City council at fault for how it removed resident from housing register: Ombudsman

Following the report from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, the council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to the resident for the distress caused and re-assess her housing register application.

The background to the Ombudsman’s investigation was that the resident was awarded ‘Band 2’ on the council’s housing register in June 2019,.

In October 2022, Birmingham emailed the resident, making reference to a letter it had sent her saying it would close her housing application as she had not placed bids.

She argued that the letter the council sent was a non-interactive form asking for a username and password, but the cuncil later closed her housing application as it had not received a response to its non-bidding letter.

The council has admitted that it no longer has the letter due to an officer error, so the Ombudsman was unable to confirm what the resident received.

The resident then asked the council to review its decision to close her housing application as she explained she is reliant on support workers due to her disabilities.

She said she lost access to her support workers at the start of the Covid 19 pandemic and had been trying to get this support reinstated, leaving her unable to function properly or keep on top of her admin.

The council’s response said she submitted her review out of time and that the bidders closure letter was non-reviewable.

She therefore needed to complete a new housing application if she wanted to get back onto the housing register.

The Ombudsman found fault in the council’s failure to consider whether to carry out an out of time review, as well as the decision to remove the resident from the register because she was not bidding on properties.

There was nothing in Birmingham’s housing allocations policy (in place at the time) that said it could remove her for not bidding, with the Ombudsman finding that the council’s allocations policy said for those in Band 2 the council could place bids on someone’s behalf if they were not bidding.

The resident’s removal from the register for not bidding was therefore not carried out in line with the council’s housing allocations policy and was fault, meaning she has missed out on being included on the council’s housing register.

Birmingham will apologise and assist the resident to make a new application to join the housing register, which will be backdated to when she originally joined the housing register.

It will also pay a nominal fee of £150 to the resident for the distress and uncertainty she experienced as a result of the council removing her from the housing register

The council has since confirmed it has a new allocations policy and this allows it to remove applicants if they are not bidding on properties.

A Birmingham City Council spokesperson told Local Government Lawyer: “We acknowledge the findings of the Ombudsman in this case and apologise to Ms X for the distress caused.

“We have agreed to pay the compensation and assist Ms X in making a new application to join the housing register, which will be backdated to her original registration date if she is eligible.”

They added: “We always endeavour to do our best to support our residents but acknowledge this did not happen here. The case relates to the previous allocations policy. A new policy was implemented in January 2023, which addresses the issues identified by the Ombudsman.

“As part of our learning from this case, we will ensure all relevant staff understand fully the council’s duties around managing the housing register and applications.”

Harry Rodd