Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council not providing Miss X with a larger home. This is because we are unlikely to find fault with the Council and further investigation would not add to the Council’s response.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains her current property is too small for her family. She further complains the Council is ignoring her emails. Miss X says it is impacting her well-being and the well-being of her children, some of whom have additional needs. Miss X wants the Council to move her to a bigger house and to reply to her enquiries.

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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
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organization (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

3. 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 X lives in a four bedroom property with 10 children. Some of the children have special educational needs. Miss X said her current property is overcrowded and unsuitable for her family’s needs.
7. The Council said Miss X is in a high priority band and can bid on properties that have between four and six bedrooms. It confirmed her case is on the High Needs Panel which considers complex and exceptional housing cases.
8. I understand Miss X applied for a property but the Council offered it to someone else. The Council told Miss X the property was allocated in line with its allocations scheme to someone in a higher priority banding. Miss X is in band 1 on the register. This is the highest priority band except for emergencies. The Ombudsman may not find fault with a council’s assessment of a housing applicant’s priority if it has carried this out in line with its published allocations scheme. I am satisfied the Council has properly assessed Miss X’s circumstances when it assessed her priority needs and therefore cannot question its decision to allocate the property to someone else.
9. The Ombudsman recognises that the demand for social housing far outstrips the supply of properties in many areas. The Ombudsman may not find fault with a council for failing to re-house someone, if it has prioritised applicants and allocated properties according to its published lettings scheme policy.
10. Miss X complained that a property had been described wrongly on the lettings system. Miss X believed it was a six bedroom property when actually it only had three bedrooms. That property was unsuitable for Miss X and therefore she has not been caused a significant injustice because of any errors in the property listing.
11. Miss X further complained she was unable to log in to the Council’s housing portal. She also says the Council has not responded to her queries. The Council told Miss X the steps she should take to log in to the portal. If she still has difficulty logging in, the Council said it would ask its administration team to resolve it. The Council has apologised for not responding to some of Miss X’s correspondence. We will not investigate this part of Miss X’s complaint because we cannot add to the Council’s response.
12. The Council delayed in responding to Miss X’s complaints. However, we will not investigate this matter because 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

13. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because we are unlikely to find fault with the Council and further investigation would not add to the Council’s response.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman