Summary: Ms X complained about the way the Council handled her housing register application. We found the Council at fault for delays in processing Ms X’s housing application and medical assessment. As a result, Ms X had to wait longer than she should have to join the housing register. To remedy the injustice caused the Council agreed to apologise, make some changes to Ms X’s housing application, and make a payment to her for the distress caused by the delays.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about the way the Council handled her application to join its housing register. Ms X said the Council lost her application form and medical assessment form and then did not consider all of the evidence she provided when assessing her medical priority.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. 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)
4. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. As part of this investigation I considered the information provided by Ms X and the Council. I discussed the complaint with Ms X over the telephone. I made enquiries with the Council and considered the information received in response.

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What I found

Law and guidance

6. Every local housing authority must publish an allocations scheme that sets out how it prioritises applicants, and its procedures for allocating housing. All allocations must be made in strict accordance with the published scheme. (Housing Act 1996, section 166A(1) & (14))
7. An allocations scheme must give reasonable preference to applicants in the following categories:
• homeless people;
• people in insanitary, overcrowded or unsatisfactory housing;
• people who need to move on medical or welfare grounds;
• people who need to move to avoid hardship to themselves or others;
  (Housing Act 1996, section 166A(3))
8. The Council operates a choice based letting scheme where applicants are placed into priority Bands (A to D) and place bids on properties they would like to be considered for.
9. Priority between applicants in the same Band is based on their level within the Band or the date they became registered in the Band.
10. Band A includes applicants who have a life-threatening illness or disability which is severely affected by their current housing circumstances. Band A also includes current social housing tenants who are under occupying a property and want to move to a smaller property.
11. Band B includes applicants who are assessed as having an urgent medical need to move.

What happened

12. Ms X lives in a property provided by the Council with her two children. There are over 30 steps to access the property. Ms X suffers with medical conditions which affect her mobility.
13. In March 2023, Ms X sent the Council an application form to join the housing register. Ms X included her two children on the form. Ms X also sent the Council a medical assessment form so the Council could decide whether she should receive any priority on the housing register due to her medical conditions.
14. Ms X chased the Council for a response to her housing register application in May 2023 as she had not heard anything. The Council told her she had a new housing officer and she would receive a response in two weeks. Ms X contacted the Council at the end of May 2023 as she had still not received a response about her housing application.
15. In August 2023, Ms X telephoned the Council and spoke to an officer who asked her to send over her medical assessment form again. Ms X did this on 21 August 2023.
16. In late August 2023, Ms X complained to the Council. Ms X said she had still not heard anything about her housing application. Ms X said she had chased this up but no one had got back to her.
17. In September 2023, an Occupational Therapist assessed Ms X and produced a report. The Occupational Therapist recommended Ms X would need a wheelchair friendly property as she will need to use a wheelchair in the future and her current property was not suitable for one.
18. In late September 2023, the Council responded to Ms X’s complaint. The Council said it had approved Ms X’s housing application and placed her into Band A as she needed to downsize from a two bedroom property to a one bedroom property. The Council said there was a delay in processing her housing application due to a change in her housing officer.
19. Ms X asked the Council to consider her complaint at the next stage of its complaints process. Ms X said she did not ask the Council to downsize her and she lives with her two children who were included in her application.
20. In October 2023, Ms X emailed the Council with copies of her children’s birth certificates and passports. Ms X told the Council they were on her original application for her current tenancy and listed as in her household for council tax purposes.
21. In early November 2023, the Council provided its final response to Ms X. The Council said it could not find any medical referrals for Ms X on its system and asked her to complete a medical assessment form. The Council said Ms X did not include her two children and asked her to add them. The Council said once Ms X had done this the relevant team would process her application as soon as possible.
22. In December 2023, an internal Council email said the Council’s medical adviser was not asked to assess Ms X’s application until now. The email also asked the housing team to add Ms X’s children to her application.
23. In early January 2024, the Council decided Ms X should receive Band B for medical priority as she had an urgent medical need to move. Ms X asked the Council to review this decision and said it had not considered the report from the Occupational Therapist. The Council reviewed its decision in April 2022 and upheld its Band B decision. The decision maker explained they considered Ms X had an urgent medical need to move and considered the report from the Occupational Therapist.
24. Ms X remained dissatisfied and complained to the Ombudsman. Ms X said her housing transfer application had still not been updated and was still saying she was single and needing to downsize to a one bedroom property.

Analysis

25. Ms X sent the Council her housing transfer form and medical assessment form in March 2023. While there is no statutory timescale for processing housing applications, we would usually expect a council to process a housing application within eight weeks. The Council should therefore have processed Ms X’s housing application by mid-May 2023. Failure to do so was fault.
26. It is not clear why there has been significant delays in processing Ms X’s application. The Council in its stage one response told Ms X the delay was due to a change in housing officer, however this happened in May 2023 and her application was not processed until September 2023.
27. Once the Council processed Ms X’s housing application in September 2023 it did not include her children in her household. As a result, the Council placed her in the wrong Band and said she was downsizing to a smaller property. This was fault. Copies of Ms X’s application form show Ms X included her two children in her application.
28. Ms X made the Council aware that it had made an error by not including her children in her application in September 2023. She also sent the Council copies of her children’s documents in October 2023, however it is still not clear whether the Council has properly updated her housing application. This is fault.
29. In relation to Ms X’s medical assessment form the evidence shows she sent this to the Council in March 2023. It is not clear why this was not sent to the medical assessor at the time. This was fault. This was eventually passed to the medical assessor in December 2023 and the Council decided Ms X qualified for medical priory Band B.
30. Had the Council processed Ms X’s housing application and medical assessment within 8 weeks, on balance I am satisfied she would have been placed into Band B on the Council’s housing register by Mid-May 2023. The delays in processing this has meant Ms X has missed the opportunity to place bids on two bedroom properties she considered were suitable for her needs and could have potentially moved to alternative accommodation that was more suitable than her current property. This has caused her distress and uncertainty.
31. The Council has subsequently carried out a review of its decision to award Ms X Band B for medical priority. I am satisfied the Council was not at fault for how it decided Ms X’s medical priority. The Council explained why it considered she qualified for Band B and considered the Occupational Therapist report as part of the review.

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Agreed action

32. Within one month of my final decision the Council agreed to carry out the following:
• Apologise to Ms X for the delays in processing her housing register application and medical assessment.
• If the Council has not done so already, add Ms X’s children to her housing application and send her a decision confirming her Banding.
• Backdate Ms X’s registration date on the housing register to May 2023.
• Pay Ms X £500 to recognise the distress and uncertainty caused to her by the delays in processing her housing application and medical assessment.
33. Within two months of my final decision the Council agreed to carry out the following:
• Look at what went wrong in this case and why there were significant delays in processing the housing application and medical assessment form. The Council should consider what changes it can make to ensure it processes housing applications and medical assessments quicker.
34. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

35. I have completed my investigation and found the Council was at fault and this caused injustice to Ms X. The Council agreed to the above actions to remedy the injustice caused.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman