The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.
The complaint
Mrs X complained about the Council’s assessment of her housing application. She says she was given a Band B priority following a medical review of her children’s needs in 2023 when she asked to be considered as Band A priority. She says that she is in urgent need to move and that her current housing association home has problems with disrepair and mould which are making her family’s more desperate.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. 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) 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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council. I have also considered the Council’s housing allocations policy.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Ms X says the Council has refused to change her housing priority banding from band B to band A when she believes she needs to move urgently because of her children’s medical needs. She asked the Council to carry out a medical assessment in late 2023 and the review did not change her priority banding.
The Council says Ms X does not meet the high bar for Band A. for medical grounds an applicant must be in hospital and unable to be discharged because there is no suitable accommodation to go to. Cases other than this fall into Band B and Ms X has no other qualifying Band A grounds for that priority.
Ms X told the council that since her medical assessment her situation has worsened due to disrepair in her social housing home. She says her housing association landlord has failed to deal with dampness and mould in her home. The Council advised her to complain to the Housing Ombudsman Service which is the body responsible for investigating complaints about disrepair by social housing landlords.
We have no jurisdiction to investigate tenancy matters such as disrepair either by council or housing association landlords.
The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether someone disagrees with the decision the organisation made.
We may not find fault with a council’s assessment of a housing application/ a housing applicant’s priority if it has carried this out in line with its published allocations scheme. We recognise that the demand for social housing far outstrips the supply of properties in many areas
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of a housing application. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman