Summary: The Council delayed reviewing its decision that Ms B did not qualify to join the housing register. We have found fault in the time it took the Council to carry out a review of Ms B’s housing application decision. Because of the delay, Ms B suffered uncertainty. The Council will apologise for the delays, backdate Ms B’s housing award date further, and provide a symbolic payment.

The complaint

1. Ms B complains the Council delayed reviewing its decision that she did not qualify to join the housing register and then failed to award sufficient housing priority. She says because of this, she continues to live in unsuitable accommodation which is affecting her mental health.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. 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)
4. When considering complaints, we make findings based on the balance of probabilities. This means that we look at the available relevant evidence and decide what was more likely to have happened.
5. If we are satisfied with an organisation’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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What I have and have not investigated

6. I have investigated the part of Ms B’s complaint about how the Council delayed reviewing its decision that she did not qualify to join the housing register.
7. I have not investigated any reference to the Council still assessing the change of circumstances Ms B submitted to the Council in October 2023. This is because this does not form part of the allocations review procedure and so the Council has not had an opportunity to consider a complaint about this. If Ms B is unhappy about this, she should raise a complaint with the Council first. Once the Council has considered the complaint and has issued a final response, she may then refer the matter to us to consider as a new separate complaint.
8. I have not investigated any reference to the Council’s original decision that Ms B did not qualify to join the housing register. This is because this did not form part of Ms B’s original complaint. I reference these matters for context.

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How I considered this complaint

9. I have considered Ms B’s complaint and the documents provided by the complainant.
10. I have considered the comments and documents the Council has provided.
11. Ms B and the Council have had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered their comments before making this final decision.

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What I found

12. The Council’s housing allocations scheme sets out the rules for qualifying to join the housing register, how applicants are prioritised and how the Council manages the allocation of available properties.
13. The Council introduced a new scheme in January 2023. It places applicants in a priority band from Band A (highest priority) to Band D (lowest priority). It says Band B will be awarded where the applicant needs to move on medical or welfare grounds, including grounds relating to a disability. It says Band C will be awarded where the applicant needs to move on where there is low level medical or welfare grounds, including grounds relating to a disability. It also says Band C will be awarded for overcrowding where the applicant is in house in multiple occupation (HMO) or studio/bedsit accommodation. The previous scheme did not award priority for overcrowding where the applicant is in HMO or studio/bedsit accommodation.
14. In both schemes, the award date is the date on which a higher priority band applied. It is used to prioritise between applications within the same band.
15. In both the current and previous schemes, applicants who have been assessed as having no housing need to do not qualify to join the housing register.

What happened

16. This is a summary of events, outlining key facts and it does not cover everything that has occurred in this case.
17. Ms B lives in supported accommodation in a HMO. She says the other tenants have drug and drinking problems.
18. In September 2022, Ms B submitted a housing application to the Council. The application form requires the applicant to select from a list of housing needs. When Ms B completed the form, she selected ‘care and support’ housing need.
19. In November 2022, the Council wrote to Ms B advising her she did not qualify to join the housing register as she had no housing need. It explained this is because the ‘care and support’ band award is given to those who need to move to give or receive care that is substantial ongoing, or to older and/or disabled applicants assessed as requiring retirement, extra care or sheltered housing.
20. Ms B requested a review of the Council’s decision in November 2022. She explained in the review request she has a support worker and receives enhanced rate of personal independent payments (PIP) for daily living and enhanced rate of PIP for mobility.
21. The Council acknowledged Ms B’s review request in May 2023 and acknowledged the review should have been completed by 12 January 2023.
22. Ms B emailed the Council a few days later and asked how to complain about not having a review or receiving a review decision. The Council did not respond to the email.
23. Ms B’s support worker emailed the Council in July 2023 and asked it for an update. The Council did not respond until January 2024.
24. The Council sent Ms B its review decision in September 2023. It decided Ms B was eligible to join the housing register and it placed her in Band C. It advised her she doesn’t meet the criteria for ‘care and support’ housing need but she is deemed as overcrowded as she lives in an HMO. It also told her it has backdated the award date to 18 January 2023, around the target date for the completion of the review, to recognise the significant delay in carrying out the review.
25. Ms B submitted a change of circumstances form to the Council in October 2023. On the form, she selected ‘care and support’, ‘medical’, and ‘move on from supported accommodation’ housing need. The Council is still assessing Ms B’s change of circumstances.

Analysis

26. Ms B requested a review of the Council’s decision that she did not qualify to join the housing register on 17 November 2022. Government guidance says eight weeks is a reasonable timescale for completing reviews. The Council did not complete the review and send its decision to Ms B until 18 September 2023, 43 weeks after Ms B requested a review. This delay was fault.
27. Had the Council completed the review in line with the timescales, on balance, it would have decided to put her on the housing register in Band C on 12 January 2023. This would have given Ms B the opportunity to bid for suitable properties from that date onwards. The Council’s delays in reviewing Ms B’s housing decision meant she remained in overcrowded, unsuitable accommodation without the ability to bid for suitable properties during that period. I consider this caused Ms B frustration and uncertainty. In line with our guidance on remedies, I have made a recommendation to acknowledge this injustice.
28. The Council has created a plan to reduce delays in carrying out housing decision reviews. We are already monitoring the progress of this following recommendations from other cases where we have found similar fault. I therefore have not made any further service improvement recommendations.
29. I have considered Ms B’s review request form and the Council’s housing allocations schemes and policies. I have found no evidence of fault in the way the Council decided to award Ms B Band C priority. If we do not find fault in how a Council has made a decision, then we cannot criticise it, no matter how strongly a complainant feels it is the wrong decision. We do not uphold complaints simply because the complainant disagrees with what a council has done.

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Agreed action

30. To remedy the outstanding injustice caused to Ms B by the fault I have identified, the Council has agreed to take the following action within four weeks of my final decision:

• Apologise to Ms B for the delays in reviewing its decision she did not qualify to join the housing register. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings.
• Provide Ms B with a symbolic payment of £1200 to acknowledge the eight months between January 2023 and September 2023 where she was unable to bid on suitable properties, due to the delay in carrying out her review. This is based on our monthly rate of £150 in line with our Guidance on Remedies for unsuitable accommodation.
• Backdate Ms B’s housing award date to 12 January 2023, eight weeks after she requested a review of the Council’s decision

31. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

32. I have now completed my investigation and uphold Ms B’s complaint. There was fault by the Council which caused injustice to Ms B. The action it has agreed to take is sufficient to remedy that injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman