Mr and Mrs A complained about the action taken by the Council regarding their housing situation and the way it handled their complaint.
The Ombudsman found that the Council had provided a reasonable response to address the concerns raised by Mr and Mrs A about housing allocations, the provision of temporary accommodation and matters relating to storage and removals costs. However, it had not provided a full response to their concerns about the action taken by the Council regarding housing benefit and rent arrears. In addition, Mr and Mrs A had not received a response to concerns raised about complaint handling by the Council.
The Ombudsman sought and gained the Council’s agreement to provide Mr and Mrs A with a response to their complaint about matters relating to housing benefit and rent arrears. It also agreed to review the relevant complaint handling processes to learn from the issues experienced in this case and provide Mr and Mrs A with an explanation and apology for the handling of the complaint. The Council agreed to complete these actions within 4 weeks.