Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Council’s unreasonable delay in refunding a credit on a man’s temporary accommodation rent account. This is because the Council has already offered a suitable remedy for the complaint.

How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information Mr B provided about his complaint and information from the Council. I also took account of the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. Mr B asked the Council to refund his rent credit around April 2023. But he had still not received the payment when he complained to us in August. We then referred Mr B’s complaint back to the Council to consider under its own complaints procedure. A few weeks later the Council repaid what it owed him.
5. Mr B was not happy with the Council’s response and asked it to consider his case again at the second stage of its complaints procedure.
6. In November the Council sent Mr B its final response. The Council apologised to him for taking five months to make the refund. It also offered him a further £75 in recognition of the impact of its delay. But Mr B remains unhappy about the Council’s final response and feels its financial offer is not enough.
7. It is clear the Council has been at fault because of its undue delay in paying Mr B back.
8. However, I consider the Council’s actions in making the refund and offering an extra payment to Mr B are a suitable and proportionate way of remedying the injustice it caused him. I am not convinced an investigation by us would find grounds to recommend a better remedy than this. Therefore, I do not see we can justify using our resources to pursue Mr B’s case any further.

Final decision

9. We do not have reason to start an investigation of Mr B’s complaint about the Council’s unreasonable delay in refunding a credit on his former temporary accommodation rent account. The Council has taken satisfactory action to put right what it did wrong.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman