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

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council’s assessment of her housing application. She complained that she was in Band 4 on the housing register but her circumstances required higher priority.

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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 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)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council. I have also considered the Council’s housing allocations policy.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Miss X lives in a 3-bedroom house but says she is overcrowded and needs more space for her autistic son. She says she needs to be housed near her son’s school because of his autistic needs. Her Banding was Band 4, which was awarded for overcrowding.
6. Miss X asked the Council to review her banding priority and it did this in April 2023, which is after she complained to us initially. The Council reviewed her case and decided that as well as overcrowding she had received approval as a foster carer for her niece in January. Because she had another reason to move which was supported by a Council agency, Miss X was considered to be eligible for Band 3 priority. The Banding was backdated to January when her new circumstances applied.
7. Miss is not eligible for any further review under her current circumstances because none of the criteria for Bands 2 and 1 apply to her.
8. 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. The Council followed the procedure for reviewing the application and in this case it was successful for Miss X.

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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 fault which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman