The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to award him additional points under its housing allocation scheme. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council has not awarded him the additional employment points he believes he is entitled to under its housing allocation scheme.
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)) If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X is registered on the Council’s homeless list and has been awarded points in accordance with his personal circumstances.
Under the Council’s housing allocation scheme, additional employment points are awarded to applicants who have been in continuous employment for at least two years, working a minimum of 16 hours per week.
Mr X contacted the Council in February 2024 to request these additional employment points. However, the Council determined that he did not meet the eligibility criteria because Mr X had been unable to provide evidence that he had been in continuous employment for two years.
I will not investigate this complaint further because there is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council made its decision. The Council considered relevant information provided in support of Mr X’s application and made its decision that he was ineligible for the additional points in line with its policy in place at the time.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman