Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s administration of the ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme. Mr X has filed a claim at court against the Council and therefore his complaint is out of our jurisdiction.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has not followed government guidance for the ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme. He says the Council has failed to pay him money for hosting under the scheme.
2. Mr X also disputes the Council’s decision to remove him as a host. He says the Councils actions have impacted his standing in the community and caused him financial difficulty.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect 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 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. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. The courts have said that where someone has sought a remedy by way of proceedings in any court of law, we cannot investigate. This is the case even if the appeal did not or could not provide a complete remedy for all the injustice claimed. (R v The Commissioner for Local Administration ex parte PH (1999) EHCA Civ 916)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

8. Mr X hosted guests under the Council’s Homes for Ukraine scheme until February 2025. He was entitled to host payments of £350 per month under the scheme.
9. The Council’s scheme notes “where guests move out before the full 12-month period, the sponsor is eligible to claim the monthly payment if the guest has lived in their accommodation for at least half of the month of departure”.
10. The Council has provided evidence to show it made payments to Mr X until late 2024, however Mr X says it failed to pay him for December 2024, January 2025 and February 2025.
11. The Council says it removed Mr X as a host and did not initially consider he qualified for payment for the disputed period. However, it later agreed to pay him £700 for December 2024 and January 2025.
12. Mr X says he returned the money to the Council and filed a money claim at County Court in relation to payments owed. As such, his complaint falls outside of our jurisdiction. Paragraph 3 of this decision statement applies.
13. Mr X also disagrees with the Council’s decision to remove him as a host from the scheme. But the Council’s decision is one it was entitled to make and I have seen no evidence of fault in the way it was reached. The Council accepts it did not clearly notify Mr X of its decision but it has apologised for this and it is unlikely further investigation would achieve significantly more as we have no power to overturn the Council’s decision.

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Final decision

14. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because he has sought remedy by way of court action. There is not enough evidence of fault in the way the Council reached its decision to remove Mr X as a host to investigate this issue further.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman