Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s assessment of her housing register priority. There is insufficient evidence of fault to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council has failed to consider all her supporting evidence in its assessment of her housing register priority. She says this has caused distress, and the failure to offer her a suitable property is affecting her family’s health and wellbeing.

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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.

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

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Ms X has been on the Council’s housing register since 2020 awaiting an offer of suitable housing.
6. In July 2024, she asked the Council to reassess her housing priority. She provided the Council with evidence of changes to her household’s housing needs.
7. The Council completed its reassessment in November and increased her housing priority to its highest banding, Band A. It backdated this to July 2024.
8. The Council completed a further re-assessment in May 2025. Despite some change to her circumstances, it did not change her priority and her application remained in Band A.
9. In her complaint to us, Ms X states the Council has not taken all the evidence she provided into account.
10. We will not investigate this complaint. There is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s decision making to warrant an investigation. Ms X is in the highest priority band, and this has been appropriately backdated to when she provided evidence of her increased housing need. The Council’s decision making appears to be in line with its published allocations scheme.
11. I acknowledge that this matter is causing Ms X distress. However, the fact the Council has not yet made Ms X a housing offer does not mean we should investigate. We could not require the Council to further increase her priority or make her a housing offer. We recognise that the demand for social housing far outstrips the supply of properties in many areas.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman