Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s delay in responding to Ms X’s request for disabled adaptations. The Council has upheld the complaint and agreed to apologise and make a payment to recognise the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council has delayed making disabled adaptations since 2020. In particular that:
1. the Council said her laundry facilities were unsafe in 2020 but has not taken action to rectify this; and
2. she had applied for a disabled facilities grant (DFG) for the installation of a level access shower and downstairs toilet, but the Council had not yet carried out an occupational therapy (OT) assessment.
2. Ms X said that she could not access her bath so was having to shower in other people’s houses or at the local gym.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
5. We cannot investigate complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended)
6. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. Ms X is a tenant in a Council owned property, which is a listed building.
10. She complained to us in March 2024 about events from 2020. We usually expect people to complain to us within 12 months of the events they are complaining about. I have seen no evidence that Ms X could not have complained to us sooner so there is no good reason to consider investigating the period before March 2023.
11. In any case, it appears the issues complained about prior to June 2023 are not related to Ms X’s disability needs. We cannot investigate complaints about disrepair in Council properties because these would be addressed by the Council in its capacity as social landlord. We cannot investigate complaints about the management of social housing.
12. In June 2023, Ms X said she needed a shower as she could not manage the bath in her property. She said she understood this could be covered by a disabled facilities grant (DFG). The Council aid it wrote to her to say she would need to attend a face-to-face assessment. It is unclear whether Ms X received that letter as in December 2024 she complained, amongst other things, that she had not had any feedback from her DFG application. There was a delay in the Council responding to her letter because it was not sent on to the relevant team until March 2024. Council records do not show any action to consider the request for a shower between June 2023 and April 2024.
13. In June 2024, the Council confirmed Ms X would need a home assessment by an occupational therapist (OT) and this was completed in early July. The OT recommended the Council consider whether a level access shower was feasible, given it was a grade 2 listed property. The Council asked a contractor to consider the proposed works and the works were due to be completed in October 2024, but this did not go ahead as Ms X raised concerns about how the bathroom would look after the shower was installed. She also said she needed a high-pressure shower, which was not part of the original recommendation. The Council told me it was waiting for medical evidence from Ms X to show a high-pressure shower was a requirement to meet her disability needs.
14. Although Ms X is a Council tenant, and the funding of disabled adaptations would come from a different budget, she was still entitled to ask for a DFG and she expressed her request in those terms. In any case, the lack of action complained about was by the Council’s adult social care team in assessing her disability needs, rather than the housing management team. On that basis, if we investigated this complaint, it is likely we would find fault with the Council for not progressing the request for a DFG to install a shower between June 2023 and April 2024. This caused an injustice to Ms X because she was not able to shower at home during that period. We therefore asked the Council to remedy the injustice and it has agreed to carry out the following action within one month of the date of this decision:
• apologise to Ms X for its failure to progress the request between June 2023 and April 2024. When making its apology, the Council will have regard to our guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively; and
• pay her £1,000 to recognise the injustice caused.
15. The Council progressed the request without undue delay from April to December 2024.

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Final decision

16. We have upheld Ms X’s complaint about a delay in responding to a request for disabled adaptations because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman