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

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about the Council’s assessment of her housing application. She says that she believes her medical needs should place her in Band 2 but a Council review of her application only placed her in Band 3 priority.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate 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 continue 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.

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information provided by the complainant. 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. Mrs X applied to the Council for re housing because she says she is suffering from noise disturbance in the housing association rented building where she lives. She was initially awarded Band 4 priority because she is considered to be adequately housed but needing ground floor accommodation.
6. Mrs X submitted medical evidence to the Council and it carried out a medical assessment which resulted in Band 3 award for her identified needs. She was dissatisfied with the outcome and asked for a review under s.166A of the Housing Act 1996. The Council carried out a statutory review and concluded that any new medical information was not sufficient to warrant Band 2 medical priority under its allocations scheme. This Banding requires a high degree of medical or social need and she does not meet the criteria.
7. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong.
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. I have seen no evidence of fault which would suggest that Mrs X should be placed in a higher banding.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a 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