Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of Miss X’s circumstances for a housing application in terms of her medical needs, vulnerability and safeguarding. Confidential information which we have received indicates that this complaint does not meet the requirements of our assessment code.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council’s failure to consider her own medical, safeguarding and other circumstances separately from her partner’s housing application. She says she and her children should have had their own needs considered separately under the Children Act 1989 and the Equality Act 2010.

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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 we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(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. Miss X says she was not considered separately from her partner’s housing application on which she and her children are listed as a household. She believes that the Council should have given her own housing needs more consideration separately from her partner’s reasons for rehousing.
6. Miss X does not have a separate housing application in her own right and is part of her partner’s household. She cannot ask the Council to review her application because she does not have one and the review rights relate to the family application on which she is a named member.
7. From confidential information which we have received about this case which involves third parties we decided that we would not pursue the matter further because it does not meet the requirements of our assessment code.

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Final decision

8. We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of Miss X’s circumstances for a housing application in terms of her medical needs, vulnerability and safeguarding. Confidential information which we have received indicates that this complaint does not meet the requirements of our assessment code.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman