London Borough of Newham (24 011 954)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council delaying making a payment. The Council has now made the payment. We cannot usefully achieve more.
The complaint
- Miss X complained the Council had offered to pay her £300 to resolve a complaint, but then failed to pay her.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council offered Miss X £300 for its delay dealing with disrepair at her temporary accommodation. It requested Miss X’s bank account details so it could pay her. Miss X promptly accepted the offer and gave the Council her bank details. Sixteen weeks later Miss X still had not received the payment, despite chasing the Council, so she complained to us. Soon after that, before we started considering the complaint, the Council paid Miss X £350, which was the £300 originally offered plus £50 to recognise the extra delay. Miss X told me she considers the £350 payment has resolved her complaint.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. The matter is now resolved. We could not achieve anything significant by investigating.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman