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

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council’s assessment of his housing application. He says he applied for housing in 2014 but the Council has only made his change of priority effective from 2023. He believes this was due to its allocations policy change in 2024. He wants the Council to backdate his priority to 2014.

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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/care provider 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 information provided by the complainant and the Council’s response. 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. Mr X says he applied for housing in 2014. He was initially awarded Band C priority. In June 2023 Mr X agreed to remain in his private tenancy and was awarded Band B under the Council’s homelessness prevention section of its allocations policy. Like all councils the Council applies any change in banding as the effective date of an application.
7. In 2024 the Council introduced a new allocations policy and Band C applicants who are statutorily homeless were moved up to Band B from that date when Band D was abolished. Mr X was aware of his change to Band B from 2023 and we will not consider a complaint about this now because it was reasonable for Mr X to make a complaint within 12 months of the change.
8. The time for receiving complaints is from when someone became aware of the matter they wished to complain about, not when they complained to the Council or it issued its final response. We would expect someone to complain to us within a year, even if they were dissatisfied with the time the complaints procedure was taking.
9. We have some discretion to consider older complaints but this would not apply to Mr X’s case. He believes the change in policy has affected his application but this does not appear to be the case. He was in Band B prior to the change and remains so. He could not expect his application to be changed to the higher banding from 2014 because priority changes apply from the date of the change and are not retrospective. It would disadvantage applicants who were on higher bandings from an earlier date if banding changes were made retrospectively.

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Final decision

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

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman