The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a homelessness application he made in 2016 because there is no worthwhile outcome we could achieve, given the lapse of time.
The complaint
Mr X complained the Council failed to respond to his homelessness application in 2016 within 33 days and failed to arrange suitable interim accommodation for him.
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 or continue an investigation if we decide there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X complained about a homelessness application he made to the Council in 2016 and provided evidence he complained to us about it at that time. We no longer hold records of complaints made in 2016 so I cannot say how we responded at that time and whether we investigated the complaint. It is also unlikely the Council will still have sufficient records to clarify what did or did not happen in 2016. We will not investigate now because there is no worthwhile outcome we could achieve given the lapse of time.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no worthwhile outcome we could achieve by doing so.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman