Overview
Mr C, a housing advice officer, complained on behalf of Ms A. Ms A had five children and had been in private rented accommodation. She had been on the list for housing with East Dunbartonshire Council (the Council) for some years when she was assessed as unintentionally homeless in September 2004. Thereafter, Ms A was in temporary Council-owned accommodation until September 2005, when she returned to private rented accommodation. Ms A also returned to the general housing list at this time. Mr C complained about a number of aspects of the Council's handling of Ms A's application for housing, including: the standard of temporary accommodation; the Council's decision that Ms A's refusal of permanent accommodation was unreasonable; changes in the Council's allocation policy, which he said disadvantaged Ms A; and the refusal to grant Ms A additional social points once she had returned to the general list. Mr C was also concerned about the way her complaints had been handled and about the way the Council had dealt with Ms A's application for a Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP).
Specific complaints and conclusions
The complaints which have been investigated are that:
- (a) the Council mishandled Ms A's application for housing, following her assessment as unintentionally homeless (partially upheld);
- (b) the Council did not respond adequately to Ms A's concerns about this (upheld); and
- (c) the Council mishandled Ms A's application for a DHP (not upheld).
Redress and recommendations
The Ombudsman recommends that the Council:
- (i) provide her with a copy of the results of the review of the inventory documentation;
- (ii) ensure staff who are involved in the award of discretionary social points are aware of the comments in this report;
- (iii) ensure that all staff dealing with complaints know how to process these effectively;
- (iv) review guidance given to staff on recording contact with members of the public to ensure that all significant contact is recorded;
- (v) apologise to Mr C for their failure to respond to his letter of 1 July 2005; and
- (vi) apologise to Ms A for the failures in their complaint handling.
The Council have accepted the recommendations and will act on them accordingly.