Summary: Miss X complained that the Council has frustrated her efforts to move to suitable accommodation. Most of Miss X’s complaint has been dealt with by the Ombudsman previously. However, we do find fault with the Council for failing to provide Miss X with the opportunity to bid on another property, as promised. Miss X says this has caused her an injustice because she was forced to remain in unsuitable accommodation. The Council has accepted fault and suggested a remedy for Miss X. We have made further recommendations to fully remedy the fault.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained that:

• The Council wrongly suspended her ability to apply to move house.
• Refused to answer any of her complaint correspondence.

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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’. 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)
3. When considering complaints, if there is a conflict of evidence, we make findings based on the balance of probabilities. This means that we will weigh up the available relevant evidence and base our findings on what we think was more likely to have happened.
4. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I made enquiries with the Council and researched any relevant policy or guidance.
6. Miss X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

7. In late 2019 Miss X complained to the Ombudsman that the Council had wrongly suspended her housing application and then delayed reviewing its error.
8. Miss X was on the Council’s housing register because her current home does not meet her medical needs. Miss X has mobility problems making it difficult to manage stairs, use the bathroom in her current home and take out her rubbish.
9. An offer of accommodation was made to Miss X in February 2020, which was part of the focus of our previous investigation.
10. In June 2020, the Council suspended Miss X’s housing application.
11. During the course of our investigation, in July 2020, the Council said it would reinstate Miss X’s housing application for one further offer as a gesture of good will.
12. In August 2020 we found the Council was at fault and recommended, among other things, that the Council paid Miss X a sum to acknowledge the time she had to remain in accommodation because of Council fault.
13. Miss X wrote to the Council in late September 2020. She was unhappy with the sum of money recommended by the Ombudsman to acknowledge her time spent in unsuitable accommodation. The Council responded to her in late October 2020, saying that she would need to take that issue up with the Ombudsman.
14. Miss X responded that she was going to take the matter up with her local councillor. In November 2020 she said the Council had yet again suspended her ability to bid for properties wrongfully.
15. She sent many more emails between that time and when the Council answered her in January 2021. Most of the content of her emails related to the previous complaint that had been addressed by the Ombudsman.
16. The Council apologised for failing to answer her emails.
17. I asked the Council to comment on the communication in July 2020 which said that Miss X would be given one further offer as a gesture of goodwill. Initially, it repeated that Miss X’s application for housing was suspended in June 2020.
18. However, after the Ombudsman made further enquiries, the Council has now written to Miss X and apologised for failing to provide her, in line with its promise, to allow her to bid for one further offer of accommodation after July 2020. Her application has been re-registered and she has been told she can bid again on one further property. She has been told that if she refuses a suitable offer her account will be suspended again.
19. The Council has also offered to pay Miss X the sum of £1650, a payment for the eleven months she was unable to bid and had to remain in unsuitable accommodation.
20. Miss X has been free to re-join the housing register since June 2021 in any event.
21. The Council has noted that from June 2021, Miss X is also now able to bid for sheltered accommodation, which will significantly increase the choice of properties available to her.

Analysis

22. Miss X says she has been unable to bid for new accommodation. That is correct as the Council wrongly considered she was suspended from doing so from June 2020. I welcome the Council’s acceptance that it erred. However, this was only agreed after the Ombudsman made further enquiries. Miss X has had to spend a further year in unsuitable accommodation because of the Council’s error. This has caused Miss X an injustice. She must have felt incredibly frustrated that she was unable to bid after having received communication that she could.
23. The records appear to show that the reason the Council did not recognise its mistake earlier was in part because Miss X’s communication concentrated on issues that had been raised at an earlier stage and the Council considered these issues had been addressed. However, when the Ombudsman became involved it still took some time before the Council recognised its mistake. Again, during that time Miss X has been in unsuitable accommodation.
24. The Council was at fault for failing to answer Miss X’s communication. This caused her an injustice because if it had engaged meaningfully with her at an earlier stage it may have realised its error and re-instated Miss X’s housing application for the further bid she had been promised.
25. I consider its offer to pay Miss X £1650 in recognition of the time she has had to spend in unsuitable accommodation is fair.
26. However, I am concerned that the Council has told Miss X that she can only refuse one offer before her account is suspended for one year. The Council’s Housing Allocations Policy says that if an applicant refuses two suitable offers of social housing they will be disqualified from the housing register for a 12 month period. Miss X would have been entitled to bid from June 2021 to start bidding on properties again. She would have been entitled, like others, to refuse two suitable offers before her account would have been suspended. As she lost out on the opportunity to use the one offer granted to her in July 2020, I consider she should be able to refuse three suitable offers before the Council considers suspending her account. Hopefully, this will not be an issue in any event. It is clear Miss X is very keen to move from her accommodation and is unlikely to refuse any suitable offer. However, in recognition of her missed opportunity through the relevant period, the Council should write to Miss X again to clarify the position.
27. I have made a recommendation to remedy the fault, acknowledging that Miss X has continued to be in unsuitable accommodation.

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Agreed action

28. Within a month of this decision, the Council has said it will;
1. Write to Miss X clarifying that because of the unusual circumstances of this case, her account will be suspended upon the refusal of three suitable offers of accommodation.
2. Make a payment of £500 to Miss X to acknowledge the frustration experienced while the Council neglected to answer her correspondence and while she was unable to bid for properties during a period of wrongful suspension of her housing application account.
3. Pay Miss X the sum of £150 per month to acknowledge the period she has had to remain in unsuitable accommodation because of Council fault. I recommend a payment of £150 per month from August 2020 up to July 2021, when Miss X would have been entitled to bid again. This sum amounts to £1650.
29. The Council should provide evidence to the Ombudsman that it has completed all of the above.

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Final decision

30. I have found the Council at fault and that Miss X was caused an injustice. The Council has agreed to implement the above recommendations and I have now completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman