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

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council’s assessment of his housing application. He has bene in Band B since 2014 and he wants the Council to give him band A status because of medical needs and overcrowding in his family’s current 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 how the organisation made its decision, 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 the Council. 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. Mr X applied to the Council for re-housing because his family is living overcrowded conditions with family members who have a medical condition. He was awarded Band B under the Council’s allocations scheme in 2014. He says that he has insufficient priority to be successful in this banding because there are many other applicants with similar priority.
6. Mr X asked the Council to review his application under s.166A of the Housing Act 1996. The Council carried out the review and Mr X provided medical evidence from professionals to support his application.
7. The Council decided that Mr X’s application was correctly banded for his circumstances and that he did not meet the threshold for Band A under its allocations policy. Mr X currently has some priority for overcrowding but for Band A overcrowding the threshold is lacking three or more bedrooms which he does not meet. The medical threshold for Band A is for family members who have a life-threatening or terminal illness or are due to be discharged from hospital with no suitable accommodation available. This does not apply to Mr X’s application.
8. 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, regardless of whether someone disagrees with the decision the organisation made.
9. We 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.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment and review 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