Overview:

Key to names used

• Ms X The complainant
• Y Her child

Summary

Ms X complained the Council failed to provide suitable temporary accommodation for over three years despite knowing since April 2019 that her private rented accommodation was unsuitable for the needs of her disabled child.

Finding

Fault found causing injustice and recommendations made.

Recommendations

The Council must consider the report and confirm within three months the action it has taken or proposes to take. The Council should consider the report at its full Council, Cabinet, or other appropriately delegated committee of elected members and we will require evidence of this. (Local Government Act 1974, section 31(2), as amended)

To remedy the injustice to Ms X and Y from the faults we have identified, within three months of the date of this report the Council should:

• Apologise to Ms X. Ms X’s first language is not English. To ensure the apology is meaningful, the Council should provide a written apology translated into Ms X’s first language.

• Pay Ms X, for the benefit of Y, £14,700 being £350 for each month spent in unsuitable accommodation at avoidable risk of harm, in increasing pain, and denied the dignity of moving around in their wheelchair in their own home

• Pay Ms X £6,300, being £150 for each month spent in unsuitable accommodation at avoidable risk of harm from not being able to handle Y safely and for the significant distress of caring for Y without the necessary equipment

To improve its services, the Council should:

• Share a copy of this report with all staff in the relevant departments to discuss and identify learning

• Commission an independent, external review of the homelessness service. The form of this review is for the Council to decide, however it might consider including:

  • Processes for identifying potential homelessness cases, regardless of point of contact within the Council

  • Mapping of the applicant journey and the number of teams and officers involved

  • Systems to track individual cases and statutory timescales

  • Designation of responsibility for performing, coordinating and communicating statutory duties

• Produce an action plan, based on learning from this case and the wider review of the homeless service, of how the Council will ensure it can meet its statutory duties to homeless applicants. Progress against this plan should be reported to or overseen by the relevant scrutiny committee or cabinet member.

The Council has accepted our recommendations.

Ombudsman satisfied with Council response: 23 June 2023.

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