Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council has failed to arrange for a grant for repairs to the complainants property. This is because some events happened too long ago and we cannot achieve the outcome she seeks.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will call Ms X, complains that the Council have refused to award her a grant for repairs to her property. She says that in 2001 she was eligible for the grant, but that the work could not go ahead because of problems with street sex workers operating in the area. She says she would now like the Council to issue the grant, but the Council are refusing to do so.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

3. 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

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. I will not investigate matters relating to Ms X’s original application for a grant, or any delay in issuing the grant and completing the work to her property. This is because these events happened more than 20 years ago, and I see no reason why she could not have complained sooner about these.
7. I will not investigate matters relating to how the Council dealt with the issue of street sex workers. This is because this matter has already been considered by the Ombudsman and we cannot accept repeat complaints about the same matter.
8. Finally, I will not investigate Ms X’s complaint that the Council has recently refused to issue her a grant for the repairs. The Council explained to Ms X, that in 2005, the grant that she wants was replaced with home improvement loans. The Council told Ms X how she could apply for one of these loans. The Ombudsman cannot achieve the outcome Ms X seeks because the grant is no longer available and I see no evidence of fault in how the Council corresponded with Ms X about the matter.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because some events happened too long ago and we cannot achieve the outcome she seeks.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman