Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the complainant’s banding on the housing register. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mrs X, says the Council should put her in band B on the housing register and backdate that new banding to 2012. Alternatively, Mrs X wants the Council to make a direct offer.

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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’. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I read the complaint and the Council’s responses. I considered the housing allocation policy and comments Mrs X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

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What I found

Housing allocation policy

4. The Council places people in band B if they are an accepted homeless applicant who agrees to rent in the private sector. People also qualify for band B if they lack two bedrooms or have an urgent medical need to move.
5. The Council places accepted homeless applicants in band C1.
6. The Council can make a direct offer in exceptional circumstances.

What happened

7. Mrs X has been on the housing register for about nine years. The Council accepted Mrs X as homeless in 2016 and provided temporary accommodation. Mrs X remains in that accommodation and is in band C1. Mrs X says she has been in the temporary accommodation since 2012, not from 2017 as the Council says.
8. Mrs X complained to us in 2020 about her C1 banding. We did not start an investigation because there was no suggestion of fault by the Council.
9. Mrs X complained again to the Council about her banding and said she should be in band B. In response the Council explained that she would qualify for band B if she moved into private rented accommodation. It said the band B date would start from the start date of the private tenancy. The Council confirmed that her current accommodation is suitable and the agent had recently completed some repairs. The Council asked Mrs X to report any new disrepair to the agent.
10. Mrs X is dissatisfied with the reply. She says she should have been in band B since 2012. She wants the Council to move her into band B and backdate the new banding to 2012. Mrs X says her circumstances mean that no private landlord would rent a property to her. She says she has been homeless for about ten years and the Council should have offered a home by now.
11. As an alternative to being moved into band B, Mrs X would like the Council to make a direct offer of a permanent home.

Assessment

12. There is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation. Mrs X is in band C1 which is the correct band for an applicant who the Council has accepted as homeless.
13. Mrs X lives in temporary accommodation which is managed by the Council. She does not live in privately rented accommodation so she does not qualify for band B and none of the other grounds for band B apply. In addition, even if Mrs X did qualify for band B, that would only apply from the date that she qualified for band B – it would not apply from 2012. I appreciate Mrs X may find it hard to be accepted by a private landlord but that does not mean the Council has done anything wrong.
14. Mrs X says there has been disrepair in the flat. However, the Council has arranged repairs and invited her to report new problems. In addition, disrepair is not an issue that means someone qualifies for band B.
15. Mrs X would like a permanent home, and has been waiting a long time, but there is nothing in her circumstances which mean she qualifies for a direct offer. The Council’s decision to place Mrs X in band C1 is consistent with the policy so there is no reason to start an investigation. The wait for a permanent home is caused by the shortage of social housing rather than fault by the Council.

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Final decision

16. There is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman