Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of Ms X’s housing application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about the Council’s decision not to award her housing application a higher medical priority. She says her mental health and medical needs require her to have a toilet on the ground floor and her current home only has a toilet upstairs.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
3. 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

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Ms X says her current upstairs flat is unsuitable for her needs. She says she needs a toilet on the same level when she comes home. She also says she can smell drugs being smoked in the flat below her and this causes her anxiety. She applied to the Council to have her waiting list banding increased on medical grounds.
7. The Council rejected her request because it says her medical needs do not require her to have a ground floor flat or a house with a downstairs toilet. She does not qualify on age grounds for an elderly person’s bungalow.
8. Ms X asked the Council to review her case and the GP advice she submitted. The Council reviewed her application, but it remained in her current banding of Band 4.
9. 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.
10. I have seen no evidence of fault which would suggest Ms X should be placed in a higher banding.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of Ms X’s housing application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman