The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Ms X’s housing. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify further investigation and we cannot achieve the outcome Ms X wants.
The complaint
Ms X complains her housing officer wrongly referred her to children’s services and wants the officer to have their employment terminated. Ms X said the officer’s actions have caused her significant distress.
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 not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (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
When Ms X said she could not accept an offer of accommodation made to her by the Council, the Council’s housing department made a referral to children’s services. The Council attempted to contact Ms X several times unsuccessfully regarding the accommodation offer before it made the referral. When Ms X complained, it explained it was its policy to do this when a household with children were at risk of becoming homeless.
The Council still made Ms X a further offer of accommodation, rather than ending its homelessness duty. It also offered support to help Ms X move.
Councils have a duty to safeguard children’s welfare including where they are at risk of becoming homeless. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to justify further investigation and so we will not investigate Ms X’s complaint.
In any case, we also cannot achieve the outcome Ms X wants. Ms X wants the officer who made the referral to have their employment terminated. Ombudsman findings are against the Council or specific service. We do not identify individual officer failures or recommend sanctions in this way. Personnel and disciplinary matters are for the Council as the employer to decide.
I note there were complaint handling delays in this case. However we will not investigate this further, as these delays did not cause a significant enough injustice to the complainant. When the Council did carry out its complaint investigations these were sufficiently detailed, did not find fault and Ms X received the support we would expect from her housing service while awaiting the outcome of these complaints. Ms X has not been caused enough injustice by these delays to warrant further investigation.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to warrant further investigation and we cannot achieve the outcome Ms X wants.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman