Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to award Mr X higher banding status on its housing register. This is because it is unlikely an investigation would result in finding fault with the Council’s actions.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council failed to consider information he provided regarding his child Y’s health when he asked the Council to increase his priority banding on its housing register.

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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.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X is currently on the Council’s housing register and has been assessed as requiring its second highest housing band. In early 2023, Mr X provided the Council with information about his child Y’s health and asked the Council to increase his housing banding.
6. The Council considered the information and advised that the information did not show how Mr X’s current housing circumstances affected or impacted Y’s health issues. The Council decided not to increase Mr X’s housing band and Mr X asked for a review of the decision. The Council maintained its decision, so Mr X brought the complaint to us.
7. Mr X wants us to find the Council at fault because it did not agree that the information he provided warranted an increase in his priority housing banding. The Ombudsman cannot criticize the merits of a decision a council has made if there is no evidence of fault in the way the Council made the decision. The evidence shows the Council has considered the information Mr X provided and decided not to increase the housing banding he is in. The Council is entitled to make this decision; an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is unlikely that an investigation would result in finding fault with the Council’s actions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman