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Sheffield City Council (202123141)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202123141

Sheffield City Council

17 March 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 assessment of the resident’s application to be re-housed.

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 applied to the Council’s housing register in July 2021. The resident’s application was refused on the basis that she had a debt from rent arrears from a previous council property which disqualified her application for housing until July 2022.
  2. The resident submitted an exceptional request stating medical grounds in addition to an ongoing neighbour dispute. The resident considered that she should be permitted to join the housing register.
  3. The Council provided a final response to the complaint on the 20 December 2021. In the response it explained that it considered the decision not to allow the resident to join its housing register was correct.
  4. The Council acknowledged the resident’s circumstances, however stated that this did not give rise to change its decision in disqualifying her application. In the Council’s opinion, the resident had not attempted to clear the remaining debt and as such, her application would not be successful. The Council stated that it would reconsider its position once the debt had been cleared.
  5. The resident brought the complaint to this service and explained that she did not consider the Council’s decision to prevent her from accessing its housing register was reasonable.

Reasons

  1. Paragraph 39 (m) of the Housing Ombudsman 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;

  1. The application and management of a Council’s housing allocation policy, concern the Council’s actions as a local authority.
  2. Complaints about local authority’s and their assessment of housing needs are usually a matter for the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
  3. I am therefore satisfied that, in accordance with paragraph 39 (m) of the Scheme, this is not a complaint which the Ombudsman can investigate further.
  4. Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman details are as follows: www.lgo.org.uk 0300 061 0614.