Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s application of its housing allocation policy, and that it failed to provide reasonable adjustments at his appeal hearing. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council failed to take into consideration his children when allocating the number of bedrooms he is entitled to, and did not provide the reasonable adjustments he requested for the appeal hearing.
2. He would like a new assessment of his housing needs, and to be provided with a 6-bedroom home for his family.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. 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 investigating, further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr X is disabled and lives with his 4 children. He requested a housing assessment to increase his bedrooms from 4 to 6.
8. The Council awarded Mr X what it considers to be the correct priority banding and bedroom allocation. Mr X asked the Council to review its decision.
9. The Council considered the review request and evidence provided and explained why Mr X was not awarded the extra bedrooms.
10. Mr X appealed this decision and attended a hearing. He says he requested reasonable adjustments which were not provided. The Councils complaint response says Mr X failed to share any adjustments before the hearing, which was held in an accessible room.
11. The Council considered Mr X’s appeal but did not change its decision.
12. We are not an appeal body so we do not come to our own view on whether Mr X meets the Council’s criteria. Our role is to consider if the Council has followed the proper processes when making its decision.
13. The Council’s review decision letter shows it considered the relevant evidence and provided a reasoned explanation for why it considered Mr X did not meet the criteria for extra bedrooms.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman