The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s assessment of her housing register priority. There is insufficient evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
The complaint
Ms X complains about the Council’s assessment of her housing register priority. She says her current housing is unsuitable for her and her family and is negatively affecting their health. She wants the Council to urgently re-house her family to a suitable property.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)) We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
In its review response to Ms X, the Council set out how it had reviewed its decision related to her housing priority. It considered documents and evidence in her housing file including additional evidence provided with her review request. This included: Evidence related to her medical needs; Evidence related to her children’s medical needs; Social care records; and Occupational therapy recommendations.
It considered this evidence against the criteria set out in its published allocations policy. It concluded her family had diagnosed ill health or disability which had moderate relevance to their current or future housing needs. It decided the evidence did not support an increased points award and explained its reasons for this. It concluded the current points allocation was correct and there were no grounds to increase it.
We will not investigate this complaint as there is insufficient evidence of fault. Although Ms X may disagree with the Council’s decision, we cannot question a council’s decision making if there is no fault in how the decision was reached. The Council has appropriately considered the evidence Ms X provided and applied its allocations policy. The Ombudsman cannot find fault with a council’s assessment of a housing applicant’s priority if it has correctly applied its published allocations scheme. There is insufficient evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman