Bristol City Council has been failing in its legal duty to provide homeless people with the chance to appeal against its decisions not to house them, the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) has found.

The problem was uncovered after a woman complained to the LGO that the council had not found her accommodation, five months after she contacted them for help.

The woman first approached Bristol City Council in August 2012. At the time the council did not offer the woman temporary accommodation as they did not consider her eligible, but did give her advice on renting privately.

But on no occasion did the council write to tell her it would not house her, something it has a legal duty to perform.

This meant that, without a written decision, the woman never knew for certain whether the council would house her and was denied the chance to appeal against the decision, either via an internal review within the council, or through the courts.

The ombudsman’s investigation revealed a wider problem in Bristol – and that the complainant’s situation was unlikely to be an isolated case. The ombudsman found that this failure to issue a decision notice was not a one-off and, by not performing this duty, the council was denying people the right to seek an internal review or appeal in court.

Dr Jane Martin, Local Government Ombudsman said:

“By failing to meet its legal duty to provide homeless people with a written decision, not only is the council leaving people in limbo wondering whether or not they will be housed, but it also denied them the opportunity to appeal that decision.

“I recognise that Bristol City Council has chosen to focus its resources to prioritise higher risk homelessness applications, however, it is necessary to issue a report because more people are being affected by the council’s inaction.”

Bristol City Council has since agreed to apologise to the woman and provide her with a written decision on her application, including details on how she can appeal.

It has also agreed to pay the woman £200 in compensation in recognition of their failings, carry out a review of its homelessness procedures and seek counsel’s opinion on those revised procedures.

Article date: 12 July 2013