Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Miss X’s housing application. Part of the complaint is late without good reason to investigate it now. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council on the rest of the complaint.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council has not offered her three-bedroom social housing since she applied in 2017. She states this has resulted in her remaining in a two-bedroom property longer than necessary, so one of her children, who helps care for her, has had to move out. She suggests there has been disability discrimination.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate. 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)
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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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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. Miss X says the Council has mishandled her housing application since she applied in 2017. Miss X first complained to us in December 2022. Therefore, the restriction in paragraph 2 above applies to events before December 2021. That includes how the Council handled the application before then, whether it should have moved the application from Band 3 to Band 2 sooner (which I understand happened around 2020) and how it dealt with any contact about one of Miss X’s children moving out in 2020. Miss X could reasonably have complained to us sooner about such matters. Additionally, it is unlikely any investigation could reach a clear enough view about such matters now.
7. Miss X says the Council has ignored her disability and her need for a three-bedroom property so she and her two children (who help care for her) can live together, each having their own bedroom. The Council says it gave Miss X Band 2 priority to recognise her circumstances overall. The Council allows Miss X to bid for three-bedroom properties. So I do not see evidence of the Council ignoring those points.
8. We cannot decide if an organisation has breached the Equality Act as this can only be done by the courts. But we can make decisions about whether or not an organisation has properly taken account of an individual’s rights in its treatment of them. As explained above, I have not seen evidence the Council has failed to take account of Miss X’s disability when managing her housing application.
9. The main reason for Miss X’s dissatisfaction with the Council is that the Council has not yet offered her a three-bedroom social housing property. However, the Council has no duty actually to give Miss X social housing. Its duty is just to let her bid with appropriate priority for vacant social housing in line with the Council’s allocations scheme. The evidence suggests it has done that. Miss X’s lack of success so far seems to be because demand for social housing significantly outstrips supply, not because of fault by the Council.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. Part of the complaint is late without good reason to investigate it now; nor could we reach a clear enough view about those events now. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council on the part of the complaint that is not late.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman