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. Mr X complained about the Council’s failure to re-assess his housing application properly following an earlier complaint to us where we found fault.

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

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My assessment

5. Mr X complained to us about the Council’s assessment of his housing application. In an earlier complaint by Mr X, reference 23 014 834 we found fault because the Council delayed processing his medical priority review and failed to consider if he should be eligible for an internal management transfer because of it.
6. We closed the complaint in July 2024 and made recommendations that the Council should address these issues and pay Mr X some compensation for the delay. The Council carried out these recommendations shortly after we issued our decision.
7. The Council concluded that Mr X was not eligible for a management transfer because his complaints about disrepair causing mould growth could be resolved by works to his council home. This may involve decanting him to carry out work but would not require a permanent transfer. The Council also reviewed Mr X’s application priority as it should under s.166A of the Housing Act 1996.
8. Mr X’s banding priority was changed up from Band 4 to Band 3 because his son is now over 10 years old which affects his statutory overcrowding status.
9. 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.
10. In this case the Council has completed the review assessments required by the previous decision on this case. It is not our role to question the decisions of the medical and transfer reviews and Mr X has been notified by the Council of the outcomes.

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Final decision

11. 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