London Borough of Lewisham

The Ombudsman's final decision

Summary: We have upheld Miss X’s complaint because the Council delayed considering this under the statutory children’s complaints process. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Miss X.

The complaint

Miss X complains the Council left her in an unsuitable property and has not given her a high enough priority for bidding on the housing register given she is a care leaver and pregnant. She also complains the Council has delayed addressing her complaint.

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended) Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

How I considered this complaint

I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.

I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

My assessment

We expect councils to complete the statutory children’s complaints process before we will consider a complaint.

If we were to investigate it is likely we would find fault causing Miss X injustice because the Council has delayed considering this complaint at stage three of the statutory children’s complaints process.

We therefore asked the Council to consider remedying the injustice caused by its actions by taking the following actions to resolve the complaint early: hold a stage three panel within 30 working days of this decision and complete stage 3 within the statutory timescales, tell Miss X she can complain to the Ombudsman after completing stage three, and within one month of this decision, pay Miss X £100 for distress, caused by avoidable delay.

Agreed action

To its credit the Council agreed to resolve the complaint and will complete the actions at paragraph 8, put things right.

Final decision

We have upheld this complaint because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Miss X.

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman