The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of Mrs X’s housing application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation. We will not exercise discretion to consider her earlier housing assessments from 2013 to 2021. This was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Mrs X could not have complained to us sooner .
The complaint
Mrs X complained about the Council’s assessment of her housing transfer application. She says she should have been given medical priority before 2021 and that the Council should give her higher consideration for bungalows in her area of choice.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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) We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended) The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mrs X complained about the Council’s assessment of her transfer application. She lives in a bungalow owned by the council and wants to transfer to a property closer to relatives who can offer support for her needs. She applied for a transfer and was assessed in 2013 for medical needs. The assessment did not give her medical priority. She was re-assessed in 2014 and 2017 when some medical needs identified in accordance with the Council’s housing allocation policy.
Mrs X believes she should have been given medical priority earlier. We cannot consider this now. The Council says her conditions had deteriorated over time and that it will not compare her earlier assessments with her medical needs now. It was reasonable for Mrs X to ask for a review and to complain to us at the time if she believed there was a fault in the procedure.
The Council says her current accommodation situation and medical needs are insufficient to give her the most urgent medical priority because this is reserved for applicants with significant needs to move. It says there have been vacancies of other bungalows from 2020 which she could have made bids on but she decided that they were unsuitable for a variety of reasons.
We will not uphold a complaint if the council has followed proper procedures, relevant legislation and guidance and taken account of all the information provided, even if the applicant believes that the council should have given more priority to the application to move. It may be the case that, although they need to move urgently, there are other applicants who have an even greater need.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of Mrs X’s housing application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation. We will not exercise discretion to consider her earlier housing assessments from 2013 to 2021. This was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Mrs X could not have complained to us sooner
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman