Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about her housing register priority. There is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s application of its policy.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council did not properly assess her housing register application. She says it did not consider all the medical evidence or fully consider the effect of her child, Y’s medical needs and the household’s overcrowding when it awarded Band C priority.
2. Miss X also complains about poor communication and complaint handling.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. The Council’s policy awards Band C where an applicant has significant medical needs and/or lacks one bedroom. Band B applies where an applicant has high medical needs requiring urgent rehousing because their accommodation severely and permanently affects a serious and enduring condition, or where the household lacks two or more bedrooms. 
8. The Council considered the family’s circumstances, the medical evidence and Y’s needs. It accepted the household had significant medical and welfare needs, recognised the household needed one additional bedroom, and awarded Band C priority.
9. We are not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation has followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, even if someone disagrees with it. There is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s application of its policy to justify an investigation.
10. Miss X also complains of poor communication and complaint handling. We will not investigate this part of Miss X’s complaint because it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint handling when we are not investigating the substantive issues.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s application of its policy.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman