Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s refusal to award Miss Y a higher banding for housing allocations. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

The complaint

1. Miss Y complains about the Council’s handling of her housing register application. She is unhappy with Council delays when assessing her application and the outcome of her application. She says the Council overlooked the urgency of her family’s situation and placed her in a low banding.

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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
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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

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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Miss Y lives in a two-bedroom property with her three young children.
7. In late 2024, Miss Y applied to join the Council’s newly introduced single housing allocations scheme covering its entire area.
8. In May 2025, the Council awarded Miss Y Band C priority with a three-bedroom need. It explained this was because her and her family were overcrowded and lacking one bedroom.
9. Miss Y asked the Council to review its decision.
10. In September, the Council completed its review, but it decided to maintain its decision to award Band C priority with a three-bedroom need.
11. In its review decision, the Council explained Band C was the highest priority banding that it could award in the family’s circumstances. It provided clear reasons for its decision that were in line with the Council’s Housing Allocation Scheme. The Council confirmed it had considered Miss Y’s evidence from health professionals involved in her family’s care. But it explained this did not provide enough evidence to show there was a severe or urgent need for the family to move on medical grounds. For these reasons, in line with the Council’s Housing Allocation Scheme, the Council said it was unable to increase her banding. The Council told Miss Y that she could ask it to reassess her banding if she could provide evidence showing the property, including any disrepair, was harmful to her or her children’s health. It gave examples of the evidence Miss Y should provide in support of any future request for reassessment. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s decision-making to justify our involvement. We will not investigate this complaint.
12. Miss Y also complained about Council delays in assessing her housing register application. We will not consider this complaint further. The Council has apologised for its initial delay in assessing the application. However, this has not caused a sufficient injustice to Miss Y to justify further investigation. This is because the Council has since completed its assessment and subsequent review, which did not change the outcome for Miss Y. This meant Miss Y did not miss out on a higher banding during the delay. Further, the Council has backdated her priority date to November 2023 and it is unlikely Miss Y missed out on successfully bidding on a three-bedroom property during the delay. I say this because the Council’s online information on waiting times states, due to demand out-stripping supply, applicants can expect to wait several years before they are offered accommodation.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s refusal to award Miss Y a higher banding for housing allocations. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman