Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about delays in the Council’s assessment of a housing application. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Mr X could not have complained to us sooner.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council’s failure to properly process his application for housing from July 2022 until April 2024. He says that he sent in documents and a medical assessment request in 2023 but the Council failed to respond to him.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Mr X says he applied for Housing in July 2022. He provided additional documents required in early 2023 and asked for a medical assessment in March 2023. The Council did not respond to his requests and in December 2023 he made a formal complaint because he had not received his housing priority details.
6. The Council responded in 2024 and referred his medical request for assessment in April. The outcome was unsuccessful and did not change Mr X’s priority banding.
7. We will not investigate this complaint which was received outside the normal 12-month period. Mr X was aware of the Council’s failure to respond to his application submissions in 2022 and early 2023. It was reasonable for him to complain to the Council or to us at that time.
8. The time for receiving complaints is from when someone became aware of the matter they wish to complain about, not when they complained to the Council or it issued its final response. We would expect someone to complain to us within a year, even if they were dissatisfied with the time the complaints procedure was taking.

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Final decision

9. We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about delays in the Council’s assessment of a housing application. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Mr X could not have complained to us sooner.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman