The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of its housing register. This is because parts of the complaint are late, there is insufficient evidence of fault to investigate how it decided the priority to award to justify our involvement, and it has already made an appropriate offer to remedy the failings it accepted during the complaints process.
The complaint
Mr X complained about the Council’s handling of his housing register application. He says his current housing is negatively affecting his mental health and he wants urgent rehousing.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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 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 continue 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, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X complained he was wrongly advised when he turned down a property in 2020. He complained to us in February 2024, which is more than 12 months after the advice complained about. The complaint is late. There is no evidence to suggest he could not have complained to us sooner. There is, therefore, no good reason for exercising our discretion to investigate now. In any case, it is unlikely we could achieve a worthwhile outcome, given the lapse of time since the events complained about.
The demand for social housing far outstrips the supply of properties in many areas. To manage the demand, every local housing authority must publish an allocations scheme that sets out how it prioritises applicants, and its procedures for allocating housing. Most councils operate a housing register, which records the details of those waiting for housing. All housing allocations must be made in strict accordance with the published scheme. (Housing Act 1996, section 166A(1) & (14)) This Council revised its allocations policy in 2020 and all existing applicants on its housing register had to reapply. Mr X was told he needed to do this in September 2021 and did so in October. A few days later, the Council told him there would be a delay in considering his application due to the number of applications it was dealing with. The Council asked Mr X for further information in April 2022, which Mr X provided the next day. It made a decision in June 2022.
The Council provided a copy of a complaint received in June 2022, in which Mr X said he was unhappy the Council had not included an adult child on his application. The record said he was given advice about the evidence needed for the Council to consider this. Mr X provided further evidence, which the Council considered. It decided, in July 2022, that the adult child should be included, which meant Mr X needed a property with two bedrooms instead of one. However, Mr X remained in the silver band on the housing register. With its decision, the Council set out Mr X’s right to ask for a review of its decision within 21 days. The Council said it did not receive a request for a review.
In its complaint response in August 2023, the Council accepted there was a delay in making a decision following Mr X’s application in October 2021, and said it would ensure in future that it assigns sufficient resources to process applications in a timely manner if major changes are made in future.
Also, in its complaint response, the Council accepted it had not responded to all Mr X’s communications about his housing register application, there were initially some inaccuracies in its record but these were corrected when it became aware of them, and that it had failed to respond to complaints Mr X had made. It offered to pay Mr X £250 to remedy the injustice caused. This sum is appropriate to remedy the frustration, uncertainty and avoidable time and trouble caused to Mr X, and it is in line with our Guidance on remedies, available on our website. We will not consider these parts of the complaint further because we could not add to the Council’s investigation.
Mr X remained unhappy with the priority band. The Council carried out an informal review of his application but confirmed, in October 2023, that the priority band was correct.
Mr X’s complaint about the decision in July 2022 is late. Whilst I can see he was emailing the Council about this in 2023 and early 2024, I have not seen evidence he could not have complained to us sooner.
In any case, the Ombudsman is not an appeal body, and it is not our role to say whether the decision was correct. Mr X told the Council he needed two bedrooms, which the Council accepted. It awarded silver band priority on the basis he was short of one bedroom, which is in line with its allocations policy. There is insufficient evidence of fault in the way the Council made its decision about the priority band to justify our involvement and we cannot achieve the outcome Mr X wants. Therefore, we will not investigate this complaint further.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because parts of the complaint are late, there is insufficient evidence of fault in the way it decided the priority to award to justify our involvement, and the Council has already made a suitable offer to remedy the failings it identified during its complaints process.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman