The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council not backdating a discretionary housing payment. This is because the Council has now agreed to backdate the payment.
The complaint
Mr X complained to us that the Council had refused to backdate an award of discretionary housing payment (DHP). He said this caused financial difficulty.
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)
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 Mr X contacted us, the Council had awarded a new DHP but had not agreed to backdate it to cover a period when Mr X had not received any DHP (1 October 2021 to 30 April 2022). Mr X told us he wanted the Council to backdate the DHP. The Council has now decided to pay backdated DHP covering that period.
As the Council has now done what Mr X wanted, it would be disproportionate to pursue this complaint further. Investigation would be unlikely to achieve significantly more than the Council has already done.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the Council has now done what he wanted.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman