Summary: Ms X complained the Council delayed reviewing her housing priority after she submitted new medical information in February 2021. She says the delay caused distress and meant she missed out on properties. The Council was at fault. It has accepted it took too long to review the information and apologised to Ms X for this. It will now pay her £200 in recognition of the distress and uncertainty caused.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council:
1. failed to provide suitable housing for her and her family since 2012;
2. delayed reviewing her housing allocations priority after she submitted new medical information in February 2021. It completed a review and increased her priority in July 2021, but Ms X says the delay caused frustration and distress and meant she missed out on properties.
2. The Council partially upheld her complaint and accepted it delayed reviewing her housing priority. It has apologised for this and offered her £50 compensation. Ms X does not consider this sufficient for the uncertainty and distress caused.

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What I have investigated

3. I have investigated part b) Ms X’s complaint. I have explained why I have not investigated part a) of this complaint at the end of this statement.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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)
5. 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).
6. 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

7. I read Ms X’s complaint and spoke with her about it on the phone.
8. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
9. Ms X and the Council had the opportunity to comment on the draft decision. I considered all comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Background information

Housing allocations

10. Every local housing authority must publish an allocations scheme that sets out its procedures for allocating housing and how it decides the priory level of each applicant.
11. The Council’s housing allocations scheme is a points-based system, which awards points based on housing needs and any additional needs the applicant or members of their household have.
12. The Council assesses applications and gives them a points total. Based on this total, applicants can bid on suitable properties. The Council will then shortlist the applicants with the highest points who want to view the property. It offers the property to the applicant with the highest points who want to accept it after viewing.
13. When there is a change of circumstances, the Council will re-assess a person’s application to take account of any new information and decide whether to increase their priority points.

What happened

14. Ms X has been on the Council’s housing register for several years, awaiting rehousing to a larger property. In February 2021, she submitted new medical evidence and asked the Council to review her case to see if she was eligible for increased points. The Council said it would review her case and consider the new information.
15. In March 2021, Ms X chased the Council for an update, but it did not respond.
16. In July 2021, Ms X complained to the Council. She said she had been in unsuitable housing since 2012 and the Council had not responded to the additional medical information she submitted in February 2021.
17. The Council responded and said it could not investigate her complaints about her housing situation since 2012 as these were late. However, it upheld her complaint that it had delayed reviewing her medication information. It said this was an administrative error. It apologised to her for the delay and lack of response when she chased the Council for an update. It said it had reviewed its processes to prevent a recurrence of the fault.
18. It said it had now assessed her medical information and awarded her additional points based on this. It said she could now bid on properties with her increased points total.
19. Ms X remained unhappy and asked to escalate her complaint.
20. The Council provided a final response in September 2021. It said it had allocated her priority points in line with its policy and so could not further increase her points. It again upheld that there had been delay processing her medical information between February and July 2021. It apologised for this and offered her £50 compensation for the delay.
21. Ms X remained dissatisfied and brought her complaint to us.
22. We asked the Council whether the delay in reviewing Ms X’s medical information and awarding the additional points meant she missed out on any properties between February and July 2021. The Council told us that during this period Ms X bid on 11 properties. Of these 11 properties, only one of them was allocated to an applicant with lower points than Ms X’s new total.

Analysis

23. The Council upheld Ms X’s complaint about delay reviewing her medical information. I agree with this finding.
24. The delay caused Ms X frustration and distress. In addition, whilst Ms X was awaiting the outcome of the review, a property that she had bid on was allocated to an applicant with a lower points total. This means Ms X may have missed out on this property. However, we cannot know if she would have accepted the property, had she viewed it and been offered it. But the delay has caused uncertainty and lost opportunity for Ms X.
25. In its complaint response, the Council said it had reviewed its processes to prevent the fault occurring again and apologised to Ms X. I welcome these actions but am not satisfied the Council's offer of £50 was sufficient to remedy the lost opportunity and distress caused. I have recommended a more suitable remedy below.

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Agreed action

26. Within one month of the final decision, the Council will pay Ms X £200 in recognition of the lost opportunity and the uncertainty and frustration caused by the delay.

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Final decision

27. I have completed my investigation. I have found fault and the Council has agreed action to remedy the injustice caused.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

28. I have not investigated Ms X’s complaint that the Council has failed to provide her with suitable housing since 2012. This part of the complaint is late and there is no good reason why Ms X could not have complained sooner.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman