Summary: Miss X complained about how the Council dealt with her housing case. There were faults by the Council in how it dealt with Miss X’s housing register priority banding, its complaint handling, and its poor communication with her. This caused Miss X injustice. The Council will take action to remedy the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about how the Council dealt with her housing case. In particular, she complained about how the Council:

• incorrectly changed her housing register band from priority Band B1 to non‑priority Band C
• failed to inform her about the changes to her priority banding until April 2023 when she ranked as the first bidder for a property
• incorrectly withdrew her from the April 2023 property shortlist which she successfully bided for.

2. Miss X said the matter caused her distress and anxiety. She also said the matter has affected her and her daughter’s mental health and they continue to live in an overcrowded accommodation.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. 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)
5. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

Back to top

What I have and have not investigated

6. I have investigated the Council’s alleged failure in connection with the exercise of its administrative and statutory functions in relation to how it dealt with Miss X’s housing register banding.
7. I have exercised discretion to investigate matters from December 2021. This is because I needed to consider the whole period to carry out a meaningful investigation.
8. I have not investigated the Council’s decision to end its homelessness relief duty in December 2021. This is because Miss X could have exercised her review right and her appeal right to the county court if she was dissatisfied with the Council’s decision.

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

9. I have discussed the complaint with Miss X and considered the information she provided. I also considered the information the Council provided in response to my enquiries.
10. I sent Miss X and the Council a copy of my draft decision and considered all comments received before reaching a final decision.

Back to top

What I found

Legislation and Guidance

11. Every local housing authority must publish an allocation scheme that sets out how it prioritises applicants, and its procedures for allocating housing. All allocations must be made in strict accordance with the published scheme. (Housing Act 1996, section 166A(1) & (14))
12. The Ombudsman normally will not find fault with a council’s assessment of a housing applicant’s priority if it has carried this out in line with its published allocations scheme.
13. The Ombudsman recognises that the demand for social housing far outstrips the supply of properties in many areas. We normally will not find fault with a council for failing to re-house someone if it has prioritised applicants and allocated properties according to its published lettings scheme policy.

The Council’s Housing Allocation Scheme

Application Assessment and Awarding Priority

14. On registration of an application further action is usually required to assess a person’s needs, before deciding which band(s) an applicant is placed in, and the date of registration/priority that is awarded. An initial assessment will identify what referrals or investigations are required before any decisions are reached.

Bands and Priorities

15. The Housing list is divided into four Bands, A, B1, B2 (the priority bands) and C reflecting whether an applicant has reasonable preference or a local priority for housing and if so, how much.

• Band A is for applicants with reasonable preference because of unsatisfactory housing conditions, who the Council needs to house. Applicants in this band are shortlisted before all other bands and are considered in date order from when the priority was awarded.
• Bands B1 and B2 are for applicants with reasonable preference who the Council must prioritise for housing. Applicants in these bands are housed in date order from when the priority was awarded. Band B1 applicants will be shortlisted before Band B2.
• Band C is for all applicants on the housing register. Applicants in Band C do not attract any priority and will be housed in date order from the date their application was registered.

Reasonable Preference

16. Reasonable preference must be given to applicants:

• who are homeless within the meaning of Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 as amended by the Homelessness Act 2002 and Homelessness Reduction Act 2017
• occupying unsanitary or overcrowded housing or otherwise unsatisfactory housing conditions.

17. The Council’s scheme provides reasonable preference to the relevant applicants through the banding scheme. Most applicants with reasonable preference are placed in the ‘priority bands’ A, B1 and B2.

Severely Overcrowding

18. Only applicants with children will be considered under the severely overcrowded policy. Applicants who are severely overcrowded have reasonable preference and are placed in Band B1
19. Overcrowding is identified from information provided on the application form, and will be verified by home visit, or other investigation.

Direct Offers

20. When making direct offers the Council always tries to meet applicant’s preferences for the areas where they want to live, and for the sort of property they are interested in. However, in a borough where there is very high demand for social housing and a lot of priority needs to meet, applicants in Bands A, B1 and B2 are expected to consider a wide area of choice.

Key events

Background

21. Miss X has a child.
22. In 2021, due to a change in their circumstances, Miss X and her child moved in with relatives. The property they moved into was a three‑bedroom property. Miss X said a total of seven people lived in the property and it was overcrowded.
23. Miss X contacted the Council about her housing situation. The Council accepted the homelessness relief duty, and it awarded Miss X with a reasonable preference Band B1 for overcrowding.
24. In December 2021, the Council ended its homelessness relief duty because Miss X refused to accept a temporary accommodation offer. The Council issued Miss X with its discharge of duty notification letter. The letter did not confirm whether Miss X’s priority band remained as Band B1 or whether her housing register band had changed.

What happened

25. Miss X and her child continued to live with relatives in the three-bedroom property. She also continued to bid for properties using her priority Band B1.
26. In 2022, Miss X contacted the Council a couple of times about her housing situation. She explained she and her child continued to live in an overcrowded property. Miss X expressed her frustration and how the matter was affecting her and her child. The Council acknowledged Miss X’s frustration and said there was a high demand in housing but advised her to keep bidding for properties. It confirmed Miss X’s priority was Band B1 and she was eligible for a two-bedroom property.
27. In April 2023, Miss X bided for a property using her priority Band B1. Miss X was shortlisted as the first-place bidder for the property.
28. Miss X contacted the Council on several occasions about her property bid. The Council initially confirmed Miss X was successful with the bid, then it told her she was no longer successful for a viewing. The Council subsequently confirmed she was shortlisted and told Miss X it would send her an offer letter for the property.
29. When Miss X did not receive the offer letter, she contacted the Council again. The Council informed Miss X it had withdrawn her from the property shortlist. It explained it was because the Council had changed Miss X’s housing register to non-priority Band C when it ended its homelessness relief duty in December 2021. The Council apologised to Miss X for its miscommunication with her. It advised Miss X to continue bidding for properties using her non-priority Band C.
30. On 21 April 2023, Miss X made a formal complaint to the Council about how it had dealt with her housing case. She expressed her frustration about how the Council withdrew the April 2023 property offer and its failure to inform her it had changed her housing register to Band C since December 2021.
31. Miss X complained to the Ombudsman when she did not receive the Council’s response to her complaint. The Ombudsman contacted the Council about Miss X’s complaint.
32. In June and October 2023, the Council issued its stages 1 and 2 responses to Miss X’s complaint respectively. The Council acknowledged it made some errors on Miss X’s housing case. It said it failed to inform Miss X her housing register banding was changed to non-priority Band C in December 2021 when it sent her its discharge of duty letter. The Council said it also failed to cancel the priority Band B1 on her account at the time. It confirmed its staff gave Miss X some incorrect information when she successfully bided for a property in April 2023. The Council apologised to Miss X for the distress the matter caused to her and as a goodwill gesture it backdated Miss X’s registration date by three months.
33. The Council said it had since reminded all staff about their duties and for staff to ensure they always provide applicants with correct information. It also said it will conduct further staff training on Customer Services to improve its overall service delivery.
34. In response to our enquiries, the Council confirmed it:

• should have cancelled Miss X’s reasonable preference Band B1 in December 2021 when it ended its relief duty
• noticed its error in April 2023 when Miss X was shortlisted for a property under priority Band B1
• cancelled Miss X’s Band B1 priority in April 2023 and it notified her of the priority band cancellation
• backdated Miss X’s registration date by three months as a goodwill gesture for its error
• reinstated Miss X’s priority band to Band B1 and backdated it to November 2021 when she moved in with relatives because she lived in an overcrowded property
• agreed to make Miss X a direct offer because it acknowledged Miss X may have missed out on securing an accommodation due to its error.

35. The Council subsequently confirmed it had made a direct offer to Miss X.
36. Miss X said she had accepted the Council’s offer of a two-bedroom property, and she was waiting for the Council to confirm when she would move into the property.

Analysis

37. The Council accepted a homelessness relief duty and awarded Miss X with a priority Band B1 in 2021 when she lived in a severely overcrowded property.
38. I note the Council said it removed Miss X’s priority Band B1 in December 2021 when it ended its relief duty to her. It said it also failed to cancel the Band B1 and it failed to apply a non-priority Band C to her account at the same time. However, the crux of the matter is whether the Council properly assessed Miss X’s housing situation in line with its allocation scheme before it reached its decision to remove Miss X’s priority band.
39. The Council’s allocation scheme states applicants with children who live in severely overcrowded properties must have reasonable preference and are placed in Band B1.
40. Evidence shows that as of December 2021, Miss X and her child continued to live with relatives (a total of seven people) in a three‑bedroom property. According to the Council’s allocation scheme, this is classified as severely overcrowding, and Miss X should have remained in Band B1. There was no evidence to show how the Council assessed Miss X’s housing situation and how it reached its decision to remove her housing priority band in December 2021. This was fault. But I do not find the Council’s fault caused an injustice to Miss X. This is because Miss X remained on priority Band B1 and continued to bid for properties using the priority band until April 2023.
41. In April 2023, the Council cancelled Miss X’s Band B1 priority and withdrew its offer for the property Miss X successfully placed a bid for. These were faults. As stated above, the Council failed to properly assess Miss X’s ‘severely overcrowded’ housing situation in line with its allocation scheme. Also, the Housing Act 1996 requires councils to award ‘reasonable preference’ to certain applicants including those in overcrowded housing. Therefore, I find Miss X still qualified for the priority Band B1 in April 2023 when the Council withdrew her successful bid. As a result, Miss X lost out on the property, and she continued to live in unsuitable accommodation over a significant period. It also caused Miss X avoidable distress, disappointment, and frustration.
42. Furthermore, I find fault by the Council for giving Miss X conflicting information when she successfully placed a bid for a property in April 2023. The Council repeatedly assured Miss X it would offer her the property which it subsequently withdrew. This was fault. It caused raised expectations, confusion, uncertainty, frustration, and avoidable distress to Miss X.
43. As regard the Council’s complaint handling, it was at fault for its delay in responding to Miss X’s complaint. There was a 5-week delay and approximately 11 weeks delay with its stages 1 and 2 responses respectively. The Council also issued its response letters to Miss X following the Ombudsman’s involvement. This caused further distress and frustration to Miss X.
44. I note the Council has acknowledged its failings and it has taken some actions to remedy the injustice caused to Miss X. This includes a recent direct offer the Council made to Miss X. While these remedies are welcomed, I find they are not sufficient and proportionate to remedy the injustice caused to Miss X in line with our guidance on remedies. I will address this in the ‘agreed action’ section below.

Back to top

Agreed action

45. To remedy the injustice caused by the faults identified, the Council has agreed to complete the following within one month of the final decision:

• apologise in writing to Miss X to acknowledge the injustice caused to her by the Council’s failings as identified above. The apology should be in accordance with our guidance, Making an effective apology
• pay £1,500 to Miss X as a symbolic payment to acknowledge the period she continued to live in unsuitable accommodation. This remedy covers April 2023 to February 2024 at £150 a month (when she successfully placed a bid for a property until the Council made her a direct offer). The financial remedy was calculated in line with our guidance on remedies
• pay Miss X £100 financial remedy in recognition for the poor standard of service and poor communication provided to her
• by training or otherwise remind staff to properly reassess applicants’ housing priorities when they are no longer entitled to priority for homelessness in line with the Council’s allocation scheme
• remind relevant staff about the importance of issuing applicants with the Council’s decision letters to ensure they are notified of any updates and/or changes to their housing register bandings.

46. I note the service improvements the Council stated in its stage 1 response letter to Miss X’s complaint. Within one month of the final decision, provide the Ombudsman with evidence the Council has:

• reminded all staff about their duties and for staff to ensure they always provide applicants with correct information
• conducted further staff training on Customer Services to improve its overall service delivery.

47. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

Back to top

Final decision

48. I find evidence of fault leading to injustice. The Council has agreed to take action to remedy the injustice caused.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman