Summary: Mr X complained about how the Council decided he did not qualify for an extra bedroom on his application for social housing. The Council’s policy on additional bedrooms was poorly worded, which was fault, but this did not cause Mr X a significant personal injustice. The Council will amend its policy.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about how the Council decided he did not qualify for an extra bedroom on his housing application. Mr X said he needed an extra room for carers to sleep in while caring for him overnight. Mr X said the Council's decision meant he was unable to move to be nearer his family and has to stay in a house which is not suitable for his needs.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. 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)
3. 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

4. I have considered:
• all the information Mr X provided and discussed the complaint with him;
• the Council’s comments about the complaint and the supporting documents it provided; and
• the Council’s policies, relevant law and guidance and the Ombudsman's guidance on remedies.
5. Mr X and the organisation had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Relevant law and guidance

Care and support

6. People who have needs for social care and support may have a care and support plan. Care and support plans consider what needs the person has, what they want to achieve, what they can do by themselves or with existing support and what care and support may be available in the local area. To receive a care and support plan, a person has a needs assessment to explore what their needs are. Needs assessments are typically carried out by a social worker but can also be completed by Occupational Therapists (OT’s).
7. Needs assessments and care and support plans are created by councils which have responsibility for adult social care matters. Mr X lives in an area with two tiers of local government. Cherwill District Council (the Council) is responsible for administering housing, including allocating social housing. Oxfordshire County Council (Council B) is responsible for adult social care.

Housing allocations

8. Every local housing authority must publish an allocations 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.
9. The Council's scheme sets out how it decides how many bedrooms an applicant needs. It says a person will be eligible for an extra bedroom above their assessed need if they meet the following criteria.
1. They reasonably need overnight care and are receiving it.
2. They have a care and support plan which shows they have a need for overnight care.
3. One or more people regularly stay overnight to provide care and the extra room is needed for those people to sleep in.
4. The person receives disability benefits which show they need care during the night.

What happened

10. In 2017, Mr X moved into a two-bed council home. He was awarded two bedrooms because of his future need for overnight care.
11. In 2019 Mr X applied to join the Council's housing register again because he wanted to move closer to family. He submitted two doctor’s letters which said he would need a two-bedroom property in future because he would need overnight care. The Council accepted Mr X’s application and decided he needed a one-bedroom property.
12. Mr X did not respond until 2022 due to personal circumstances. In November 2022, Mr X complained. He said he:
• was unhappy the Council had asked him to get a care plan from Council B to evidence he needed overnight care. He said the care plan would be based on an assessment made during a single visit. Mr X also said the nature of his disability meant this assessment would not be representative of his needs; and
• felt the Council should be relying on his doctor’s letters and explained his doctor had access to years of reports on his needs.
13. The Council responded to say:
• its policy required a person to show they met all of the criteria for an additional bedroom;
• for it to review Mr X’s need for two bedrooms, it was necessary for him to have a care plan from Council B. It accepted Mr X may need to wait for months to have the needs assessment and receive the care plan. It said the wait was “disappointing” but was “necessary to properly assess [Mr X’s] needs”’;
• its housing officers are not medically trained so they largely rely on Council B’s needs assessments to understand the housing needs of people with medical conditions;
• Mr X’s letters would provide useful context for the OT assessor who would carry out his needs assessment; and
• it was open to him to supply more evidence that he needed overnight care for the Council to consider.
14. In April 2023, the Council received Mr X’s care and support plan and agreed he had a need for a two-bedroom property. It has updated his housing application to reflect this and backdated his application. Mr X is now able to bid on two-bed properties.
15. In response to a previous draft decision the Council said it accepted the wording of its policy and emphasis on a care and support plan was not the most helpful.

Findings

16. I have investigated the period from 2022, when Mr X challenged the Council's 2019 decision. I have not investigated the Council's original decision to award Mr X a one-bedroom need in 2019 because 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. I have seen no reason to justify investigating the 2019 decision.
17. The Council's policy on additional bedrooms requires the applicant to have an council care and support plan which evidences a need for overnight care. However, this does not allow for the fact that many people, including Mr X, receive care from other sources and will not have a care and support plan. These sources include family, friends and privately commissioned care providers. These people are likely to have other evidence to show their needs. This could include a care provider’s care plan or recent records and letters from specialists.
18. While councils have the ability to exercise discretion (choice) to act outside of their policies (e.g. disapplying the need for a council care and support plan), the Council accepts the wording of its policy and the focus on having a care and support plan could be improved. I agree with this, and find it amounts to fault. I have therefore recommended the Council removes the requirement for a council care and support plan. In any event, the Council’s policy already requires evidence a person needs overnight care (criteria one). This could reasonably be provided by a council care and support plan as well as a private care plan or other evidence. If the Council considered the evidence an applicant supplied and still felt it needed to see a council care and support plan, we would be unlikely to find fault with its request for the applicant to seek one.
19. The fault set out above did not cause Mr X a personal injustice. The evidence he had already sent the Council did not evidence a current need for overnight care. The Council invited Mr X to send in other documents that would evidence his need for overnight care, but Mr X did not do so. Therefore, the Council did not have any information that could justify it exercising discretion to award Mr X a two bedroom need. The Council felt a care and support plan was the best way to find out if Mr X did need overnight care which justified awarding an additional bedroom. The Council acted without fault.

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Agreed action

20. Within one month of the date of my final decision, the Council will amend its policy to remove the explicit requirement for a council care and support plan.
21. The Council will provide us with evidence it has complied with the above action.

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Final decision

22. I have completed my investigation. I have found fault but it did not cause a personal injustice. I have recommended action to prevent reoccurrence of this fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman