Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council failing to provide him with appropriate housing grant support in 2022. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to investigate.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about not receiving appropriate housing grant support in connection with a grant in 2022. Mr X says he has been caused distress and discrimination due to his refugee status.
2. Mr X would like a review of his case, an apology and, if appropriate, the support he originally sought.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A (6), as amended)
4. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. Mr X has provided an email exchange with his housing support worker in 2022. This concerns a grant and references to funds he received to buy furniture. In the email the housing support worker refuses to name the organisation they have applied to for a grant for Mr X.
8. The Council has declined to investigate saying the events in question occurred too long ago.
9. Mr X has told us he could not raise his complaint to us until recently as he only became aware of key facts recently.
10. We will not investigate. Mr X’s complaint is caught by the time bar on the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. We can investigate if there are good reasons, but I do not consider there are any. This is because Mr X could have contacted us within time, given the emails show he was aware of the matters he is now raising to us, instead of allowing three years to elapse. He could also have asked a third party, who he refers to in his 2022 email, to raise a complaint to us if he was unable to do so.
11. Further, if Mr X is saying a recently diagnosed health condition is attributable to matters occurring in 2022, this does not represent a good reason for our purposes. The Ombudsman’s looks at administrative fault, and we would not be able to attribute a health condition to any fault by the Council. That would be a matter for the courts.
12. It follows that where we are not investigating the substantive matter, we will not look at a complaint about the Council’s handling of the complaint. It is not a good use of public funds to investigate concerns about complaint procedures if we are not investigating the underlying complaint.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late and there are no good reasons to investigate.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman