Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about priority for a housing application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation by the Ombudsman.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council’s failure to give her housing application sufficient priority for her to be rehoused after being on the housing register for over 10 years.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Miss X has been on the Council’s housing waiting list for more than 10 years. She says her current home is overcrowded and that she has had no success with bidding on properties over the years. She complained to the Council because she believes that it is not giving her application sufficient priority.
6. The Council told her that he current banding of Band B reflects her being short of one bedroom in her current 2-bedroomed home and additional priority for being on the list in the borough for over 10 years. She applied for medical priority but the Council’s medical assessors did not award this because there is no medical need related to her housing needs.
7. The Ombudsman may not find fault with a council’s assessment of a housing application/ a housing applicant’s priority if it has carried this out in line with its published allocations scheme. We recognise that the demand for social housing far outstrips the supply of properties in many areas. We may 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.
8. I have seen no evidence of fault which would suggest Miss X should be placed in a higher banding.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint about priority for a housing application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation by the Ombudsman.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman