Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision that the complainant does not qualify for band A on the housing register. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mrs X, disagrees with the Council’s decision that she does not qualify for band A on the housing register. She says there is a category one hazard for crowding and space and she qualifies for band A.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I read the complaint and the Council’s response. I considered information about the room sizes and how the law defines overcrowding. I also considered the current allocations policy and the 2013 allocations policy. I took into account comments Mrs X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

Back to top

What I found

Allocations policy - 2018

4. The current policy says people qualify for band A on the housing register if they are overcrowded as defined by the 1985 Housing Act. Under this Act, a household is overcrowded if there is a breach of the room standard or the space standard. For the room standard, children under ten are disregarded. For the space standard children under ten count as half a person. In both cases the living room counts as a room that can be used for sleeping.
5. The Housing Act 2004 counts every person as a full person and disregards living rooms. The Housing Act 2004 can find there is a hazard linked to overcrowding and a lack of space. The 2013 allocations policy, which is no longer in force, said that people qualified for band A if their home had a category one hazard as defined by the 2004 Housing Act.

What happened

6. Mrs X lives with the husband and two children. Both children are under ten years of age. They live in a one bedroom flat. Mrs X joined the housing register in 2015 and is in band B.
7. In 2019 Mrs X asked the Council to review the banding. She said they were statutorily overcrowded and qualify for band A. The Council measured the rooms. The outcome was that the family is not overcrowded in terms of the 1985 Housing Act but there is a category one hazard for a crowding and space. The Council explained that, under the room standard, there is one room for sleeping and that is suitable for two people. It also explained that, under the space standard, the law says the flat is suitable for three people and there are three people in the flat (two adults and two children. The Council explained that under the 2004 Housing Act the flat is large enough for two people but there are four people living there. The letter said this represented a category one hazard for crowding and space.
8. The Council told Mrs X she will remain in band B and she does not qualify for band A.
9. Mrs A disagrees with the decision. She says the Council has ignored the fact that there is a category one hazard. She says she qualifies for band A as stated by the allocations policy. In support of her submissions Mrs X quoted from an old allocations policy.

Assessment

10. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The current policy says people qualify for band A if they are overcrowded as defined by the 1985 Housing Act. Mrs X needs a larger home and is overcrowded in the ordinary sense of the word. But, she is not overcrowded as defined by the 1985 Housing Act. There is a category one hazard but this is not a qualifying factor for band A under the current policy. The Council’s decision is consistent with the policy so there is no reason to start an investigation.
11. Mrs X has quoted from the allocations policy and has referred to an Ombudsman decision which related to a family in similar circumstances. However, Mrs X has quoted from an old policy, which is no longer in force, and the Ombudsman’s decision related to that old policy.
12. The Ombudsman does not act as an appeal body and he has no power to change someone’s banding on the register or to ask the Council to change the band, contrary to the current policy.

Back to top

Final decision

13. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman