Summary: Miss X complained about how the Council dealt with the re‑assessments of her housing applications. She also complained about disrepairs in her property. The Council was at fault for the delays in re-assessing Miss X’s housing application. It was also at fault for further delays in applying her revised priority award to her housing register account and delays with paying her compensation for its failings. This has caused Miss X and her family injustice. The Council will take action to remedy the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about how the Council dealt with re-assessing her housing application. In particular she complained about the Council’s:

• failure to re-assess the change of circumstances housing application she submitted in October 2021
• delays in re-assessing the change of circumstances housing application she submitted in December 2021
• further delays in applying her new priority Band (Band 2) to her housing register account
• delays in paying her the compensation it offered her for its identified failings following the completion of the Council’s complaint process.

2. Miss X also complained about disrepairs at her property.
3. Miss X said the matter caused her significant distress, uncertainty, affected her health, time and trouble chasing the Council for updates on her housing case and complaining. Miss X said she missed out on several weeks to bid for suitable properties due to the Council’s failings. She said she had also been unable to find a suitable property which meets her family’s housing need, and her family continues to live in unsuitable accommodation.

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What I have and have not investigated

4. I have investigated the Council’s alleged failure in connection with the exercise of its administrative and statutory functions in relation to how it dealt with Miss X’s housing application re-assessment.
5. I have not investigated the disrepair issues in this case. This is because we cannot investigate complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. Therefore, the matter is out of our jurisdiction.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

6. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
7. We cannot investigate complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended)
8. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
9. 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)
10. If we are satisfied with an organisation’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

11. I have discussed the complaint with Miss X and considered the information she provided. I also considered the information the Council provided in response to my enquiries.
12. I sent Miss X and the Council a copy of my draft decision and considered all comments received before reaching a final decision.

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What I found

Legislation and Guidance

13. Every local housing authority must publish an allocation scheme that sets out how it prioritises applicants, and its procedures for allocating housing. All allocations must be made in strict accordance with the published scheme. (Housing Act 1996, section 166A(1) & (14))
14. The Ombudsman normally will not find fault with a council’s assessment of a housing applicant’s priority if it has carried this out in line with its published allocations scheme.
15. The Ombudsman recognises that the demand for social housing far outstrips the supply of properties in many areas. We normally will 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.

The Council’s Housing Allocation Scheme

16. When an applicant applies to join the housing register, the Council assesses the application and places the applicant into one of its 4 bands. Band 1 is the highest priority and Band 4 is the lowest priority.
17. “..Within each Band priority is accorded by a priority star system…”. This means applicants within each Band are prioritised, first, by reference to a priority star system where one priority star will be awarded to e.g., people occupying statutory overcrowded housing, people who need to move on severe medical or severe welfare grounds etc.
18. Where there is any change in an applicant’s circumstances, a change of circumstances form must be completed, and supporting documents must be provided. If there is a change to the banding, applicants will be informed in writing within 28 working days.
19. Where re-assessments due to a change of circumstances lead to an applicant being awarded a different priority status the Council must update the applicant’s records on its system. It will be the date of moving into the different priority banding that will be treated as the priority date.

What happened

20. This chronology includes key events in this case and does not cover everything that happened.
21. Miss X lives with her four children in a three-bedroom property on the first floor. Miss X and two of her children have medical conditions. Child 4’s medical conditions mean she cannot share a bedroom with any of her siblings.
22. Miss X said she originally informed the Council about her household’s change of circumstances based on medical grounds in October 2021. Miss X said she asked the Council to re-assess her family’s housing situation, but she said the Council failed to do so.
23. On 1 December 2021, Miss X submitted a change of circumstances form and evidence to support her application. She asked the Council to re‑assess her housing situation based on medical and welfare grounds. She said her property was unsuitable for her family and she asked the Council to deal with her application as a matter of urgency. Miss X requested a ground floor property with a wet room, a bathroom and potentially an outdoor space for Child 4 to safely play and to minimise further harm to her and the family.
24. On 23 December 2021, Miss X chased the Council for an update on her housing re-assessment application. Miss X said she had obtained further supportive evidence and would want the evidence to be forwarded to the panel for consideration. The Council replied to Miss X. It asked her to provide it with supporting evidence so it could verify her details and re-assess her application.
25. On 29 December 2021, Miss X submitted further medical documents in support of her application. The Council referred Miss X’s application to its medical advisors to assess her case.
26. On 6 January 2022, the Council said it received Miss X’s medical assessment outcome from its medical advisors.
27. On 27 January 2022, Miss X made a formal complaint to the Council. She complained about window disrepairs, the unsuitability of her property and the Council’s delay in re-assessing her application. Miss X said she had submitted all the relevant documents to support her housing re-assessment application in December 2021 as requested by the Council. She asked the Council to re-assess her family’s housing situation on medical grounds to reflect their housing need.
28. On 17 February 2022, the Council issued its stage 1 response to Miss X’s complaint. The Council only addressed her concerns about the window disrepairs in her property. Miss X queried why the Council failed to respond to her complaints about the housing re-assessment application she submitted to it in December 2021. The Council said it would refer her housing application complaints to the appropriate team to deal with.
29. On 18 February 2022, the Council notified Miss X and issued her with the medical assessment outcome it had received from its medical advisors on 6 January 2022. Based on Miss X’s medical assessment form and the evidence she submitted in support of her application, it was found that her household had a severe medical requirement for a move. The outcome letter stated Miss X’s household was entitled to be awarded Band 2 priority. The letter also listed the following recommendations for Miss X’s future re‑housing:

• lift access
• level access bathing facilities required
• extra bedroom required – Child 4 required own bedroom
• access to a garden, outside space or a nearby park with secure play area
• locks should be fitted to the relevant doors and/or windows, or other suitable adaptations are made to improve safety.

30. After the Council issued the medical assessment outcome letter to Miss X, it did not verify and process Miss X’s application.
31. On 1 March 2022, the Council wrote to Miss X again asking her to provide some verification documents so it could proceed with re-assessing her housing application. On the same day, Miss X asked the Council to escalate her complaint to its stage 2 complaints process. She said the Council failed to re‑assess her housing application despite all the relevant supporting evidence she had submitted to it in December 2021. She expressed her frustrations about the Council’s failings, how it had dealt with her complaint and its poor and ineffective communication with her. Miss X said the Council failed to deal with and respond to the housing application complaint she made to it in January 2022. She also said her housing application was suspended and the Council had not applied her family’s medical assessment outcome to her housing account.
32. In early March 2022, the Council verified Miss X’s supporting documents and asked the relevant team to make her bidding account active.
33. On 14 March 2022, the Council issued Miss X’s housing application outcome letter. The Council confirmed it had now registered Miss X onto its Adapted Properties Housing List. It awarded her a Band 2 priority with an extra bedroom need.
34. In April 2022, Miss X’s housing register account went live.
35. On 28 April 2022, the Council issued its stage 2 response to Miss X’s complaint. The Council acknowledged its delays in re-assessing Miss X’s housing application and its limited communication with her. It explained its delays were due to significant workload. The Council upheld Miss X’s complaint, it apologised for its delays and said it would award Miss X a total of £270 compensation (£85 for disrepair delays while £185 for the re-assessment application delays, its complaint handling and poor communication with her).
36. In June 2022, Miss X chased the Council for the compensation payment. The Council confirmed it had paid the £270 into Miss X’s bank account on 7 June 2022. The Council made the payment into her old bank account. Miss X provided the Council with her new bank account details, and it paid the £270 to Miss X on 28 June 2022.
37. Miss X remained dissatisfied with how the Council dealt with her complaints to it. She made a complaint to the Ombudsman.
38. In response to my enquiries, the Council confirmed it had no records of any application submitted by Miss X in October 2021. As regards her application in December 2021, the Council accepted some failings in how it dealt with the application. It accepted it was at fault for its delays in re-assessing Miss X’s housing application and delays in awarding her a Band 2 priority based on the medical assessment outcome. The Council explained the delays were due to workload and communication breakdown between its departments. The Council said it should have backdated Miss X’s Band 2 priority to 3 February 2022. This was the 28-day timeframe it was required to have considered her application from the date it received the medical assessment outcome/recommendations from its medical advisors. Furthermore, the Council confirmed it failed to apply its priority star system to Miss X’s Band 2 priority. But the Council said on 17 March 2023, it requested a medical priority star to be added to Miss X’s priority Band 2 award.
39. The Council also provided information about properties that it had awarded to applicants in priority Band 2 and their respective effective registration dates from December 2021.

Analysis

40. There were some failings in the way the Council dealt with Miss X’s housing case.
41. As regards the re-assessment application Miss X said she initially submitted to the Council in October 2021, there is no evidence to support this. The Council also confirmed it holds no record of any application Miss X submitted in October 2021. Therefore, I cannot say there was fault by the Council.
42. However, Miss X submitted a housing re-assessment application with supporting evidence to the Council in December 2021. The Council reassessed her application and increased her priority Band award in March 2022. This took the Council approximately 3 months to deal with Miss X’s housing re‑assessment application. This was a significant delay, and it was fault. The Council should make its reassessment decision within 28 working days from the date an application is submitted. I find the Council’s delay in dealing with Miss X’s housing application was as a result of the following reasons:

• the Council repeatedly asked Miss X to provide it with evidence in support of her re-assessment application despite Miss X having submitted these in December 2021
• the Council’s initial failure and subsequent delay in informing and issuing Miss X with the medical assessment outcome letter. The Council received the assessment outcome from its medical advisors on 6 January 2022, but the Council did not make a decision and issue Miss X with the outcome letter until 18 February 2022. The Council said this was due to workload issues
• due to a communication breakdown between the Council’s departments, there was a further one-month delay by it to then verify and assess Miss X’s housing application after it issued the medical assessment outcome letter. The Council eventually registered Miss X onto its adapted properties housing list and awarded her a Band 2 priority with an extra bedroom need on 14 March 2022
• there was another one-month delay in applying the Band 2 priority award to Miss X’s housing account as her housing register account did not go live until April 2022.

43. These all amounted to fault and caused Miss X distress, frustration and uncertainty. Miss X’s priority Band award date was also incorrect, and there was no evidence to show the Council backdated her priority Band award date to 3 February 2022.
44. Miss X complained the Council’s delays and failings led to her being unable to bid for suitable properties for several weeks and she had been unable to find a suitable property for her family. I agree Miss X missed out on opportunities to bid with her increased priority Band between February and April 2022 due to the Council’s delays. While I acknowledge Miss X and her family’s housing situation, the Ombudsman also recognises that the demand for social housing far outstrips the supply of properties in many areas. We normally will not find fault with a council for failing to re-house someone if it has prioritised applicants in line with its published housing application scheme.
45. Based on the evidence seen as regards the properties the Council had awarded to applicants in the same priority Band as Miss X (Band 2), I do not consider Miss X had missed out on a potential successful bid. This is because the confirmed offers were for applicants with 2021 registration dates with the exception of two applicants with registration dates after February 2022. These two applicants were offered three‑bedroom properties while Miss X has a four‑bedroom need.
46. The Council in its response to my enquiries said it had requested the priority star to be added to Miss X’s Band 2 award. The failure to add this previously was fault. However, on balance I do not consider Miss X missed out on a successful bid for the same reason as set out in paragraph 45 above. This is because although the two other applicants I referred to above had priority star 1 and 2 awarded to them, their confirmed offers were for three-bedroom properties.
47. As regards the Council’s complaint handling process, I find fault for its failure to properly allocate and deal with the separate matters Miss X complained about in January 2022. The Council did not respond to her housing re-assessment application complaint until end of April 2022. This delay was fault. It caused Miss X distress, frustration and time and trouble chasing the Council for updates on her complaint.
48. There was further fault by the Council in its delay in paying Miss X the compensation it offered her in its stage 2 response to her complaint. The Council initially paid the compensation into Miss X’s old bank account and eventually paid her the money at the end of June 2022. This was after Miss X chased the Council for the payments and provided it with the correct bank details. This caused further frustration and confusion to Miss X.
49. While I note the Council apologised and paid Miss X £185 as compensation for its failings in how it dealt with her housing case, I do not consider these are proportionate to acknowledge the injustice caused to Miss X. This has been addressed in the ‘agreed action’ section below in accordance with our guidance on remedies.

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Agreed action

50. To remedy the injustice caused by the faults identified, the Council has agreed to complete the following within one month of the final decision:

• apologise again in writing and pay Miss X £300 in recognition of the delays, poor standard of service and poor communication provided to her
• if not yet corrected, the Council should backdate Miss X’s priority Band 2 award date to 3 February 2022, apply the correct date to her housing application account and issue her a letter confirming the correct award date
• provide evidence to show its priority star system has been applied to Miss X’s priority Band 2 award and the appropriate priority star has been added to her Band 2 award
• ensure the Council keeps records of applicants’ supporting evidence and the actions the Council takes in relation to housing applications. This is to prevent poor standard of service delivery to applicants
• by training or other means remind staff of the importance of identifying, allocating and dealing with applicants’ complaints in a timely manner and in accordance with its complaints handling process
• review its existing internal communication strategies and systems. This is to ensure there is seamless communication between its departments, for housing applications to be dealt with in a timely manner and to effectively communicate with applicants
• explain to the Ombudsman how the Council will monitor its performance against timescales.

51. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

52. I find evidence of fault by the Council leading to injustice. The Council has agreed to take action to remedy the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman