Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of Ms X’s application to the Household Support Fund. There was no fault in the Council refusing the January 2023 application on the grounds that it was fewer than 12 months since Ms X’s previous award. It would be disproportionate to investigate the concerns about the Council’s communications and complaint-handling in isolation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council: gave her contradictory advice about the timescale for applying to the Household Support Fund (HSF): delayed communicating with her; and did not recognise she is vulnerable due to having disabilities and increasing costs. She says this caused stress and financial worry.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Government created the HSF to help with the rising cost of living. Each Council can decide how to use the HSF in its own area, subject to broad government guidance. Government guidance at the time relevant to this complaint did not state how often a person could receive help from the HSF, so each Council appeared to have discretion to decide that.
6. Ms X received an HSF award from the Council in July 2022. In August 2022 the Council told Ms X she was only entitled to apply once every six months. That was in line with the Council’s policy at the time. So I do not fault that advice.
7. In October 2022, the Council changed its policy so people could only receive help once every 12 months.
8. In January 2023, six months after her last award, Ms X reapplied. The Council refused her application because it was fewer than 12 months since the previous award. That was in line with the new policy, so I do not fault that refusal.
9. The Council was entitled to change its policy. In the circumstances, it is not the Ombudsman’s role to go behind that decision and question the Council’s reasoning.
10. It is unfortunate that Ms X, in good faith, made an application in January 2023 that had no prospect of success. However, that was not due to any fault by the Council. The different advice in August and January was because the policy had changed in the meantime. When the Council changed the policy, we would not expect it to contact everyone who might be affected by the changed timescale.
11. Ms X would also like the Council to make HSF payments for a broader range of costs than it has covered in the past. I do not need to consider that point because the Council refused Ms X’s January 2023 application just because of the timing, not because of the application’s contents. Also, councils can only use HSF money for the purposes set out in the government guidance.
12. Ms X is also unhappy with how long the Council took to communicate with her about her application and about her formal complaint. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, or about communications, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

Final decision

13. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there was no fault in the Council refusing the January 2023 application. In that context, the content of that application and the question of what costs the Council should use the HSF to cover are not relevant to my decision. It would be disproportionate to investigate the Council’s communications and complaint-handling in isolation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman