Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about her suspension from the housing register. This is because, at our invitation, the Council agreed to conduct a new internal appeal to consider Mrs X’s suspension. We consider this a suitable remedy.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council suspended her from the housing register for 12 months after she refused a property. She also complains the Council placed her bid for another property first, but then gave the property to someone else without a clear explanation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. If we were to investigate it is likely we would find fault causing Mrs X injustice because:

It is not clear the Housing Allocations Panel properly reached its decision to suspend Mrs X’s application. The contemporaneous decision-making minutes of the panel have not been retained so we cannot be satisfied how the panel made its decision. The Council previously offered us some reasoning, but that appears to be after-the-fact reasoning as there are no contemporaneous records showing the panel made its decision properly.

6. Mrs X also complained her bid for one property was in first place but the cl offered that property to someone else. The Council has now agreed to put this part of the complaint through the Council’s complaints procedure. Mrs X should complete the Council’s complaint procedure on this part of the complaint before we will consider it.

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Agreed actions

7. To its credit the Council agreed to resolve the matters in paragraph 5 and will do the following to put things right:
1. Conduct a new internal appeal against Mrs X’s suspension from the housing register. The new appeal should use the same information Mrs X previously submitted.
2. Write to Mrs X with the new appeal outcome.
3. Keep a clear, contemporaneous record of the Housing Allocations Panel’s decision-making.
4. If the new decision is to uphold the appeal and remove the suspension, reinstate the application with the priority it would have had if not suspended, consider whether Mrs X is likely to have missed any housing offers in the meantime, and if so, take appropriate steps to remedy the injustice.
8. The Council will complete these points within one month of today.

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Final decision

9. We have upheld this complaint because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by agreeing to conduct a new internal appeal to consider Mrs X’s suspension from the housing register.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman