The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application. There is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council which would warrant an investigation.
The complaint
Miss X complains about the Council’s assessment of her housing application and subsequent banding allocation. Miss X says that the Council has not fully considered her family’s circumstances and has not followed its own policy.
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.)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Council’s housing allocations policy and accompanying guidance.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Miss X lives with her family in a two-bedroom home. The Council has awarded her a status of three-bedroom need and allocated a certain priority banding grade (‘silver’) for allocation of a three-bedroom home.
Miss X says that she should be allocated a higher-priority banding grade (‘gold’) due to significant medical need.
The Council has exercised discretion in line with the option within its published allocations scheme to move Miss X to the silver band, and the allocations criteria were correctly applied. That Miss X considers her needs to be exceptional is not evidence of fault by the Council. The Council has reached a view it is entitled to reach after considering the relevant information.
The Ombudsman is not an appeals body. This means we do not review a council’s decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes councils follow to make a decision. If we consider processes are correctly followed, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether someone disagrees with the decision outcome.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence if fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman