Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about the Council’s assessment of her housing application. She says she should be given higher banding priority because her son suffers from ADHD which require shim to have a separate bedroom.

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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’s response. 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. Ms x says the Council should award her housing application a higher banding than her current band C priority. She says her son has AHHD and requires a separate bedroom from his sibling because of his behaviour. She also says her current housing situation is affecting her mental health.
6. Miss X asked the Council to review her housing application under s.166A of the housing Act 1996. The Council carried out a review and also assessed her medical evidence. It decided that she did not warrant additional priority because she is already in a banding under its allocations policy which awards priority for being short of one bedroom. She currently occupies a two-bedroom property and the need for an additional bedroom is the basis of her current banding. Any medical reasons for requiring an additional bedroom would not alter her current housing needs.
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, regardless of whether someone disagrees with the decision the organisation made.

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.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman