Poor complaint handling after an execution of a search warrant

What happened

The Home Office entered Miss D's house with a search warrant in late spring 2011 while she was away. Her two lodgers were at home and one of them was arrested for immigration offences. The door to Miss D's bedroom was locked and the Home Office broke it down to gain entry. On her return home in summer 2011, Miss D had trouble finding out who she should contact about compensation for the damage caused. She sent her claim to the Home Office in late summer 2011 but despite chasing matters by telephone and visiting offices, she did not receive a response until autumn 2012 when the Home Office told her that she was not due any compensation because staff had had a search warrant.

Miss D sought advice from various organisations including her MP, who contacted the Home Office about her case. In winter 2013 the Home Office wrote to Miss D to say that it had reviewed the case and had decided that no compensation was due.

What we found

We partly upheld this complaint. Because the Home Office had entered Miss D's house with a valid search warrant, no compensation was due for the damage caused.

However, the Home Office had left very poor information for Miss D about who to contact about the raid. She was put to considerable trouble and inconvenience in trying to find out if she could claim compensation and who to send her claim to. The Home Office then handled her case very poorly: it misled her into believing that she would be compensated and took far too long to respond to her claim. All this caused Miss D inconvenience and stress, and aggravated her health problems.

Putting it right

The Home Office wrote to Miss D to apologise for its poor handling of her case and paid her £500 for the inconvenience and distress caused.