London Borough of Bromley (21 007 154)

Category : Housing > Homelessness

Decision : Upheld

Decision date : 19 Apr 2022

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: Mrs X complained the Council failed to provide her with temporary accommodation when she was a victim of domestic abuse in her home. There was no fault in how the Council reached its decision. However, there were administrative errors when the Council managed Mrs X’s case. The Council has agreed it will review its administrative practice with staff.

The complaint

  1. Mrs X complained about the Council’s actions when she told the Council she was suffering from domestic abuse in her home. She said the Council did not view her situation as a priority and so did not offer her temporary accommodation. Mrs X said the Council left her in a vulnerable situation and it failed to help her. She would like the Council to apologise to her and recognise the errors it made.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
  2. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
  3. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I spoke with Mrs X about her complaint and considered the information she provided.
  2. I considered the information provided by the Council.
  3. I considered our guidance on good administrative practice.
  4. Mrs X and the Council had the opportunity to comment on the draft version of this decision. I considered any comments they provided before I made the final decision.

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What I found

Legislation and Guidance

  1. Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 and the Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities set out councils’ powers and duties to people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness.
  2. Someone is threatened with homelessness if, when asking for assistance from the Council:
    • he or she is likely to become homeless within 56 days; or
    • he or she has been served with a valid Section 21 notice which will expire within 56 days. [Housing Act 1996, section 175(4) & (5)]
  3. If a council has ‘reason to believe’ someone may be homeless or threatened with homelessness, it must take a homelessness application and make inquiries. The threshold for taking an application is low. The person does not have to complete a specific form or approach a particular council department. (Housing Act 1996, section 184 and Homelessness Code of Guidance paragraphs 6.2 and 18.5)
  4. After completing inquiries, the council must give the applicant a decision in writing.
  5. A council must secure interim accommodation for applicants and their household if it has reason to believe they may be homeless, eligible for assistance and have a priority need. (Housing Act 1996, section 188)
  6. Examples of applicants in priority need are:
    • people with dependent children;
    • pregnant women;
    • people who are vulnerable due to serious health problems, disability or old age.
  7. From the 5 July 2021, victims of domestic abuse became automatically regarded as a priority need for homelessness assistance. Before that, they had to show they were vulnerable.
  8. Councils must provide to anyone in their district information and advice free of charge on:
    • preventing homelessness;
    • securing accommodation when homeless;
    • the rights of people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness;
    • the duties of the authority;
    • any help that is available from the authority or anyone else, for people in the council’s district who are homeless or may become homeless (whether or not they are threatened with homelessness), and how to access that help.

What happened

  1. For a number of years, Mrs X lived with her husband in private rented accommodation. The tenancy was in her husband’s sole name.
  2. On 22 June 2021, Mrs X contacted the Council and said she was separating from her husband and as a result, she would need to leave their private rented accommodation. She said she would be facing homelessness from August 2021 and asked the Council for help to complete its housing options assessment application form. She did not mention suffering domestic abuse at this point or suggest she needed urgent help.
  3. On 30 June 2021, Mrs X contacted the Citizens Advice Bureau and informed it she was struggling with completing the Council’s housing options assessment application form. Later that day, the Citizens Advice Bureau contacted the Council and said Mrs X was suffering from emotional abuse from her husband and that she required help with completing the application form. As a result, Officer A from the Council called Mrs X and assisted her with completing the application form.
  4. On the application form, Mrs X said she:
    • required help following the breakdown of her marriage
    • was at risk of violence and had to leave her home because of abuse from her husband
    • had no health problems and no support needs
    • worked full-time
  5. During the telephone call, Mrs X informed Officer A her relationship with her husband was breaking down and her husband was being emotionally abusive towards her. Officer A passed this information onto a Duty Assessment Officer and asked them to contact Mrs X to assist her further.
  6. On the same day, a Duty Assessment Officer called Mrs X. Mrs X said her relationship with her husband had broken down and her husband had asked her to leave their home. She said her husband had not been physically violent towards her and there was no history of this. However, he had been emotionally abusive towards her. The Duty Assessment Officer asked Mrs X to give some examples of the alleged emotional abuse she was suffering. Mrs X said her husband had said, “he is not a violent man but if she does not move out, he may be forced to do time in prison as a result”. The Duty Assessment Officer asked Mrs X for any other examples as they wanted to gain a full picture of the situation to assess if Mrs X was vulnerable as defined by housing law. If she was vulnerable, this would then trigger the Council’s duty to provide Mrs X with temporary accommodation. Mrs X said this was the only occasion where her husband had said anything that could have been recognised as a threat. The Duty Assessment Officer decided that although Mrs X was suffering emotional turmoil, this did not amount to fleeing domestic abuse.
  7. The Duty Assessment Officer asked Mrs X if she had any health issues to assess if she was vulnerable on health grounds. Mrs X said she had been feeling depressed and stressed in relation to the breakdown of her marriage and had sought help from her General Practitioner. Mrs X said she was not taking any medication for this, but her General Practitioner had referred her to a mental health service for counselling.
  8. The Duty Assessment Officer concluded Mrs X was not vulnerable and therefore was not in priority need. They advised her this meant the Council did not have a duty to provide her with interim accommodation. In deciding this, they considered:
    • her health
    • her age
    • she was working full-time and had access to savings of over £10,000 that she could use to secure housing; and
    • she had the use of a car.
  9. The Council advised Mrs X to look for private rented accommodation and to use her savings to fund a hotel in the meantime. It was not clear what advice, if any, it gave her about finding private rented accommodation.
  10. Later that day, the Citizens Advice Bureau contacted the Council and spoke with Officer B regarding its decision not to provide Mrs X with temporary accommodation. Officer B was not familiar with the case and was not able to speak with other officers about it as they had finished work for the day. Officer B therefore advised the Citizens Advice Bureau Mrs X could call the Council’s out of hours service if she required accommodation for that night. Officer B contacted the out of hours service and made it aware that Mrs X might call for accommodation.
  11. Mrs X did not call the Council’s out of hours service and instead, she stayed another night in her home with her husband. The following day, Mrs X started residing at her place of work where she remained until mid-July 2021, when she secured private rented accommodation.

Mrs X’s complaint to the Council

  1. In July 2021, Mrs X complained to the Council. She said the Council left her exposed to ongoing problems at home and it failed to help her.
  2. In addition, the Citizens Advice Bureau asked it to review its decision not to provide interim accommodation. It said:
    • Mrs X was vulnerable as she was a victim of domestic abuse in the form of emotional abuse and so the Council should have provided her with temporary accommodation.
    • the Council should have considered the new Domestic Abuse Act when it assessed Mrs X for her housing needs as it was coming into force shortly after Mrs X asked the Council for help.
  3. The Council responded to Mrs X. It said:
    • it responded quickly to Mrs X when she asked for help on 30 June 2021.
    • it had given Mrs X the contact number for the out of hours service if she required accommodation for the night but Mrs X did not take up the offer.
    • the Duty Assessment Officer correctly assessed that Mrs X was going through emotional turmoil and not emotional abuse and so the decision to not provide Mrs X with temporary accommodation was correct. They appropriately considered whether Mrs X was vulnerable for any other reason.
  4. Mrs X remained unhappy and complained to us.
  5. In response to our enquiries, the Council said:
    • it was mindful of the Domestic Abuse Act when considering this application but decided this was not a domestic abuse case.
    • by the time the Act came into force, Mrs X had secured private rented accommodation.
    • it had tried to call Mrs X three times in July to discuss her case but her phone was switched off. When it spoke to Mrs X at the end of the month, it established she had secured private rented accommodation.
    • it accepted at the time, it had not sent Mrs X a decision letter confirming its decision and setting out information about review rights. It sent a letter confirming Mrs X was not homeless or threatened with homelessness in February 2022.

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Findings

  1. The Council accepted a homelessness application from Mrs X, which was appropriate.
  2. It assessed whether Mrs X was a victim of domestic abuse and if she was leaving her home because of it. Based on the information it had, the Council concluded Mrs X was not fleeing domestic abuse. The Council then assessed whether Mrs X was vulnerable on any other grounds. It considered relevant information and decided she was not vulnerable. As Mrs X did not have a priority need, the Council did not have a duty to provide her with interim accommodation. It appropriately assessed Mrs X’s application in line with guidance. I found no fault with how the Council reached its decision.
  3. The Council said it was mindful of the Domestic Abuse Act when assessing the case but because it did not consider Mrs X was fleeing domestic abuse, it did not have a duty to provide interim accommodation, even if the Act had been in force.
  4. Although there was no fault with how the Council reached its decision to not provide Mrs X with temporary accommodation, I found there was some fault in that:
    • it was not clear from the Council’s records if the Council gave Mrs X further advice other than advising her to use her savings to secure interim accommodation. We would have expected the Council to advise Mrs X on how to secure accommodation and make a note of this in its records.
    • the Council did not send Mrs X its decision letter in reasonable time. It should have sent Mrs X the letter after completing its initial enquiries or as soon as it became aware she had secured accommodation.
  5. I have considered whether these faults caused Mrs X a significant injustice. I note that she found private rented accommodation within two weeks and therefore consider she had sufficient information to know how to do so. I also note that she was aware from her conversations with the Council that it would not assist her further once she had secured that accommodation. However, the delay in sending the letter delayed her getting the right to ask for a review of that decision.

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Agreed actions

  1. Within one month of the final decision, the Council has agreed it will apologise to Mrs X for the delay in sending a decision letter, which delayed her review and appeal rights.
  2. Within one month of the final decision, the Council has agreed it will review with staff:
    • the importance of good record keeping to ensure staff properly record any advice it has given to people.
    • that decision letters should be sent to people within a reasonable timeframe.
  3. The Council will provide evidence to the Ombudsman it has done this.

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Final decision

  1. I have now completed my investigation. The Council was at fault, which led to some personal injustice to Mrs X which the Council has agreed to remedy.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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