Summary: There was fault in the way the Council decided that Miss B did not qualify to join the housing register. The Council has now accepted Miss B onto the housing register and backdated her housing registration date. It has also agreed to apologise and make a payment to Miss B.

The complaint

1. Miss B complains that the Council wrongly decided that she does not qualify to join the housing register. She says that she was not told that she needed to have an assessment by the Council’s Occupational Therapy Service until after the Council had determined her application.
2. Miss B says that as a result of the Council’s failings, she has continued to live in unsuitable accommodation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
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 have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by the complainant;
• discussed the issues with the complainant;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council has provided; and
• given the Council and the complainant the opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

The Council’s allocations scheme

6. This sets out the rules for qualifying to go on the Housing Register, how applicants are prioritised and how the Council manages the allocation of available properties.
7. Bidding: The Council operates a choice-based lettings scheme. Housing applicants can bid on available properties.
8. Priority band: The Council places applicants who qualify to join the housing register in a priority band from Band 1 (highest priority) to Band 4 (lowest priority). This priority is the first factor the Council uses to allocate a property.
9. Registration date: This is the date on which the Council first placed an application into a priority band. It is used to prioritise between applicants within the same band.
10. Move on award: The Council awards band 2 where the applicant has been assessed as ready to move to independent accommodation from a Council Accredited Supported Scheme.
11. Housing need: Applicants whose circumstances do not warrant inclusion in any of the bands are considered to have no housing need and do not qualify to join the housing register.

Overview

12. Miss B is living in supported accommodation and says that she sometimes has to sleep in the communal area because she cannot access her bedroom due to problems with her mobility.
13. Miss B submitted a housing application to the Council in February 2021. It considered her application and decided in June 2021 that she did not have a recognised housing need and therefore did not qualify to join the housing register. The Council explained why she did not qualify for the medical, mobility, move on or exceptional need to move awards. It said:
• The medical evidence Miss B provided did not demonstrate that her current accommodation was having a direct detrimental impact on her health.
• A mobility award could only be made following an assessment by the Council’s Occupational Therapy (OT) service. The Council had advised Miss B to contact its OT service but she had not done so.
• It could not give Miss B a move on award because her accommodation provider was not on the list of Council Accredited Support Schemes.
• The information Miss B provided did not demonstrate that her need to move was exceptional.
14. Miss B requested a review of the Council’s decision. She explained again why she considered her accommodation was unsuitable for her needs. She said that the Council had not previously advised her to request an OT assessment but she would request one that day. Miss B then had an OT assessment around six weeks later.
15. When the Council carried out the review, it said that it could find no record of an OT assessment and so it could not give Miss B a mobility award. It upheld its original decision that Miss B did not qualify to join the housing register.

Analysis

16. The Council assessed Miss B’s housing application 18 weeks after she applied in February 2021. We consider councils should carry out assessments in four to six weeks. The Council’s delay here was fault.
17. In October 2020, when the Council determined Miss B’s previous housing application, it advised Miss B to request an OT assessment. It told Miss B that the only way it assesses eligibility for a mobility award is by having an OT assessment. Miss B then applied to join the housing register again, but she did not request an OT assessment until after the Council had determined her application.
18. When the Council reviewed its decision on 21 August 2021, it said that it could find no evidence to show that an OT assessment had been carried out and so it could not give Miss B a mobility award. However, the OT assessment had been carried out on 10 August 2021. The Council should have had access to the report and considered it before carrying out the review. This was fault but I do not consider it caused Miss B any significant injustice. This is because the OT report did not make any recommendations and so it would not have resulted in Miss B qualifying to join the housing register.
19. The Council decided that Miss B did not qualify for a move on award because her accommodation provider was not on the list of Council Accredited Support Schemes. The Council has since accepted that this is not the case, and her accommodation provider is an Accredited Support Scheme. The Council has apologised, assessed Miss B’s application and granted the move on award. It says that it has made arrangements for the list of Council Accredited Support Schemes to be thoroughly checked and updated on its system.
20. If there had been no fault by the Council here, and it had not delayed assessing Miss B’s application, she would have joined the housing register by 31 March 2021 (six weeks after she applied). Miss B may have been offered independent accommodation by now.

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Agreed action

21. Within four weeks, the Council will:
• Apologise and make a payment of £150 to Miss B to recognise the distress she has suffered as a result of the failings identified in this case.
• Provide evidence to show that it has backdated Miss B’s housing application registration date to 31 March 2021.
• Provide evidence to show when Miss B would likely have been offered a property if there had been no fault and she had joined the housing register on 31 March 2021. It should take into account Miss B’s area preferences and her recent bidding history. The Council will then make a payment to Miss B of £100 for each full month since she likely missed out on a property.
22. The Council has accepted that it has ongoing delays in processing and reviewing housing applications due to unprecedented demand. It has provided us with a copy of its action plan to reduce application processing times, which includes a full-scale restructure and extensive recruitment.

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Final decision

23. I have completed my investigation and uphold Miss B’s complaint. There was fault by the Council which caused injustice. The action the Council has agreed to take is sufficient to remedy that injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman