Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application in 2022 and 2023. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Miss X could not have complained to us sooner.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council’s failure to review her housing application in 2022 and 2023 when she says she said she needed to move urgently. She says she has suffered threats of violence from a former partner and that her current housing association home is unsuitable for her family. She wants a higher housing priority and rehousing away from her current location.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Miss X says she applied to the Council for housing in 2022. Since then, she has reported threats of domestic violence and the unsuitable layout of her current home to her social housing landlord and the Council but she did not have a review of her application until 2024.
7. The Council says that she was originally awarded Band C priority and did not provide medical information until February 2024 when she was reviewed to Band B. Following a further review in 2025 she was awarded Band B with 4-bedroom priority.
8. We will not investigate the Council’s involvement on her case from 2022. These matters took place outside the 12-month period for receiving complaints. It was reasonable for Miss X to complain to us within 12 months of being given her original banding. She did not complain to us until June 2025. There is no evidence to suggest that Miss X could not have complained to us sooner.
9. Miss X still believes that she should have higher priority than the latest banding. The Council says she is in the correct priority for her circumstances according to its allocations policy. It advised Miss X that she could ask her social landlord to support a request for a discretionary management transfer if she has evidence her need to move is urgent. However, this would only entitle her to a like-for like to move to a different area and would not resolve her requirement for larger accommodation.
10. 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.
11. 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 cannot consider issues related to discretionary management transfers because they are outside the normal 1996 Housing Act part 6 allocations system.

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Final decision

12. We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application in 2022 and 2023. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Miss X could not have complained to us sooner.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman