The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Mrs X’s housing application. The Council has resolved the substantive concerns since Mrs X’s complaint to us. It is not the Ombudsman’s role to investigate councils’ activities generally.
The complaint
Miss Y complained on behalf of her mother Mrs X. The complaint is about the Council’s handling of Mrs X’s application to move home, which Mrs X and Miss Y said caused distress and uncertainty on top of the difficulties caused by disrepair in Mrs X’s current home.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate. We cannot investigate complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended) The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mrs X is a Council tenant in sheltered housing. In July 2022 she applied to move due to disrepair in her home. Miss Y says the application stated Mrs X wanted to move to community sheltered housing. On 22 August the Council refused the application, saying Mrs X had said she had no interest in moving to community supported housing. The decision letter gave Mrs X a review right.
On 23 August Miss Y, representing her mother, sought a review, saying Mrs X had said she did want to move to community supported housing. When Miss Y complained to us on 6 October, the Council had not yet issued a review decision. Miss Y’s complaint to us said Mrs X wanted the Council to overturn its decision and consider her for sheltered housing properties.
Before we had taken substantive action on the complaint, on 24 October the Council sent its review decision. This overturned the earlier decision and said while Mrs X was not eligible for the general housing register, she was eligible for community supported housing. That was the result Mrs X and Miss Y wanted.
Miss Y told me of her dissatisfaction at how long this took and the impact on Mrs X meanwhile. Three months between an application and a review decision is not unusual. I do not consider it amounts to fault. The review process exists for such situations. It seems to have worked here, correcting the earlier decision. In the circumstances, it is not for us to add anything to that.
Miss Y also told me she is concerned at what she described as repeated errors by the Council. She said since the events described above, the Council had also said Mrs X could not have a one-bedroom property, only a studio, then reversed that decision when challenged. Miss Y said she is concerned the Council repeatedly makes incorrect decisions and only corrects them when challenged. I understand that concern. However, it is not the Ombudsman’s role to oversee councils’ functions or police councils’ decisions generally. While Mrs X has experienced some frustration and uncertainty, I do not consider that amounts to significant enough injustice to warrant the Ombudsman devoting time and public money to pursuing the complaint. In the context that the concerns Miss Y wanted to resolve when she complained to us have now been resolved, it would be disproportionate to investigate this complaint.
For the reasons given in paragraph 2, we cannot consider the Council’s handling of disrepair in Mrs X’s current home, or its handling of purely internal tenancy transfer matters.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint because the substantive concerns have been resolved since Mrs X’s complaint to us. It is not the Ombudsman’s role to investigate councils’ activities generally.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman