The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about being advised by a housing officer to enter a fake national insurance number in her housing register account. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault and injustice.
The complaint
Ms X complains about the Council’s handling of her homeless application. She says she was advised by a housing officer to enter a fake national insurance number in her housing register account.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate 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 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.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council opened a homeless case for Ms X in April 2023. Ms X’s adult daughter was also part of her application. Four days later, the Council said Ms X withdrew her application as she did not want to live in the area as she felt it was unsafe. She approached another council, but that council decided she did not have a local connection to the area.
In May 2023, the Council was asked by Ms X’s solicitor to reopen her homeless application to allow the case to be referred to them. The Council reopened Ms X’s case and accepted the relief duty.
The Council also accepted the duty to provide interim accommodation. Accommodation was provided at a hotel, and later at a self-contained bed and breakfast.
Bed and breakfast accommodation is unsuitable for households with ‘family commitments’. The Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) Order 2003 defines this as a household that includes a dependent child or pregnant woman. While Ms X’s daughter was part of her household, her daughter was legally an adult at the time. Therefore, an investigation is not justified as we are not likely to find fault as there is insufficient evidence to suggest bed and breakfast accommodation was unsuitable for Ms X and her household.
In June 2023, the Council accepted the main housing duty.
Ms X complained about the Council asking her to use a fake or temporary national insurance number in her housing application for her daughter. The Council explained the reason they asked her to do this was to allow the housing association to consider her for a property. The Council said that she would not be considered unless her housing application was updated, and that the system would not allow her to proceed without inputting a national insurance number for her daughter.
The Council also said that as Ms X was in the process of obtaining a national insurance number for her daughter, her application would have been updated with the correct number once received.
An investigation is not justified as we are not likely to find fault. This is because the Council had clearly explained to Ms X the reason for entering a temporary holding national insurance number was to allow Ms X’s application for housing to be considered by the housing association. It is also clear the intention was to update the housing application with the correct number once Ms X received it.
In any case, Ms X declined to input a temporary number and there is no evidence the Council penalised Ms X for this. Therefore, I cannot see that the alleged fault caused Ms X any significant injustice.
The Council discharged the main housing duty in November 2023 as it said Ms X had refused a third offer of a suitable property. If Ms X considered the property offered to her was unsuitable, she had the right to request a suitability review. Therefore, an investigation is not warranted as it was reasonable for her to have used her right of review.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault and injustice. In addition, it was reasonable for Ms X to have used her right of review.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman