Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her housing application. The Council has agreed to consider her request for a direct offer. I am satisfied with the actions the Council has proposed to take.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the Council’s handling of her housing application. She says the Council has delayed offering her suitable alternative accommodation and has refused to consider her requests for a direct offer. She is also unhappy with the Council’s handling of her complaints about this.

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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 investigating, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

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

3. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
4. We will not usually investigate complaint handling if we are not investigating the rest of the complaint. This is because there is not usually enough injustice to justify us doing so. We collect information about particularly poor complaint handling practice and report this back to organisations. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34B(8))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. The Council has assessed Mrs X’s application under the band 1 priority, eligible for a three-bedroom accommodation. This is in line with the Council’s housing allocation policy for Mrs X’s circumstances and household composition. There is therefore not enough evidence of fault in how the Council assessed her application.
8. I recognise Mrs X wants to move into suitable accommodation sooner. However, where this is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council assessed her application, we cannot require the Council to make a particular offer of accommodation or give Mrs X greater priority over other applicants. As we cannot achieve the outcome Mrs X wants, I will not investigate her complaint.

Direct offer of accommodation

9. The Council’s housing allocation policy allows it to exercise discretion to make a direct offer of accommodation in exceptional circumstances. The Council considers each request on its own merits.
10. Since Mrs X complained to us, the Council has agreed to consider Mrs X’s request for a direct offer of accommodation. It has contacted Mrs X about this and asked her to provide further information to determine whether it is appropriate to make a direct offer in the circumstances.
11. I am satisfied with the actions the Council proposes to take. If Mrs X is dissatisfied with the decision the Council reaches, she can complain to us again at that time.

Complaint handling

12. As a publicly funded body we must be careful with how we use our resources. As we are not investigating the substantive complaint about Mrs X’s housing application, it is not a good use of public resources to investigate the complaint handling in isolation. However, we collect information about poor complaint handling practice and report this back to Councils.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council assessed her housing application and we cannot achieve the outcome she wants. The Council has agreed to consider her request for a direct offer and I am satisfied with this action. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate the complaint handling in isolation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman