Summary: There was fault by the Council as it failed to send medical information Ms X supplied in 2019 and 2020 to a housing medical assessor. The Council has apologised and offered a satisfactory payment to Ms X towards the injustice caused, as she did not miss out on offers of housing. The Council was also at fault as it failed to repay storage costs it had agreed to pay. Repayment of these costs remedies the injustice to Ms X.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I shall call Ms X, complains the Council has failed to consider the medical evidence she provided in 2019 and 2020 when making decisions on her housing and homeless applications.
2. Ms X complains the Council has failed to refund her for storage and removal costs which it said it would pay for.
3. Ms X also complains that she has been unable to join the housing register and bid for properties as she had made a homeless application.

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What I have investigated

4. I have investigated Ms X’s complaint from April 2019 onwards. The final section of this statement contains my reasons for not investigating the rest of the complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

5. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
6. Applicants have a right to appeal to the county court on points of law on a number of the decisions made by Council’s in relation to housing and homeless applications. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
7. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
8. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

9. I read the papers submitted by Ms X and discussed the complaint with her.
10. I considered the Council’s comments about the complaint and any supporting documents it provided.
11. Ms X and the organisation had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

The law

12. Councils must take reasonable steps to help to secure suitable accommodation for any eligible homeless person (the relief duty). When a council decides this duty has come to an end, it must notify the applicant in writing. (Housing Act 1996, section 189B)
13. A council must secure interim accommodation for applicants and their household if it has reason to believe they may be homeless, eligible for assistance and have a priority need. (Housing Act 1996, section 188)

Key facts

14. Ms X made a homeless application to the Council in April 2019. The Council issued a Personalised Housing Plan (PHP) in June 2019 and after investigations it was decided that Ms X was not homeless in November 2019. This decision was overturned on review in November 2019.
15. The Council offered Ms X a 2 bedroom private rented property in February 2020 which she refused as an occupational therapy assessment had not been carried out.
16. Ms X told the Council on 8 July 2021 that she had an eviction date of 27 July 2021. A new PHP was created on 22 July 2021 and she was offered a 3 bedroom privately rented flat. Unfortunately, the landlord said the property was not available when Ms X visited. Ms X was placed in temporary accommodation.
17. The Council offered Ms X a 3 bedroom privately rented house on 9 September 2021. The Council wrote to her on 13 September 2021 to inform her it was a final offer of accommodation. Ms X refused the offer, via her solicitor, on 23 September.
18. The Council wrote to Ms X to discharge its relief duty on 24 September 2021. Ms X asked for a review of the decision, which was not upheld in January 2022. Ms X’s solicitor asked for her temporary accommodation to continue while she appealed the decision but the Council refused it.

My analysis

Storage costs

19. Ms X says the Council has failed to reimburse her for storage and removal costs which it said it would pay for.
20. The Council has said that it paid Ms X £330 in August 2021 towards her removal costs but has not reimbursed her £1662 storage costs. The Council says its records confirm they had previously agreed to pay these costs. Failure to repay the agreed costs is fault. The Council’s offer to repay Ms X the storage costs is a satisfactory remedy to the injustice caused by the Council’s fault.

Medical evidence and housing register

21. Ms X says the Council failed to consider the medical evidence she provided in 2019 and 2020 when making a decision on her housing and homeless applications.
22. In its response to her official complaint, the Council has accepted the medical information Ms X supplied in 2019 and 2020 was not forwarded to a medical assessor. This was fault and the Council apologised and offered Ms X a £50 payment.
23. The Council has explained that it has now taken into account the medical evidence and Ms X was placed in Band C (moderate medical priority) in 2021. The Council has said that Ms X remains on the housing register, even though it has discharged its homeless duty. The Council has said that due to demand Band C applicants are not being rehoused and the average wait in Band B would be over 12 years for a 3 bedroom property.
24. The Council did write to Ms X in September 2021 to say that she was in Band B which contradicts where it said she was in Band C. And, Ms X considers that her priority date should be backdated to April 2019. In order to check that Ms X has the correct priority the Council has written to Ms X in May 2022 to gain information to reassess her housing band, to determine if she should be in band B or C. This seems a satisfactory remedy to her uncertainty over whether she has the correct housing priority. Given there is at least a 12 year wait for housing, Ms X will not have missed out on any offers of housing and so the reassessment will remedy any injustice.

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Agreed Action

25. The Council will pay Ms X £1662, to refund her storage costs, within one month of the date of the decision on this complaint.
26. The Council will pay Ms X £50 for its failure to forward her evidence to a medical advisor. (This part of the remedy is already complete.)
27. The Council will reassess Ms X’s housing priority and write to her with the outcome within two months of the date of the decision on this complaint.

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Final decision

28. I have completed my investigation and uphold Ms X's complaint. There was fault by the Council which caused injustice to Ms X. I am satisfied the Council has taken action to remedy that injustice.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

29. Ms X complains about the Council’s decisions on housing register applications she made going back to 2012. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. So, I cannot investigate matters that occurred before April 2019, as I consider it reasonable for Ms X to have complained about matters prior to that date at the time.
30. I have not investigated the Council’s decision(s) on Ms X’s homeless application. Applicants have a right to appeal to the county court on points of law on a number of the decisions made by Council’s in relation to housing and homeless applications. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. Ms X has employed a solicitor and has said that she intends to appeal against the Council’s decision to end the relief duty on her homeless application. So, I do not intend to investigate this part of the complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman