Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application. There is insufficient evidence of injustice caused by any fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about the Council’s failure to give her housing application additional priority due to changes in her medical circumstances. She says she is living in overcrowded circumstances in a 1-bedroom flat and needs additional space and her son has several medical needs which cannot be met in the current accommodation.

Back to top

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
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal.

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

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

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

Back to top

My assessment

5. Mrs X says that her current one-bedroom flat is too small for her family which includes a son who has several medical needs and requires additional space. She applied for housing but was placed in a low banding. She complained about this to the Council in July 2023 but the Council did not uphold her complaint because it says her application was correctly assessed.
6. Mrs X submitted a medical assessment request via her Member of Parliament in early 2024 and the Council accepts that it failed to carry this out. She made a further complaint and submitted new medical information in 2025. The Council told her that it would carry out a re-assessment but she complained to us when this did not happen promptly.
7. We made enquiries of the Council and it sent us and Mrs X the outcome of the medical assessment shortly afterwards. The new assessment did not award any additional priority to her housing application.
8. If the assessment had increased Mrs X’s priority we would have expected that it be backdated to when she provided the original information and any missed opportunities for offers or bids would have to be considered. Because the outcome was unchanged, we cannot say that Mrs X suffered any injustice from the oversight in assessing her case in 2024.
9. We 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.
10. The Council told Mrs X that she is still eligible for a banding review of her application within 21 days of the assessment and she is advised to pursue this opportunity.

Back to top

Final decision

11. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application. There is insufficient evidence of injustice caused by any fault which would warrant an investigation.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman