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 and the low priority given to it even after a medical review was carried out. She says she needs to move to council accommodation and out of supported accommodation.

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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 I have considered the Council’s housing allocations policy.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Miss X says she applied for to the Council for housing because she wishes to move out of supported housing and live independently. She says she has learning difficulties and that the Council has not taken her medical needs properly into account when she asked for a medical review.
6. The Council told Miss X that it took all of her circumstances into account in the review. An occupational therapist from the Learning Disabilities Team advised the housing reviewers that Miss X moved into her current social housing flat after moving from supported accommodation. Her current home is self-contained housing association accommodation and is not supported housing. The Council does not consider Miss X to have learning difficulties and she does not receive any health or social care support.
7. Miss X was given a low medical priority because her reasons for wanting to move included wanting to be in accommodation separate from a block and more affordable in case she starts work. The Council accepted that she has some mental health needs but that it is not caused by her current housing. It also advised her that a council tenancy would be unlikely to be not in a block given that her current need is for a 1-bedroom flat. Her request is to move to housing already similar to her current social housing tenancy.
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.
9. There is no evidence that the Council has failed to consider Miss X’s application in accordance with its housing allocations policy.

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Final decision

10. 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