Summary: The Council failed to consider information Mr B provided to support his housing application which led to it wrongly deciding he did not qualify to join the housing register. The Council then delayed assessing the information after agreeing to fast track his application. As a result, Mr B was unable to bid on the housing register for around 11 months. We have recommended that the Council apologises, makes a payment to Mr B and backdates his application award date. We have also recommended service improvements.

The complaint

1. Mr B complains that the Council wrongly refused his application to join the housing register and then failed to fast track it after agreeing to do so.
2. Mr B says that as a result, he has remained living in unsuitable accommodation which is affecting his mental health.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. 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)
5. 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

6. I have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by the complainant;
• discussed the issues with the complainant;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council has provided; and
• given the Council and the complainant the opportunity to comment on my draft decision and considered any comments received.

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What I found

Housing allocations scheme

7. The Council’s housing allocations scheme sets out the rules for qualifying to join the Housing Register, how applicants are prioritised and how the Council manages the allocation of available properties.
8. The scheme places applicants in a priority band from Band A (highest priority) to Band D (lowest priority).
9. Band B includes applicants who have an urgent need to move on medical or welfare grounds, applicants needing to move following long term care on medical and/or social care grounds, applicants ready to move on from short-term supported housing, and applicants with care and support needs.
10. Once an applicant has joined the Housing Register, they are able to bid on advertised properties. Bids are prioritised by the applicant’s award date (the date they were accepted into the band) with earlier dates taking priority over later dates. Where two or more applicants still have the same priority, then priority is given to the applicant who applied to join the housing register first.
11. Applicants who have been assessed as having no housing need and whose circumstances do not warrant inclusion in any of the priority bands do not qualify to join the housing register.

Background and key events

12. Mr B applied to join the housing register in April 2023. On his application, he selected ‘medical’, ‘care and support’ and ‘ready to move on from supported accommodation’ as his reasons for needing housing.
13. In July, the Council wrote to Mr B asking him to provide medical evidence to support his need for housing on medical grounds. It also asked Mr B to provide the contact name and email address for his support worker so that it could contact them in relation to his claim that he was ready to move on from supported accommodation.
14. Two weeks later, the Council wrote to Mr B with its decision that he did not qualify to join the housing register. It explained why his housing circumstances did not warrant inclusion in any of the housing priority bands. It said:
• The threshold for a medical award had not been met because the medical evidence provided did not demonstrate that Mr B’s accommodation was having a direct detrimental impact on his health.
• Mr B had failed to provide the contact details of his allocated support worker so it had been unable to complete its assessment of the ‘move on from supported accommodation’ award.
• The Council’s records did not show that a Care Act 2014 assessment had been completed for Mr B, and a band award on care and support grounds could not be made without such an assessment.
15. Mr B then made a formal complaint to the Council and explained why he considered he met the criteria for the ‘medical’, ‘care and support’ and ‘move on from supported accommodation’ awards. Mr B said:
• He was living in a Rehabilitation Residential Care Home which was only funded for 18 months, and his mental health would deteriorate if he continued to live there.
• He had provided his support worker’s contact details on 13 July, and he could provide evidence of this.
• He had asked the Council to carry out a Care Act assessment but one had not been completed due to understaffing.
16. In the Council’s response dated 6 September, it accepted that the evidence from Mr B’s support worker had not been picked up in time. It said that Mr B had started to complete a new online application which he needed to complete, and it would then fast track his application.
17. The Council started to assess the application in November. It wrote to Mr B asking him to again provide medical evidence to support his application. Mr B provided the evidence that day.
18. In May 2024, the Council wrote to Mr B asking him for his support worker’s details again. He provided the details that day.
19. The Council then contacted Mr B’s support worker and asked her to complete a move on referral form, which she did.
20. The Council decided that Mr B met the criteria for a ‘move on from supported accommodation’ award. Mr B was accepted on to the housing register and awarded Band B. His registration date is 7 September 2023 and award date is 3 July 2024.

Analysis

21. Mr B has provided evidence which shows that he provided his support worker’s details on 13 July 2023. The Council failed to consider this information before it closed his application on 28 July 2023. This was fault.
22. If the Council had asked Mr B’s support worker to complete the move on referral form in July, as it should have done, I consider Mr B would have joined the housing register with a Band B award in August 2023. The Council’s failings here meant that Mr B was unable to bid on properties between August 2023 and July 2024.
23. I have considered the Council’s records and I do not consider Mr B would have been offered a property if the Council had awarded Band B in August 2023. This is because all one-bedroom properties advertised between August 2023 and September 2024 were offered to applicants with more priority than Mr B. They were either in Band A, or they joined Band B before August 2023.
24. When the Council discovered that Mr B had submitted the support worker’s contact details before the deadline, it agreed to fast track his application but did not do so. This was fault and would have caused Mr B significant frustration.
25. I have found no evidence of fault in the way the Council decided that Mr B did not qualify for a medical award or a care and support award. In any event, they would not have resulted in Mr B receiving more priority than Band B, which he should have been awarded in August 2023.

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Agreed action

26. Within four weeks, the Council will take the following actions:
• Apologise to Mr B. The Council should consider our guidance on remedies when making the apology.
• Make a payment of £350 to Mr B. This is a symbolic sum to recognise the frustration Mr B suffered as a result of the Council’s failings.
• Backdate Mr B’s registration and award date to 11 August 2023, the date Mr B would likely have been awarded Band B if there had been no fault in this case.
27. Within eight weeks, the Council will take the following actions:
• Investigate why Mr B’s application was not fast tracked in September 2024, and take action to prevent such failings in future.
• Ensure all documents it receives are promptly attached to the applicant’s case, and officers properly check whether information they have requested has been received before assessing the application.
28. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

29. I have completed my investigation and uphold Mr B’s complaint. There was fault by the Council which caused injustice. The action the Council has agreed to take is sufficient to remedy that injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman