Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application and disclosing third party data to a housing applicant. There is insufficient evidence of fault causing any significant injustice from the Council’s actions.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council failing to give her housing application priority after many years awaiting rehousing and about a disclosure of a third party’s address to her following a Member enquiry on her behalf. She says she is concerned that her personal information may be being misused by the Council.

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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
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Miss X complained about the Council’s assessment of her housing application. She says that she has been on an assured tenancy for 15 years and has not bene successful in bidding for accommodation during this period. She recently received a possession notice from her landlord because the lease on the property where she lives has expired.
6. The Council told Miss X that her change in circumstances did not alter her current housing priority which is Band 3. If she is made homeless she will need to complete a homelessness application and be placed in temporary accommodation if the Council accepts her for the housing duty. Homeless applicants are placed in Band 3 as part of the reasonable preference priority under the Council’s housing allocations scheme so her banding will not change.
7. Miss X also complained about the Council disclosing the address of a third party to a Council Member who made enquiries on her behalf in 2024. The Council told her that this was an administrative error and not a breach of her personal data to other parties. Because the disclosure related to someone else and her own data was not compromised this did not cause any significant injustice to Miss X.
8. Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application and disclosing third party day data to a housing applicant. There is insufficient evidence of fault causing any significant injustice from the Council’s actions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman