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Housing allocations Maladministration causing injustice
09 October 2006 ‘Mrs Abbott’ (not her real name for legal reasons), her husband and three children lived in a small property with two bedrooms and two reception rooms, one of which was used as a bedroom. The property had a number of internal steps in addition to 23 external steps up to the front door. She has osteoarthritis that affects her mobility, and she struggled to get into the property - particularly with a buggy. She also found the stairs inside the flat difficult, but the only toilet was upstairs and there was no room for a commode downstairs. Her husband has sleep apnoea, angina, depression and a history of heart attacks. Mrs Abbott is also receiving treatment for depression. She had applied for a transfer to a larger property and, in November 2004, she asked the Council to award her additional priority due to her medical problems. She complained that the Council took too long to complete the medical assessment which, in turn, delayed her application to transfer to larger accommodation with no stairs. She was living in severely overcrowded accommodation for the period of this delay. The Ombudsman found that the Council took too long to complete the assessment, and in particular it took too long for the occupational therapist to visit Mrs Abbott as part of the assessment. He finds maladministration causing injustice and recommends that the Council:
Date Updated: 08/12/08
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