Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s delay in re-assessing her housing register application. The Council apologised and offered to pay her £250 to remedy the uncertainty and avoidable time and trouble caused. Further investigation by us would not lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council gave her poor advice in 2014 when she moved to private rented sector accommodation to end her homelessness. She understood she could retain her priority on the Council’s housing register.
2. Ms X also complained the Council delayed reassessing a fresh housing register application. This meant she could not bid for properties.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)
5. 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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

Late complaint

8. We usually expect people to complain to us within 12 months of the events they are complaining about. Ms X complained to us in October 2025 about events from 2014. There is no evidence to show she could not have complained earlier and no good reason to consider the period before August 2024 when the Council asked her to provide evidence to support her request for a reassessment.

What happened

9. Ms X made a fresh housing register application in 2021 and in September 2022 she was placed in band D. She told us she had been in regular contact with the Council about this during 2023 but did not get any meaningful response. In August 2024, the Council asked her to send additional information so it could carry out a reassessment and Ms X said she sent that a few days later.
10. The Council accepts it did not review the information Ms X provided until she contacted it again in late December, at which point Ms X’s housing register account had been suspended due to a lack of activity. In a response to contact from Ms X’s M.P, the Council said the medical evidence was not remarkable, but it would consult its medical adviser. The Council sought advice from its medical adviser in early 2026 and issued its decision in early April 2026. It said Ms X had not met the threshold for medical priority. It explained Ms X could ask for a review of its decision within 21 days, but she did not do so.
11. In its complaint response, the Council apologised for the delay and offered to pay Ms X £250. It did not make the payment because Ms X said she wanted to defer any discussions about this until she had a decision on the reassessment.

My assessment

12. There is no statutory timeframe in which councils should assess a housing register application or carry out a re-assessment. However, we would usually expect councils to have completed an assessment within about eight weeks of getting all the information needed.
13. The Council had the information needed by early September 2024, so it should have completed the assessment by late 2024. It did not issue a decision until April 2026, which is a significant delay. That said, the reassessment did not change Ms X’s priority on the housing register – she remained in band D throughout. And she has not missed an offer of housing because this is the lowest band in which applicants can bid for housing and the Council told us that even applicants in band A typically wait at least eight years for rehousing. Therefore, the payment of £250 offered in 2025 is sufficient to remedy the uncertainty and avoidable time and trouble chasing the Council for an outcome that the delay caused. Further investigation by us would not lead to a different outcome.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman