The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the complainant’s need for a larger home. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I refer to as Ms X, says her home is too small. She wants the Council to visit to assess her situation.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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 an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council. This includes Ms X’s housing application, the housing decision and the allocations policy. I also considered our Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council places people in bands on the housing register to help it determine priority for housing; band one is the top band. People bid for housing and the Council offers the property to the person with the highest priority who has placed a bid.
The policy says people who lack three or more bedrooms qualify for band one. People who need another two bedrooms qualify for band two.
Ms X lives in a one bedroom flat with her husband and three children. All her children are under the age of five. Ms X is in band two on the housing register because she needs a three bedroom home.
I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The Council accepts Ms X is living in overcrowded conditions which is why it placed her in band two. There is no need for it to visit because it has enough information to determine that Ms X needs another two bedrooms and qualifies for band two. A visit would not change the outcome because Ms X does not qualify for band one. And, Ms X will only be offered a home if she makes a successful bid; a visit could not change that and would not result in Ms X being re-housed outside of the bidding process.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman