The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman: when to use them for housing complaints

Most housing complaints about repairs or housing management go to the Housing Ombudsman. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) is a separate body that handles a different set of complaints, mainly about how councils make decisions on housing allocation, homelessness applications, and planning matters. Here is the difference and when the LGSCO is the right route.

The short answer

If your complaint is about a repair or housing management failure by a housing association or council landlord, use the Housing Ombudsman. If your complaint is about a council housing-allocation decision, a homelessness decision, or a planning matter, use the LGSCO.

What each Ombudsman does

The Housing Ombudsman Service handles complaints about:

• Repairs and maintenance failures (damp, mould, broken heating, structural disrepair)
• Housing management (neighbour disputes the landlord has failed to address, service charges, anti-social behaviour response)
• Complaints that a landlord handled badly, even if the underlying issue was reasonable

The Housing Ombudsman's remit covers housing associations and councils acting as landlords. Since 2023 its jurisdiction over council housing was extended and clarified.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman handles complaints about:

• Council housing allocation decisions (the housing register, how points or banding were applied)
• Homelessness decisions (including whether you were found intentionally homeless, whether you were wrongly found not to be in priority need)
• Planning decisions
• Adult social care (which is separate from housing but often relevant to the same household)
• Council tax decisions

The LGSCO does not handle complaints about repairs. It also cannot overturn a homelessness decision, only a court or the council on review can do that. But it can investigate whether the council followed its own procedures correctly, and it can award compensation where a council's poor administration caused you injustice.

When a council homelessness decision goes wrong

If you applied to the council as homeless and you believe the decision was wrong, for example, the council decided you were not in priority need when you believe you are, or decided you became homeless intentionally when you did not, there are two routes:

Statutory review (Housing Act 1996, s.202): You can ask the council to review the decision within 21 days. If the review upholds the original decision, you can appeal to the county court within 21 days of the review decision. This is the main legal route.

LGSCO complaint: This is not an alternative to a statutory review but can run alongside it. The LGSCO investigates whether the council followed correct processes and whether poor administration caused you distress. If the council took weeks to make a decision without explanation, lost your paperwork, or failed to consider medical evidence you provided, these are the kinds of failures the LGSCO investigates.

Compensation from the LGSCO

The LGSCO can recommend that a council pays you compensation for distress and inconvenience caused by maladministration. The amounts are typically modest, hundreds rather than thousands of pounds, but the investigation process is free and accessible without a solicitor.

The LGSCO cannot award the level of compensation that a disrepair claim can achieve, and it cannot compel a landlord to carry out repairs. For repairs, the Housing Ombudsman or a disrepair claim remains the right route.

How to complain to the LGSCO

You must first complain to the council and exhaust their internal complaints process before the LGSCO will accept your complaint. Once you have a final response from the council's complaints team (or 12 weeks have passed without a final response), you can refer the matter to the LGSCO.

Complaints are made online at the LGSCO's website. There is no fee. The LGSCO aims to issue a decision within a year, though complex cases take longer.

When both Ombudsmen are relevant

Some situations involve both bodies. For example: a council that failed to carry out repairs (Housing Ombudsman) and also failed to process your housing transfer application correctly (LGSCO). You can have complaints active with both bodies at the same time, provided each complaint relates to the body's own jurisdiction.

What about housing associations?

Housing associations are not public bodies and fall entirely within the Housing Ombudsman's jurisdiction. The LGSCO does not investigate housing associations.

When should I contact Support for Tenants?

If the condition of your home, not an allocation or homelessness decision, is your main concern, call us on 0800 030 4669. We handle the disrepair side through a no-win, no-fee claim.

No upfront cost. You only pay if you win, and the fee comes out of the compensation, not your pocket. If you don't win, you pay nothing.

Sources

• Housing Act 1996 (legislation.gov.uk)
• Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, Section 11 (legislation.gov.uk)

Related articles

• How to complain to the Housing Ombudsman step by step
• The council says they can't rehouse me without a court order
• Challenging a Section 184 homeless decision