Summary: There is fault by the Council because it did not send Ms X a self-assessment form for her to complete when she asked for a move on medical grounds. This caused no injustice, because Ms X later received the form and did not respond. There was a failure to keep written records of two meetings, which is fault which caused no injustice. As there is no injustice to Ms X, we made no recommendations for the Council.

The complaint:

1. Ms X complains London Borough of Barnet (the Council):
1. Did not properly respond to her request for rehousing on medical grounds; and
2. Did not deal properly with her complaints about antisocial behaviour from her neighbours.

Back to top

What I have investigated

2. I have investigated complaint (a) My reason for not investigating complaint (b) is at the end of this statement.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We (the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman) cannot investigate complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. The Housing Ombudsman has the power to consider complaints about the management of social housing by a council. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended.) We can consider complaints about a council’s other housing functions as long as they are not about the provision or management of social housing. So, complaint (a), which is not about housing management or provision, is a complaint we can investigate.
4. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. Where an organisation is providing services on behalf of a council, we can investigate complaints about the organisation’s actions. (Local Government Act 1974, section 25(7), as amended)
5. Barnet Homes keeps the Council’s housing register and manages applications for transfers on medical grounds on its behalf. We can investigate Barnet Homes’ involvement as it is providing a service (housing function) on behalf of the Council.
6. 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)
7. Ms X complained to us in January 2020, so complaints about issues from January 2019 are not late. Ms X’s complaint starts in April 2018. I have investigated complaint (a) from April 2018 because Ms X complained to the Housing Ombudsman prematurely in April 2019; she was asked to use the Council’s complaints procedure and the Council told her in July 2019 to complain to the Housing Ombudsman. The Housing Ombudsman then told Ms X to complain to us about issue (a) in October 2019. It would not be fair to penalise Ms X for the time it took to establish complaint (a) was for the LGSCO to investigate. I have exercised discretion therefore to include events since April 2018.
8. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. If we are satisfied with a council’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

How I considered this complaint

9. I considered Ms X’s complaint and supporting documents. I also considered the Council’s responses to her complaint, its response to my enquiries and documents described later in this statement. I discussed the complaint with Ms X.
10. Ms X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

Back to top

What I found

Relevant procedures and guidance

11. Councils must have an allocation scheme which sets out how to allocate housing to prospective applicants. The law says councils must give ‘reasonable preference’ to applicants who need to move for medical reasons.
12. Information on Barnet Homes’ website says to apply for a transfer on medical grounds, applicants need to complete a self-assessment form. On receipt of the completed form, the medical team may request documents. The website goes on to explain:
• Only tenants whose circumstances have changed since they moved into their property or whose condition has worsened since they moved in will be likely to receive a transfer on medical grounds.
• An applicant’s housing must directly affect their medical condition.
13. We expect council officers or those acting on behalf of a council, to tell applicants clearly what they have to do to apply for rehousing on medical grounds.

What happened

14. I have looked at Barnet Homes’ records from April 2018. There are no records suggesting Ms X asked for a move on medical grounds in 2018. The case notes indicate contacts from Ms X in 2018 and early 2019 were all about nuisance from her neighbour.
15. Ms X met with an officer at the end of March 2019. The Council kept no written record of the meeting. Barnet Homes did not take an application from Ms X for rehousing or advise her how to apply for a transfer on medical grounds.
16. There was a further meeting in April, again there is no written record. Ms X emailed officers after the meeting and said Barnet Homes had ignored her request for a move. She said the flat was not suitable as there was no bath and she needed this as she was having treatment for cancer. She said she had sent in hospital letters but had no response. An officer replied saying Barnet Homes would not move her because she was adequately housed, but she could contact her housing officer and ask for a bathtub.
17. Ms X complained to Barnet Homes. Its first response to the complaint (April 2019) was mainly about issues with Ms X’s neighbour. In terms of rehousing, the response said Ms X met with her housing officer in March 2019 as she wanted to register on home swapper for a move. (Home swapper is a scheme to register tenants who want to swap homes.) Ms X did not go ahead with home swapper.
18. Ms X was unhappy with the first complaint response and so asked to go to the second stage of the procedure. Barnet Homes’ second response in May 2019 also dealt mainly with the complaints about neighbour nuisance. The letter said there was not enough evidence to consider moving Ms X on medical grounds. It went on to say if her housing was having an impact on her mental health, Ms X needed to send copies of key medical information like a GP or consultant’s letter, to her housing officer.
19. In May 2019, Ms X contacted her housing officer saying she would be having surgery at the end of the month. She inferred she was not happy at having to send in information from her doctors to support a move, asking if officers thought she was making it all up. Ms X said she was very stressed about the situation.
20. Ms X provided me with a copy of a letter from her GP dated May 2019, addressed to ‘the housing manager’. The GP explained Ms X was suffering psychological distress due to her neighbour’s anti-social behaviour and said rehousing would make a significant improvement to her wellbeing and physical and mental health. The Council told me the letter was not on Barnet Homes’ files.
21. Ms X emailed Barnet Homes at the start of July. She said she was not willing to do a home swap as she had concerns about her safety. She referred to having treatment for cancer. The Head of Housing Management emailed Ms X to say that she needed to provide her housing officer with updated medical information about how her health was adversely affected by her housing.
22. The Council provided me with a case note dated 19 August 2019. It says ‘medical evidence received. Given to [the officer who deals with requests for housing on medical grounds] to deal with’. The Council told me in response to the medical correspondence, Barnet Homes sent Ms X a transfer pack for her to complete and return, but she did not reply. The Council said it did not progress the matter but was willing to process an application for a transfer on medical grounds if Ms X completed and returned the form.

Was there fault and if so, did it cause injustice?

23. When a council commissions another organisation to provide services on its behalf it remains responsible for those services and for the actions of the organisation providing them. Any fault by Barnet Homes is fault by the Council.
24. Barnet Homes’ website explains clearly that applicants who want to move for medical reasons need to complete a self-assessment form. This is appropriate and clear information which we expect councils to provide to members of the public.
25. There is no evidence Ms X asked the Council about rehousing on medical grounds until March 2019. She met with officers in March and April 2019. I would expect a short summary record of what had been discussed at those meetings to include any advice officers gave Ms X. The lack of a brief written record is fault. But there is no evidence poor record keeping caused Ms X any injustice.
26. Ms X said in an email in April 2019, that her housing was unsuitable on medical grounds. There is fault by Barnet Homes, on behalf of the Council because on three occasions, officers failed to tell her she needed to complete and return a self-assessment form in order to be considered for rehousing on medical grounds. The three occasions when officers gave incomplete advice were:
• April 2019: The response to Ms X’s email after meeting an officer (paragraph 16)
• May 2019: The second stage complaint response (paragraph 18)
• July 2019: The Head of Housing Management email to Ms X (paragraph 21).
27. On receiving further medical information in August 2019, the Council sent Ms X a transfer pack (containing the self-assessment form she needed to complete to apply for rehousing on medical grounds). This remedied the fault set out in the last paragraph. Ms X did not return the self-assessment form which would have enabled the Council to assess her grounds for a move and decide whether she has a reasonable preference. It is therefore not possible to conclude the Council’s fault caused her any injustice.
28. I cannot say what happened to the GP’s letter. The Council said Barnet Homes did not receive the letter and it might have got lost in the post. There is not enough evidence of fault.

Back to top

Final decision

29. There is fault by the Council because it did not send Ms X a self-assessment form for her to complete when she asked for a move on medical grounds. This caused no injustice, because Ms X later received the form and did not respond. There was a failure to keep written records of two meetings, which is fault but caused no injustice. As there is no injustice to Ms X, I made no recommendations for the Council.
30. I have completed the investigation.

Back to top

Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

31. The law does not allow us to investigate complaints about housing management. These are for the Housing Ombudsman. So I did not investigate complaint (b). Ms X has already complained to the Housing Ombudsman about complaint (b).

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman