The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s delay responding to her queries about her housing application banding. This is because the Council has upheld the complaint, apologised for the delay and provided explanations. Further investigation by us would therefore not be proportionate.
The complaint
Miss X complains the Council has not responded to her queries about her banding on the register. She says she has written to the Council many times, but the Council does not respond.
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 effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Miss X wrote to the Council in June 2025 to ask for an explanation on the housing bands, bidding priority and how the bidding system works. She received partial responses.
She then wrote to the Council again several times in June and July 2025 to get full responses to her query about banding priority and bedroom needs. The Council did not respond.
The Council has now written to Miss X to apologise for the failure to respond. It has also responded to Miss X’s questions about priority banding and bedroom needs and advised her of what she can do if she would like to change her banding.
As the Council has now apologised for the delay and fully responded to Miss X’s housing queries, further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because a further investigation would not be proportionate.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman