Charnwood Borough Council (24 015 420)
Category : Housing > Allocations
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 04 Mar 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s delay in assessing his housing register application because there is insufficient injustice to warrant our involvement.
The complaint
- Mr X complained the Council delayed assessing his housing register application, which he said meant he remained in accommodation that does not meet his health needs.
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 impact 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 or continue an investigation if we decide any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X applied to join the Council’s housing register in May 2024. In its complaint response, the Council apologised for the delay in assessing it, which it said was due to a staff shortage. The Council told us it has since moved additional staff into its allocations team and has cleared the backlog.
- The Council says it is not able to make a decision on Mr X’s application because he has not provided all the evidence it needs. It cancelled the application but says it told Mr X it would withdraw the cancellation if he provides it with the further evidence needed.
- We will not consider this complaint further. The Council has apologised for its initial delay in assessing the application and for a delay in responding to Mr X’s complaint. However, this has not caused a sufficient injustice to Mr X to justify further investigation because it has agreed to withdraw the cancellation if he provides the further evidence needed. If Mr X is having difficulty uploading that evidence, he can ask the Council for assistance, including advice about other ways he can provide the evidence.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he has not suffered a sufficient injustice to justify our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman