Summary: We find that the Council failed to update its records and activate Miss B’s housing application after informing her in December 2023 that it owed her the main housing duty. This meant Miss B was unable to bid for housing, remained in temporary accommodation for longer than necessary and was put to avoidable time, trouble, and frustration in pursuing the matter. To remedy this, the Council has agreed to apologise and make a payment to Miss B. It has also agreed to make service improvements.

The complaint

1. Miss B complains that the Council took seven years to review a homelessness decision, and an additional year to activate her housing application. She says the Council failed to properly account for the time she was waiting when determining her housing priority.
2. Miss B says the Council’s failings prevented her from bidding for housing for eight years and her housing priority is continuing to delay her from accessing suitable, permanent housing. She says this has caused significant distress and negatively affected her family’s wellbeing.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. 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)
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(1), as amended)

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What I have and have not investigated

6. We will not usually investigate matters a complainant has been aware of for more than 12 months. Miss B’s complaint relates to events dating back to 2016. I have decided not to investigate events before December 2023 because I consider it would have been reasonable for Miss B to complain sooner.
7. I also note the Council has already acknowledged fault for earlier delays. It has backdated Miss B’s housing registration to May 2017 and made a payment of £1250 to recognise the injustice caused.

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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered evidence provided by Miss B and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
9. Miss B and the Council have had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Relevant law, policy and guidance

Homelessness

10. If a council is satisfied someone is eligible, homeless, in priority need and unintentionally homeless, it will owe them the main housing duty. (Housing Act 1996, section 193)
11. Under the main housing duty, housing authorities must ensure that suitable accommodation is available for the applicant and their household until the duty is brought to an end, usually through the offer of a settled home. (Housing Act 1996, section 193 and Homelessness Code of Guidance paragraph 17)
12. The law says councils must ensure all accommodation provided to homeless applicants is suitable for the needs of the applicant and members of their household. This duty applies to interim and temporary accommodation. (Housing Act 1996, section 206 and Homelessness Code of Guidance paragraph 17.2)
13. Applicants can ask councils to review most aspects of their decisions, and, if still dissatisfied, can appeal to the county court on a point of law. Applicants can also appeal if a council takes more than the prescribed time to complete the review. (Housing Act 1996, sections 202, 203 and 204)

Housing allocations

14. The Council operates a choice-based lettings scheme. If a housing applicant is accepted on to the housing register, they can bid on properties advertised by the Council.
15. The 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.
16. The scheme introduced in January 2023 places applicants in a priority band from Band A (highest priority) to Band D (lowest priority). It places applicants in Band A when the applicant is owed the main housing duty.
17. The previous scheme awarded Band 2 in the same circumstances. It placed applicants in a priority band from Band 1 (highest priority) to Band 4 (lowest priority).
18. The award date is the date the applicant is accepted into their current housing Band, with earlier dates taking priority over later dates. Where two or more applicants still have the same priority, then priority is given to the applicant with the earlier registration date.

Background and key events

19. Miss B approached the Council in 2016 when she was homeless. The Council placed her and her children in interim accommodation and later decided she was intentionally homeless. Miss B requested a review of that decision in January 2017.
20. Miss B made several applications to join the Council’s housing register between 2022 and 2023, which were unsuccessful.
21. In December 2023, the Council informed Miss B that she did not qualify to join the register because she had housing-related debt. Later that month, the Council told Miss B that it had overturned its 2016 intentionally homeless decision and that her housing application would be made active so she could bid for housing.
22. Miss B’s application was not made active. She submitted further applications in January and November 2024. The January 2024 application was closed as incomplete because she did not provide all the required documents. The November 2024 application was assessed in December 2024.
23. While assessing the application, the Council identified that it had not updated its records when the homelessness decision was overturned, and Miss B should have qualified to join the housing register since that decision. It awarded her Band A priority and backdated this to September 2023.
24. Miss B made a formal complaint in February 2025. The Council accepted there had been delays and errors in handling her case and backdated her band A priority to January 2023. It explained that it could not backdate it to an earlier date as that was when the new allocations scheme came into effect and she would not have been awarded as much priority under the previous scheme. The Council also offered Miss B a financial payment and agreed to make a direct offer of accommodation, which Miss B declined.
25. Following our involvement, the Council backdated Miss B’s registration date to May 2017 and offered again to make a financial payment to recognise the delay in carrying out the review, which Miss B accepted.

Analysis

26. The Council says it overturned the intentionally homeless decision in July 2022.
27. When the Council assessed Miss B’s application in December 2023, its records did not show that the homelessness decision had been overturned. This was fault. As a result, Miss B’s housing application was incorrectly closed due to housing-related debt. Applicants owed the main housing duty qualify to join the register despite rent arrears, and so Miss B’s application should have been accepted.
28. Following a complaint from Miss B, the Council considered her case again in December 2023. As it was not aware that the homelessness decision had been overturned in July 2022, it considered Miss B’s request for a review again. The Council decided to overturn its earlier intentionally homeless decision and it told Miss B that her housing application would be made active. However, it did not update its records to reflect this. This was fault. As a result, Miss B’s application remained inactive.
29. Miss B was put to the avoidable inconvenience of making two further housing applications, in January and November 2024. The January application should not have been closed as incomplete. If the Council’s records had been properly updated to show that she was owed the main housing duty, her application would have been successful. This is because the Council followed a different process for applicants owed the main housing duty.
30. The Council has acknowledged that it failed to update its records. As a result, Miss B missed the opportunity to bid for housing until December 2024 and was not given appropriate priority until January 2026. The Council has corrected its records, and backdated Miss B’s housing registration and award dates. These actions address much of the impact of the delay by restoring her position on the housing register.
31. However, I consider Miss B also has some unremedied injustice. She was put to the avoidable inconvenience of making further housing applications and experienced uncertainty and frustration in having to pursue the matter further. I also consider it likely that Miss B would have moved out of temporary accommodation into permanent housing by now if there had been no fault by the Council.

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Action

32. Within four weeks of my final decision, the Council will take the following actions:
• Apologise to Miss B for the impact of the failings identified in this case. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The Council should consider this guidance when making the apology.
• Make a payment of £850 to Miss B in recognition of the avoidable distress, frustration, and inconvenience she experienced from December 2023, and to recognise that she has spent longer than necessary living in temporary accommodation.
33. Within eight weeks of my final decision, the Council will take the following actions:
• Remind relevant staff of the need to promptly update records following the outcome of homelessness reviews.
• Review its procedures to ensure that decisions made by homelessness review officers are recorded accurately and promptly across all relevant housing systems.
34. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

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

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman