The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s response to Ms X’s reports that her temporary accommodation is unsafe. This is because past events fall outside our jurisdiction due to the passage of time and the Council has responded appropriately by offering to meet with Ms X to discuss her current concerns.
The complaint
Ms X complains the Council has failed to put her and her children in safe accommodation for two years. She says they are being abused and that she has sent countless police crime reference numbers to the Council showing they are not safe.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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) 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 or continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (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, including its response to the complaint.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The time restriction highlighted at paragraph 3 applies to earlier events. As Ms X could reasonably have complained to us about these past events sooner, we will not go back to investigate them now.
With regard to Ms X’s recent reports of being unsafe in her accommodation, the Council offered to meet with Ms X at her accommodation to discuss her current living conditions and the abuse she reported. Ms X refused the offer and the Council asked her to reconsider.
Ms X says the Council has not considered the many crime reference numbers she has given to it. The Council says its Temporary Accommodation Management Team has checked its records and cannot see any crime reference numbers. It is open to Ms X to provide any recent crime numbers she has. It is also open to her to take the Council up on its offer to progress its consideration of her case by meeting. As the Council’s offer is a reasonable one and there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation, we will not pursue the complaint further.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because past events fall outside our jurisdiction due to the passage of time and the Council has responded appropriately by offering to meet with Ms X to discuss her current concerns.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman