Summary: We have decided not to investigate this complaint about the Council wrongly sending a letter to Ms X’s home address after receiving a referral about domestic abuse. The Council has upheld the complaint and has agreed to remedy Ms X’s injustice by an effective apology and a payment of £500.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council wrote to her at the address where she was living with Mr Y, the perpetrator of domestic abuse. Mr Y saw the letter and Ms X said she suffered further domestic abuse as a result. Although she has since moved to alternative housing, Ms X says she still experiences anxiety when letters are sent to her.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

What happened

6. In 2022 the Council received a referral from the police about possible domestic abuse against Ms X. It wrote to Ms X at her home address with details of its Early Help service and other organisations she could contact for support. Although it was marked “Private & Confidential. To be opened by the addressee only”, the letter was opened by Mr Y, the perpetrator of domestic abuse, who was living at the same address as Ms X. Ms X says she suffered further domestic abuse as a result of Mr Y seeing the letter. She raised concerns with the Council by telephone in 2022 but did not pursue a formal complaint until 2024.
7. In its complaint response in 2024, accepted that based on the information it had it should not have sent the letter to Ms X’s home address. It apologised and said it had taken steps to improve its services.
8. Ms X said the domestic abuse increased markedly after Mr Y opened the Council’s letter. This led to a disclosure by one of their children in school, which led to enquiries by social services, causing Ms X to be worried her children would be removed. Ms X also said it meant she had to leave sooner than she had planned, which caused financial hardship. She said she felt the Council’s actions meant she had lost control of the situation and it took a long time for her to feel secure enough to pursue the complaint. She added that there was no follow-up from the Council in 2022 after she telephoned to raise concerns about the letter.

My assessment

9. We would usually expect people to complain to us within 12 months of the events they are complaining about. In this case, there are good reasons for the delay in coming to us because Ms X was not able to formally complain to the Council or to us until she had moved to a place of safety and felt strong enough to pursue the matter. She said it took longer for her to do this as a result of the impact of the Council’s action.
10. If we investigated this complaint it is likely we would find fault with the Council for sending the letter, given the information it had about Ms X’s circumstances, and the Council has accepted it should not have done so. This meant the risks to Ms X increased.
11. We asked the Council to consider taking action to remedy the injustice caused. To its credit, it has agreed to take the following action within one month of the date of the final decision:
• to make an effective apology, in line with our guidance on effective apologies;
• to pay Ms X £500; and to
• remind relevant staff dealing with reports of domestic abuse of the need to check whether an alleged perpetrator lives at the same address as the domestic abuse victim or whether there are other circumstances that indicate a letter should not be sent to the victim’s home address.

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Final decision

12. We have upheld this complaint because the Council agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Ms X

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman