The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the way the Council handled her request for rehousing for her adult children. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify our involvement.
The complaint
Ms X complained that she sought help from the Council for her adult children to be rehoused, but it did not communicate properly with her about it. She is also unhappy with its response to her complaint. As a result, her adult children are still living with her.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Ms X first sought help from the Council in 2023 as she wanted her adult children to be rehoused. She says she had trouble speaking to an officer and when she did they were not able to help her. She made a formal complaint in April 2024. In its complaint response the Council said that because of the age of the adult children they would need to make their own housing applications.
My assessment
Councils must allocate social housing in line with their published allocations scheme. This Council’s scheme says it does not count adults aged 21 and over as being part of a household. This means that adults of that age need to make their own applications for housing. The decision the Council has made is in line with its published scheme and it explained its reasons in its complaint responses.
Therefore, we will not consider this complaint further because there is insufficient evidence of fault to warrant our involvement.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman