Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council’s decision that he was ineligible for the housing register. He submitted a review request but says the Council failed to issue a review decision.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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

3. I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council. I have also considered the Council’s housing allocations policy.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X applied to the Council’s housing register for social housing because he says his current private rented accommodation is too small for his family. He applied on the grounds of overcrowding and low income. He also asked the Council to assess his family’s medical needs.
6. The Council told Mr X that he did not qualify for the housing register because his income exceeded the £30,000 limit for applicants for the Band 3 circumstances he applied under. He was ineligible to apply under other circumstances because he was only short of one bedroom. Mr X asked the Council to review its previous decision. He provided financial and medical information with his request.
7. When he did not receive a response Mr X complained to us. There is no set timescale for reviews of housing register decisions but 8 weeks is considered reasonable compared with the government’s Homelessness Code of Guidance. The Council exceeded this timescale but has issued the decision since Mr X complained to us.
8. The decision on the latest review was that he still did not qualify for the housing register. Because the decision is unchanged any delay is not relevant to the outcome in this case. The Council was not convinced that Mr X’s family had any urgent medical needs which would qualify for the register under its allocations policy. It also stated that the family income exceeded the £30,000 limit to qualify as a low-income applicant in Band 3 of the policy.
9. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether someone disagrees with the decision the organisation made.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint about We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman