Summary: The Council was at fault for not providing Ms X with a face-to-face appointment as part of her housing application despite Ms X informing the Council she needed this because English was not her first language. The Council was also at fault for a significant delay in processing her housing application and its poor complaint handling. This led to a 15 month delay in the Council approving Ms X’s application to join the housing register. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment and backdate the priority of Ms X’s housing application to remedy the injustice caused. It has also agreed to produce an action plan and send a reminder to staff to prevent a recurrence of the faults.

The complaint

1. Ms Y complained on behalf of Ms X that the Council failed to provide her with the face-to-face appointment she requested to submit the supporting documents for her housing application. Ms Y also complained there was a significant delay in the Council processing Ms X’s application. Ms Y says this has caused Ms X distress, frustration and uncertainty as her housing application remained inactive for longer than necessary.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered evidence provided by Ms X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
5. Ms X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Relevant law and guidance

The Council’s housing policy

6. To join the housing register, a person is required to complete an application form. Along with the application form, the applicant needs to provide the following documents:
• Proof of identity for all household members
• Proof of current address
• Evidence of right to reside in the UK if not a British Citizen.
7. At the time of Ms X’s complaint, if an applicant needed assistance with scanning documents required for their housing register application, the applicant could book an appointment to do this in person.

The Council’s complaints policy

8. The time frame for a full response to a complaint is 10 working days for stage one and 20 working days for stage two complaints.
9. For stage one complaints, the Investigative Officer must provide the complainant with a formal written response addressing their complaint in full, and summarising the findings and proposed resolution steps.

What happened

10. In July 2023 Ms X applied to join the housing register due to overcrowding in her current property.
11. Ms X used the Council’s online booking form to arrange an appointment for assistance with scanning the documents required for the housing application. Ms X said she requested a face-to-face appointment. However, in October 2023 she received a telephone appointment giving advice on how to submit her documents. On this call, Ms X said she further requested a face-to-face appointment but the Council did not give her one.
12. In November 2023, Ms Y helped Ms X raise a stage one complaint (complaint A). Ms X advised the Council English was not her first language and she had help writing this complaint. Ms X said when she completed the online form she selected the option to have a face-to-face appointment to have her documents scanned. She explained this was because she did not have good digital skills and English was not her first language. In order to resolve her complaint Ms X asked to be booked onto the next face to face appointment available to scan her documents.
13. In December 2023, the Council issued a stage one response for complaint A. However, this addressed a separate issue relating to difficulties Ms X was experiencing regarding a reference number for her housing application.
14. In January 2024, Ms Y uploaded the documents on Ms X’s behalf onto the Council’s website. However, due to an unknown error, the Council did not receive them.
15. In May 2024, Ms Y helped Ms X raise another stage one complaint (complaint B). Ms X complained about the delay in processing her housing application which she made in July 2023. She also said she had submitted her supporting documents in January 2024 but had heard nothing since.
16. The Council issued a stage one response for complaint B in June 2024. The Council apologised for the delay and said it was experiencing backlogs of work due to the increased demand for social housing. It advised it had now processed the application but it could not activate it as Ms X had not submitted the necessary documents.
17. The same month the Council emailed Ms X asking her to submit the documents to accompany her housing application. The Council advised if she needed assistance, she could book an appointment to submit the documents in person. Ms Y escalated complaint B to stage two on Ms X’s behalf as they were dissatisfied the Council was asking for further documentation given that they had submitted this in January 2024.
18. Ms X raised a stage two complaint for complaint A in August 2024 saying that the stage one response did not address her main complaint and advised the Council again she had not received the face-to face appointment she requested.
19. The Council issued a stage two response for complaint A in October 2024 and did not uphold the complaint. The Council said applicants can book an appointment online where the service point team will call to resolve enquiries over the phone. The Council said if it is determined that an appointment cannot be carried out over the phone due to a language barrier or any other circumstances, the applicant will be offered the opportunity to attend a face-to-face appointment. In this instance, the Council said a face-to-face appointment was not required as it told Ms X about the process to upload the supporting documents on the call. The Council did apologise for its delay in responding to Ms X’s stage two complaint and awarded £50 financial compensation.
20. The Council also issued a stage two response for complaint B. The Council confirmed Ms X’s housing application was received early July 2023 but not processed until June 2024. However, it advised the application could not be made active for bidding as the necessary verification documents had not been provided with the application form. The Council said the document upload in January 2024 could not be traced and requested Ms X submitted the documents again. It said once it had completed the verification process of the documents, it would backdate the housing application to the date Ms X made the initial application which was July 2023. The Council also offered Ms X a £330 payment in recognition of the delays.
21. In November 2024, Ms Y submitted the documents again on Ms X’s behalf. The same month the Council confirmed Ms X’s application was now active. The Council assessed her application as band three with an overcrowding priority. However, Ms Y has advised that the Council has not backdated Ms X’s housing application.
22. Ms X remained dissatisfied with the Council’s handling of the matter and complained to us.

The Council’s response to our enquiries

23. In response to our enquiries, the Council accepted it delayed processing Ms X’s application and failed to offer the appointment Ms X sought. It also accepted it missed opportunities to put it right through its complaints procedure.
24. The Council confirmed Ms X did not miss out on the opportunity to be offered a two bedroom property between July 2023 and November 2024.
25. The Council offered the following remedy to resolve the complaint:
• A formal apology for the failure to arrange a face-to-face appointment and the poor complaint handling
• £350 symbolic payment
• Backdate the housing application’s Band 3 priority.

My findings

Delay in processing Ms X’s housing application

26. Ms X made an initial housing application in July 2023 but the Council did not consider and process this until June 2024. Whilst there is no statutory timescale for processing housing applications, we would usually expect a council to process a housing application within eight weeks. The Council should have processed the housing application by the end of August 2023 at the latest. There was a 10 month delay in doing this which was fault. This meant Ms X had an inactive application for longer than necessary which caused distress, frustration and uncertainty.
27. We have found similar fault with the Council on a separate case. Following that case, the Council created an action plan on how it intends to address its backlog in processing housing applications and provided a progress update on this. Therefore, it does not require a further service improvement.

Failure to offer a face-to-face appointment

28. Ms X requested a face-to-face appointment on three separate occasions to scan her documents for her housing application. The Council said in its stage two response had there been a language barrier, a face-to-face appointment would be offered to Ms X. Ms X made it clear in her stage one complaint she wanted a face-to-face appointment because English was not her first language. Despite this, the Council did not offer her an appointment which was fault. Had the Council arranged the face-to-face appointment when Ms X notified it of the language barrier, on a balance of probabilities, Ms X would have scanned her documents and her application would have been active from June 2024 when the Council finally processed her application. As Ms X did not receive her face-to-face appointment, her documents were not submitted and the Council did not activate the application until November 2024. The Council’s failure to arrange an appointment meant Ms X had an inactive application for longer than necessary which caused distress, frustration and uncertainty.
29. The Council in response to my enquiries, accepted it was at fault and proposed a remedy which I am satisfied is sufficient to remedy the injustice this caused to Ms X. The Council also confirmed Ms X has not missed the opportunity to place a successful bid on a property during this time. I have made a further recommendation to prevent a recurrence of the same fault in future.

Complaint handling

30. In November 2023, Ms X raised a stage one complaint saying the Council had not given her a face-to-face appointment as requested. The Council’s complaints policy says the investigating officer must address the complaint in full. However, in its response, the Council responded to a separate issue Ms X had raised and failed to respond to her request for a face-to-face appointment. This was fault which caused Ms X distress, frustration and uncertainty. It was also a missed opportunity to resolve Ms X’s complaint 11 months sooner.
31. In August 2024, Ms X raised a stage two complaint. The Council should have issued a stage two response by early September at the latest. However, the Council did not issue it until the end of October 2024. This was a seven-week delay and fault. The Council has apologised and paid Ms X £50 to remedy any injustice caused. This is an appropriate remedy for the frustration caused by the delay.

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Action

32. Within one month of the final decision, the Council has agreed to:
1. Apologise to Ms X for the distress, frustration and uncertainty caused by its failure to arrange a face-to-face appointment, and its complaint handling. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings.
2. Pay Ms X £350 for the distress frustration and uncertainty caused by its failure to arrange a face-to-face appointment and its complaint handling.
3. Backdate Ms X’s band three priority to July 2023.
4. Create an action plan setting out how it will ensure future housing applicants can access face-to-face appointments where requested as a reasonable adjustment or where English is not their first language.
5. Remind the relevant officers to ensure the complaint is addressed in full and responded to within the timescales set out in the Council’s complaints policy.
33. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

34. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed to my recommendations to remedy the injustice caused.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman