Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s delay in backdating her housing register application because we could not add to the Council’s investigation. We will not investigate her concern about the priority band awarded because she had a right of review and it was reasonable for her to exercise that.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council had failed to rehouse her, despite her medical need to move. She also complained the Council failed to backdate her priority date. She said the Council’s failure meant she had missed out on properties, which had caused her and her family significant trauma.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. 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
• it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review.

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

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Ms X complained to us in September 2024 about events from 2021. We usually expect people to complain to us within 12 months of the events they are complaining about. There is no evidence Ms X could not have complained to us earlier. I have exercised discretion to consider the period from June 2023, when the Council reviewed Ms X’s housing register application, but there are no good reasons to investigate the earlier period.

What happened

8. In June 2023, in response to an earlier complaint, the Council reviewed Ms X’s housing register application. It awarded band 2, based on medical need and overcrowding, and agreed to backdate her priority to June 2021.
9. In June 2024, Ms X complained a Council officer had prevented her being rehoused. The Council investigated but found no evidence the officer had been involved in the handling of Ms X’s application. It said it had asked Ms X’s landlord to consider whether she met the criteria for a referral to its panel in view of recent harassment she reported at her current address. Her application was considered by the Council’s panel in September 2024, but her priority band was not changed. The Council wrote to her with the outcome the same day. Its letter explained she could ask for a review of that decision if she disagreed with it.
10. Mrs X asked the Council to consider her complaint at stage 2 because it had not addressed a concern about her priority band not being backdated to June 2021, as previously agreed. At stage 2, the Council accepted it had failed to backdate her application, for which it apologised. It said she had not missed an offer as a result. It offered Ms X £80 to recognise the injustice caused by its delay in updating its records and a delay in responding to her complaint, which Ms X refused.

My assessment

11. The Council accepted it delayed updating her records in respect of her priority date, for which it has apologised and offered a payment for any injustice caused. It has provided evidence to us, which confirms Ms X did not miss out on an offer due to the error. We will not investigate this part of the complaint further because we could not add to the Council’s own investigation.
12. The Council considered all the information Ms X provided in support of her complaint and awarded band 2 in line with its allocations scheme. There is therefore insufficient evidence of fault to justify us investigating further. In any case, Ms X had the right to ask for a review of its decision in September 2024 and it was reasonable for her to exercise that right.
13. We do not investigate a council’s complaints handling where were are not investigating the underlying complaint. In any case, I note the Council has already apologised for the delay in responding and offered a payment, so further investigation by us would not add to the Council’s own investigation.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because we could not add to the Council’s investigation and because it was reasonable for Ms X to ask for a review of the Council’s priority band decision if she disagreed with it.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman