Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council managed Mr X’s application to join the housing register. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about how the Council managed his application to join the housing register. He says the errors caused him distress and affected his mental health. He wants the Council to apologise, compensate him for the distress caused and improve its services.

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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
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

3. 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

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council managed Mr X’s application to join the housing register.
7. Mr X says he had to send the Council supporting documents a second time, after he was allocated a different housing officer. The Council apologised for this in its complaint response and said it would act to ensure better handovers between staff to ensure this did not happen again. This is an appropriate response, and we could not add anything further to this.
8. He says the Council should not have initially refused his housing register application because he did not have a local connection. He requested a review of this decision and the Council agreed he did meet the criteria due to exceptional circumstances. The Council followed the correct review process and accepted his application.
9. He also says the Council was wrong to remove him from the housing register when it discovered he had rent arrears. However, its Housing Allocations Policy says a person will be ineligible for the housing register if they have rent arrears, so this decision was in line with its policy. Once it had confirmation these arrears had been settled, he was re-activated on the housing register.
10. There is insufficient evidence of fault in how the Council reached its decisions to justify us investigating further.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman