Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to make an offer of housing since Miss X joined the housing register 7 years ago. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council failing to offer her rehousing since she joined the housing register several years ago. She says she was awarded Band 1 priority but she has not been made an offer even though the Council’s website says the average waiting time is two and a half years.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council. 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. Miss X says she has been on the housing register for 7 years and has had Band 1 priority since 2023. She says she is overcrowded and needs a 3-bedroom house urgently. She says the Council’s website gives an average waiting time of two and a half years for Band 1 applicants but she has been waiting longer.
6. The Council says that her housing banding priority is correct under its allocations policy. The average time for allocation does not mean that someone will be rehoused within that timescale. There are many hundreds of applicants in Band 1 and they are allocated in date order primarily. The Council’s records show that Miss X was awarded Band 1 priority for 3 bedrooms in September 2023.
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.
8. 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

9. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to make an offer of housing since Miss X joined the housing register 7 years ago. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman