Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her housing register application because there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about the Council’s decision not to award band A on its housing register. She says her family are living in severely overcrowded accommodation, which is affecting their health and wellbeing, but the Council had offered no practical support or solutions.

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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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify How I considered this complaint
3. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

Housing register application

5. Ms X has been on the Council’s housing register since 2022. She lived with her partner and extended family, but the application was for a separate home for her and her partner. Her circumstances changed over time, with a house move, the birth of children and changes to medical conditions. I have seen the Council’s decisions since November 2022, which show the Council has reviewed the application several times to reflect the changing circumstances.
6. In June 2024, the Council said Ms X needed two bedrooms for her family unit, so was one bedroom short and it awarded band B for her preferred area. It reviewed the application in May 2025, following the birth of a child, but there was no change to the priority band. Ms X asked for a review of that decision and the Council reviewed it at stage 1 and 2 of its process. It wrote to her in July 2025 with its stage 2 decision, which was that band B and a two-bedroom need was correct. In a further decision in September 2025, it confirmed the criteria for band A was not met. These decisions show the Council took into account the family’s current housing, composition and the medical conditions they disclosed.
7. We are not an appeal body. It is not our role to say whether the Council’s decisions were correct. Unless we find fault in the decision-making process, we cannot comment on the decisions reached. The law says councils must allocate social housing in line with their published allocations scheme.
8. The records seen show the Council has considered all the information provided and its published allocation scheme at each decision stage. Its decisions were in line with the published scheme and its decision letters set out the reasons for the decision. There was no undue delay in its decision-making. There is therefore insufficient evidence of fault in its decision-making to justify further investigation.

Advice and support

9. In response to my enquiries, the Council confirmed it had considered whether Ms X was homeless on the grounds it was not reasonable for her to continue to occupy her current home in August 2025. It explained it could not guarantee that temporary or permanent accommodation offered through a homelessness application would be in Ms X’s preferred area, following which it said Ms X decided not to pursue a homelessness application. It was appropriate for the Council to consider the homelessness route as a way to resolve Ms X’s housing situation and also to suggest that Ms X considered looking for private rented accommodation as a quicker way to be rehoused. There is insufficient evidence of fault in the advice and support to justify further investigation.
10. For the above reasons, we will not consider the complaint further.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman