Thanet District Council (15 000 234)
Summary
A family complain the council wrongly calculated their family's priority for housing so their current priority did not adequately reflect their housing need.
The complaint
At the time of their complaint, the couple lived in a three bedroom house with their daughter and three sons. Two of the children have disabilities which made this house unsuitable for their needs. But the council had only recently moved the family's housing application into a higher priority band, and the family did not have as much priority as those who had been in the band longer. The couple say the council should have moved their application into a higher band much earlier.
Finding
The Ombudsman upheld the complaint and found fault causing injustice.
Recommendations
To remedy the injustice caused, the council should:
- apologise to the family for its failure to recognise and address the family's exceptional circumstances;
- pay the family £8,400 to acknowledge the impact on the family of remaining in unsuitable accommodation between December 2013 and April 2016; and
- pay the family a further £250 to acknowledge the avoidable stress and confusion caused by its mistaken advice in June 2014.
Ombudsman satisfied with council's response: 18 November 2016