London Borough of Lambeth

The Ombudsman's final decision

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council considered Ms X’s medical needs. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

The complaint

Ms X complains the Council has not properly considered medical evidence when deciding her housing need. Ms X says this has prevented her from accessing safe or suitable housing, which she says puts her and her baby at risk. She says this has caused depression and worsened physical symptoms. Ms X would like the Council to reassess her need and increase her banding.

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

The Council considered Ms X’s medical evidence, explained why it would not increase her medical priority and explained what information she needed to provide if she wanted her medical priority to change.

The Ombudsman cannot question whether a Council’s decision is right or wrong simply because a complainant disagrees with it, unless there is evidence of fault. Here, the Council took Ms X’s individual circumstances into account and made a decision that was in line with its policy. Therefore, we will not investigate this complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault in the way the Council reached its decision.

Final decision

We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman