The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the support provided by the Council’s homelessness service. The Council has since ended its housing duty to Ms X and if she disagrees with this decision, she has a right of review. An investigation would not lead to a different outcome or achieve anything more.
The complaint
Ms X complains about a lack of support from the Council’s homelessness service and that it did not offer her accommodation when she became homeless. She says this has caused anxiety and affected her mental health.
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: further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal; or 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 the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Ms X approached the Council for support to prevent her from becoming homeless. The Council accepted it had a housing duty to her, first to prevent her homelessness and later to relieve it. However, it decided it would not provide her with interim accommodation, as she did have somewhere to stay.
Since bringing her complaint to us, Ms X has told the Council she no longer wants housing support and asked the Council to close her case. In line with her request, the Council ended its homelessness duty to her. It told her she could request a review of this decision, if she did not agree with it.
We will not investigate this complaint. In line with Ms X’s request, the Council has ended its homelessness duty to Ms X. If Ms X disagreed with this decision, she had a right to request a review. As the Council is no longer providing housing support to Ms X, an investigation by us is unlikely to lead to a worthwhile outcome or achieve anything more.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because she has a right of review against the Council’s decision to end its homelessness duty and an investigation is unlikely to lead to a worthwhile outcome or achieve anything more.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman