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Canterbury City Council (202116967)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202116967

Canterbury City Council

19 January 2022


Our approach

What we can and cannot consider is called the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction and is governed by the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. The Ombudsman must determine whether a complaint comes within their jurisdiction. The Ombudsman seeks to resolve disputes wherever possible but cannot investigate complaints that fall outside of this. 

In deciding whether a complaint falls within their jurisdiction, the Ombudsman will carefully consider all the evidence provided by the parties and the circumstances of the case.

The complaint

  1. The complaint concerns the council’s handling of the resident’s application to be moved to another property on medical grounds.

Determination (jurisdictional decision)

  1. When a complaint is brought to the Ombudsman, we must consider all the circumstances of the case as there are sometimes reasons why a complaint will not be investigated.
  2. After carefully considering all the evidence, I have determined that the complaint, as set out above, is not within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

Summary of events

  1. The resident’s complaint was first logged by the council in April 2020. The complaint concerned the councils handling of their housing needs application. The resident’s felt that sufficient medical information had been provided to support an urgent need for rehousing.
  2. The council issued its stage one response on 27 April 2020. It explained that further information was required to support the resident’s request for an additional room for a carer. It also advised what information it considered would be required to assess this.
  3. The resident requested escalation of the complaint and a final response was issued on 31 March 2021. It noted the resident’s current eligibility for housing and advised that it did not think sufficient evidence had been provided to support the residents request for an additional room for a carer. It believed its housing and allocations policy had been applied correctly. It concluded by referring the resident to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) if the resident remained dissatisfied.

Reasons

  1. Paragraph 39 (m) of the Scheme states that: The Ombudsman will not investigate complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion: fall properly within the jurisdiction of another Ombudsman, regulator or complaint-handling body;
  2. I understand the complaint is about the council’s assessment of the resident’s application for re-housing because their current accommodation cannot be suitably adapted. An assessment of a housing application on medical grounds would be carried out by the council in its capacity as a local authority, rather than under its obligations as a landlord. As such the LGSCO is the appropriate body to deal with a complaint of this nature.
  3. The contact details for the LGSCO are as follows:

PO Box 4771

Coventry CV4 0EH

Tel: 0300 061 061

https://www.lgo.org.uk/contact-us