Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of Miss X’s housing application. There is insufficient evidence of any remaining fault which has caused injustice to Miss X.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains that she was awarded a local connection status on her housing application in 2020. When she was bidding on properties in 2021 the Council informed her that this status was due to an error and the connection was removed. She says the Council made an error which was not hers and her local connection status should be restored.

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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
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation.

(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 applied for housing in the Council’s area in 2020. She was accepted as having a local connection under the Council’s Homechoice allocations system. She was bidding on properties in 2021 when the Council informed her that her application had been incorrectly assessed in 2020 and that she actually does not meet the criteria for local connection under the published policy. As a result, her application was amended and the status removed.
6. Miss X asked for a review of the decision. The removal of the connection means that she is limited to bidding only on properties not owned by the Council or for which it has no nomination rights. This restricts her prospects of being rehoused in the Council’s area.
7. The Council did not change its decision at the review stage. It apologised for the earlier error but said her application was now corrected to what it should have been initially.
8. We will not investigate this complaint because the initial error made by the Council was rectified in 2021. Although Miss X has complained about this, she was not entitled to local connection status under the policy and any allocation resulting from this mistake would have disadvantaged other applicants who did meet the criteria. A mistake in her favour, although causing her some distress, did not result in any significant injustice to her.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of Miss X’s housing application. There is insufficient evidence of any remaining fault which has caused injustice to Miss X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman