Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about housing allocations because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

The complaint

1. Miss Y complained she has been on the housing waiting list for over six years, despite being in Band 2 due to overcrowding and her son’s medical priority. Miss Y also is unhappy that the Council told her if she moved to a different property with three bedrooms, she would then have to wait longer for a four-bedroom property as her application would be moved to Band 3.
2. Miss Y says her children struggle with the lack of space and complex needs. She says she feels pressured living in her existing property and is worried that by the time she is offered housing, her children will be adults.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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

5. I considered information Miss Y provided and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Miss Y says her housing application was assessed about six years ago and since this, she has been waiting for permanent accommodation for her and her family for six years. She says she was placed in Band 2 due to her son’s health conditions and because with an older daughter as well as a son, she was overcrowded in her existing two bed property.
7. Miss Y complained to the Council about the time she has been waiting for a property. Miss Y is unhappy that she was told that if she moved into a three-bed property while she waits for permanent housing in a four-bedroom property to accommodate her son’s needs, her banding would be lowered to Band 3.
8. Under the Council’s housing allocations scheme, Band 2 is for those who are overcrowded and requiring two additional bedrooms and where the applicant, or in this case her son, needs to move on medical grounds. Band 3, is for those who are overcrowded in their current accommodation and require one bedroom more than they currently have.
9. The Ombudsman may not find fault with a council’s assessment of a housing application or a housing applicant’s priority if it has carried this out in line with its published allocations scheme.
10. The Ombudsman recognises that the demand for social housing far outstrips the supply of properties in many areas. The Ombudsman may not find fault with a council for failing to re-house someone, if it has prioritised applicants and allocated properties according to its published housing allocations policy.
11. As Miss Y’s application has been assessed at Band 2, in line with the Council’s allocations policy, based on the information Miss Y provided to the Council when she applied for housing, and it has prioritised her application in accordance with its policy, there is not enough evidence of fault in the time the Council has required Miss Y and her family to wait for re-housing. We will not investigate this complaint.
12. Miss Y has also been told, in line with the Council’s allocations policy, that were she to be allocated a three-bedroom property temporarily to ease her overcrowding, she would then likely wait longer for a four-bedroomed property as her application would be re-prioritised to a Band 3. As this is in accordance with the Council’s housing allocations policy, there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating this advice. We will not investigate.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Miss Y’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman