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

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about the Council’s refusal to backdate her application priority to 2023 following a change in her banding to emergency priority in 2025.

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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)
3. 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 has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4.  

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. Mrs X says the Council should backdate her housing priority to 2023. Her application was awarded emergency banding in January 2025 when she submitted medical evidence about her child’s condition. She says the condition applied from 2023 and her housing circumstances have been the same.
8. The Council says the previous medical evidence she provided only warranted reasonable preference status and her new priority will only apply for when she provided new medical documents. Most councils operate this system of priority and when an applicant reports new information it may or may not increase their priority from when the new information is received.
9. Mrs X had a review of her housing priority in March 2024 and she could have complained to us earlier if she was dissatisfied. We will not consider that outcome now because it was more than 12 months before she submitted her compalint to us in 2025. 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.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint about the Cuoncil’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