PSOW Individual Decisions

Miss A was dissatisfied with the handling of her complaint that Welsh Government’s Nest Scheme failed to register her boiler when it was installed. Miss A had to chase a response to her emails, and she said that her telephone calls were never returned. The Ombudsman decided that unreasonable delays had occurred in replying to Miss A’s correspondence, and her concerns had not been investigated or responded to as a formal complaint. The Ombudsman decided to settle the complaint without an investigation. The Ombudsman sought and gained Welsh Government’s agreement within 2 weeks, to offer Miss A an apology, and to investigate her concerns, remedying any issues identified.

Mr A had complained about the way that Nest had unreasonably withdrawn his application for a replacement boiler to be installed at his property under the Welsh Government – Warm Homes Nest Scheme. Nest had initially informed Mr A that he was eligible for a replacement boiler under the Scheme in late 2023. However, it then withdrew the offer as Mr A lived in a Conservation Area. Nest believed that planning permission would be required for the work and that there would be insufficient time for it to obtain planning consent and to undertake the work before the Scheme closed at the end of March 2024. When Mr A complained about this matter, contact was made with the Local Planning Authority which promptly advised that planning permission was not required; the work could be done under Permitted Development rules. The Ombudsman was of the view that Nest had failed to properly establish whether planning permission was, in fact, required before closing Mr A’s application. That resulted in it being necessary for Mr A to purchase and pay for the installation of a boiler himself, which was an injustice. Instead of investigating this complaint, the Ombudsman obtained Nest’s agreement to, within 1 month, apologise to Mr A and reimburse him for the cost of buying and installing a replacement boiler. Nest also agreed to, within 3 months, undertake a review to ensure that no other applicants were disadvantaged in the same way.