this back to organisations. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34B(8))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

7. In January 2026 the Council accepted the main housing duty and offered Miss X temporary accommodation. It referred to her right to seek a review of suitability. I note if Miss X was unhappy with the outcome she then had a right to appeal.
8. In March Miss X escalated a service complaint and asked how to request a review of the suitability of her temporary accommodation as she felt it was unsafe.
9. If we were to investigate it is likely we would find fault causing Miss X injustice because the Council neither responded to Miss X’s query or treated this as a review request.
10. We therefore asked the Council to consider remedying the injustice caused by taking the following actions to resolve the complaint early:
• Provide Miss X with an apology,
• Treat Miss X’s 9 March 2026 concerns as a request for a review of the suitability of her accommodation and provide a decision. Following which;
• Should the Council decide the property is unsuitable it should consider providing a remedy to Miss X for leaving her in unsuitable accommodation in line with our Guidance on Remedies; and
• Should the Council decide the property is suitable it should refer Miss X to her appeal rights.
11. I note the Council did not have to complete any other review after 56 days; there is not enough evidence of fault on that point to justify an investigation. And it is not a proportionate use of our resources to investigate the Council’s complaint handling given any remaining injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

Back to top

Agreed action

12. To its credit the Council agreed to resolve the complaint and will complete the actions at paragraph 10 within one month of this final decision, to put things right.

Back to top

Final decision

13. We have upheld this complaint because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Miss X.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman