Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s housing allocation arrangements. This is mainly because any direct injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council did not respond fully to his request for information about how it operates its housing allocation scheme. Mr X says he is experiencing severe financial hardship and significant distress. Mr X is unhappy about how the Council handled his complaint.

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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:

• any fault has not caused direct 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))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X says he is experiencing financial hardship by remaining in his current accommodation. There is no direct link between this and the Council not providing all the information about its housing allocation scheme requested by Mr X. Mr X also suggested to us that the Council’s failure to answer his questions made him suspect it was not operating its allocations scheme properly. That allegation is vague. Also, as with the previous point, it does not link directly to any problems Mr X has with his own housing situation or to the Council not offering Mr X a new home. We will not investigate where there is no direct causal link between the Council’s actions and the injustice claimed.
6. Any injustice actually caused to Mr X by the Council not providing all the information he requested, such as frustration or not having the answers he wants, is not significant enough to justify an investigation.
7. Mr X also complained about the Council’s handling of his complaint. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because any injustice is either not directly linked to the Council’s actions or is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman