The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to process a homelessness application in 2024. There is insufficient evidence of fault on the Council’s part which would warrant an investigation.
The complaint
Mr X complained about the Council’s failure to deal with his homelessness application following a referral to it by a neighbouring authority. He says no authority has processed his application and he remains homeless as a result.
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, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, 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
Mr X says the Council did not process a homeless application which he submitted in 2024. He says he was released from prison in April 2025 and that the Council has failed to provide him with housing leaving him in accommodation provided by the home office and vulnerable to criminal exploitation.
The Council says that he approached a neighbouring Council in April and it told him he had been referred to Kingston upon Thames because he had submitted an application to that authority previously. The Council says no such application or referral was received in December 2024 and that the neighbouring council should have accepted its duty to process and investigate his homelessness as the initial contact authority.
Mr X has not provided any evidence of a prior homelessness application in 2024. If the Council had not received an application before he approached the neighbouring authority we cannot say that it had initial homelessness responsibility.
Mr X also raised a complaint about matters relating to his wife’s application for housing and benefits under fraudulent claims in 2020. These matters are outside the normal 12 months period for receiving complaints. However, from documents he has submitted, the complaint would appear also to relate to the neighbouring authority whom he names in the documents.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to process a homelessness application in 2024. There is insufficient evidence of fault on the Council’s part which would warrant an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman