The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with Ms X’s application for a Discretionary Housing Payment. This is because we would not achieve a worthwhile outcome by doing so.
The complaint
Ms X complains the Council’s communications with her about her Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) application caused confusion, financial difficulties and emotional distress.
She would like an investigation and suitable redress.
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 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 made an application for DHP to the Council.
The Council agreed to prioritise her application, but when it contacted Ms X to tell her this, the Council was unclear, and Ms X believed the letter to mean her application had been approved.
When the Council made its decision not to award the payment to Ms X, she was understandably shocked by this and complained to the Council.
The Council reviewed the matter and agreed it had been unclear in its communication with Ms X.
The Council explained what had happened, acknowledged that it should have been more specific and apologised for the confusion it caused.
The Council reviewed the decision and confirmed the decision not to award DHP was correct.
The Council has reviewed what happened and provided an explanation and an apology. It is not likely that we would achieve anything more than this if we were to investigate further.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because we would not achieve a worthwhile outcome by doing so.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman