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

1. Miss X complained about the Council’s assessment of her housing application. She says she asked for a review of her banding priority but it decided that her priority was correct and it was unchanged. She says she needs a higher banding because of her family’s overcrowding and medical needs.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council. I have also considered the Council’s housing allocations policy.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Miss X says she is living in overcrowded conditions with her son and that she has suffered harassment from unknown persons. She applied for rehousing to the Council and was awarded priority Band 3 for overcrowding reasons.
6. In 2024 she asked the Council to review her housing application. It carried out a review but decided that the banding was correct and no additional priority was awarded. Miss X complained to us but shortly afterwards she submitted further information to the Council which resulted in a review of her Banding and Band 2 was awarded.
7. I can see no fault in the Council’s actions because it was willing to consider new information and a new priority was awarded. This shows that the review procedure was properly considered. It is not our role to decide what priority should be given to a housing application.
8. 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.

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Final decision

9. 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.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman