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

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about the Council’s assessment of her housing application. She says she was given a Band B priority following a medical review of her child’s needs in 2023. Since that time, she has not been made any offers and she says her current council flat is a safety risk for her child because it has a balcony and he may jump or fall due to his autism.

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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)
3. 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)
4.  

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council’s responses. I have also considered the Council’s housing allocations policy.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mrs X says her current council flat is unsuitable for her family needs because it has stairs and balcony and she is concerned that her son who has autism may jump or fall from the balcony. She asked for a medical assessment of her child’s needs in 2023 and the Council awarded her Band B medical priority.
8. She says she has not had any offers or seen any vacancies to bid on since that time and her need to move is urgent. She made a formal compalint in February 2023 and the Council responded the following month. We will not consider what happened in 2023 because it was reasonable for Mrs X to complain to us within 12 months and she did not do so until 2025.
9. Mrs X made further complaints in 2025 and involved her local member of Parliament. The Council replied to her and stated that her application has been thoroughly investigated and that she currently is in the highest banding for her circumstances. She has asked to be considered for Band A but this has a very high threshold and is limited to those suffering from immediate house loss through fire or flood and medical cases where the applicant is unable to return to their home.
10. The Council has a duty to assess an application submitted through the allocation process but there is no duty to provide housing within a specified time. Mrs X is eligible to bid on four-bedroom vacancies but the current waiting time for applicants in Band B for these properties is 16 years. This is because there is high demand and very few vacancies occur annually.
11. 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. I have seen no evidence of fault which would suggest that Mrs X should be placed in a higher banding.
12. 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.

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Final decision

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

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman