Summary: The Council was at fault in how it dealt with Miss X’s homelessness application and for leaving her in unsuitable temporary accommodation. This left Miss X and her children at risk of harm which caused distress and uncertainty. The Council agreed to apologise to Miss X and make a symbolic payment to recognise the injustice its faults caused.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council:
• failed to provide her family with interim accommodation after experiencing domestic abuse;
• delayed making decisions and poorly communicated with her about her homelessness application;
• failed to make alternative offers of accommodation despite agreeing her temp accommodation was unsuitable.
2. Miss X said, as a result, she remained living in an unsafe property causing herself and her family distress, frustration and uncertainty. She wants the Council to ensure proper training of staff around vulnerable applicant homelessness applications and to provide appropriate remedies when it upholds complaints.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. When considering complaints we make findings based on the balance of probabilities. This means that we look at the available relevant evidence and decide what was more likely to have happened.
5. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(1), as amended)

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What I have and have not investigated

6. I have investigated Miss X’s complaint from December 2024 when she requested homelessness assistance up to September 2025 and the Council’s final complaint response. This includes a period of time after Miss X complained to the Ombudsman, however this period related to the ongoing concerns regarding the same matters and Council has already had the opportunity to respond to these further complaints made by Miss X.

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered evidence provided by Miss X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
8. Miss X and the Council now have an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I will consider their comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Relevant law, guidance, and policy

9. 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.

The relief duty and interim accommodation

10. Councils must take reasonable steps to help to secure suitable accommodation for any eligible homeless person. This is called the relief duty. When a council decides this duty has come to an end, it must notify the applicant in writing (Housing Act 1996, section 189B)
11. A council must secure interim accommodation for an applicant and their household if it has reason to believe they may be homeless, eligible for assistance and have a priority need. This is called interim accommodation. (Housing Act 1996, section 188)
12. Examples of applicants in priority need include people with dependent children, pregnant women, people who are vulnerable due to serious health problems or disability, and victims of domestic abuse.
13. The relief duty ends when the applicant accepts or refuses an offer of accommodation which is suitable and likely to be available for at least 6 months, or, failing this, if 56 days have passed.

The main housing duty and temporary accommodation

14. If a council is satisfied an applicant is unintentionally homeless, eligible for assistance, and has a priority need, it has a duty to secure that accommodation is available for their occupation. This is called the main housing duty. (Housing Act 1996, section 193 and Homelessness Code of Guidance 15.39)
15. The accommodation a council provides until it can end the main housing duty is called temporary accommodation. If a council ends its interim accommodation duty but then goes on to accept the main housing duty, it still has a duty to provide temporary accommodation. Interim and temporary accommodation can be the same physical property. What changes is the legal duty under which a council provides it.
16. Anyone who believes their temporary accommodation is unsuitable can ask the Council to review the accommodation’s suitability. (Housing Act 1996, section 202). If the Council’s review decides the accommodation is unsuitable, the Council must provide suitable accommodation. If the review decides the accommodation is suitable, the applicant has the right to appeal to the county court on a point of law. (Housing Act 1996, section 204)

Homelessness and Domestic Violence

17. It is not reasonable for a person to continue to live in accommodation if it is probable this will lead to violence or domestic abuse against them. (Housing Act 1996, Section 177)
18. The law recognises children as victims of domestic abuse if they see, hear, or experience the effects of abuse, and is related to, or falls under

“parental responsibility” of, the victim and/or perpetrator of the domestic abuse. (Domestic Abuse Act 2021, Section 3)

19. The Council should try to get an account of the applicant’s experience to assess whether the behaviour they have experienced is abusive or whether they would be at risk of domestic abuse if they continued to occupy their accommodation. The authority should support the victims to outline their experience and make an assessment based on the details of the case. (Homelessness Code of Guidance, Chapter 21)

What happened

20. In November 2024, Miss X approached the Council for homelessness assistance due to domestic abuse. In early December 2024 the Council met with Miss X and provided her with housing advice relating to her housing association secure tenancy, possible temporary accommodation provision and said she would be contacted the next day.
21. The Council did not provide Miss X with an update until two days after the meeting. It said it would not provide her with interim accommodation as it was not satisfied Miss X was homeless due to domestic abuse. Instead, it would provide a camera for her safety. Miss X did not receive a homelessness decision letter.
22. Following the Council’s decision, a professional advocate on behalf of Miss X contacted the Council supporting her request for assistance due to domestic abuse. The Council did not respond. Miss X said she felt trapped and was still subject to domestic abuse during this period.
23. A professionals meeting was held in late January 2025, Miss X’s housing caseworkers did not attend the meeting.
24. In February 2025, Miss X complained to the Council about non-provision of temporary housing, poor communication, non-attendance at the professionals meeting and the lack of a formal decision regarding her homeless application.
25. The Council responded in mid-March 2025, it said communication could have been more empathetic however it had acted in accordance with the law. It said as more information was now available it wanted to reassess Miss X’s homelessness application.
26. In late March 2025, Miss X was allocated temporary accommodation (property A), she requested a review of the offer. She said she was misinformed about how the offer would affect her assured tenancy, was made to sign the offer letter and it was unsuitable due to location because of her cultural and religious beliefs
27. At the same time, Miss X escalated her complaint to the Council adding concerns regarding the allocation of temporary accommodation and her housing register application.
28. In its response in April 2025 the Council said:
• Miss X should have been provided with interim accommodation and subsequently temporary accommodation after the meeting in December 2024;
• a response should have been provided to her advocate within ten working days;
• it should have explained the reasons for not providing interim accommodation and apologised for any conflicting information she had been given;
• arrangements should have been made to ensure there was housing representation at the professional meeting in January;
• a decision was not issued following the decision to provide interim accommodation as further enquiries were being carried out. It had accepted the relief duty and Miss X would be notified of this in writing alongside a personal housing plan (PHP);
• advice should have been provided to contact the provider of her temporary accommodation in the first instance if she was dissatisfied with the condition. She should not have been told that accepting the temporary accommodation would result in the loss of her secure tenancy with the housing association; and
• it should have made it clear her housing register application was not eligible for a Council management transfer but was aware her housing association had now placed her on its own transfer list
29. The Council upheld Miss X’s complaint. It apologised for the frustration, distress and anxiety caused. It said staff would receive training and be reminded about how to assess homelessness applications involving domestic abuse, the importance of safeguarding, attendance at professionals’ meetings and providing regular updates of application progression. It said her caseworker would contact Miss X to ensure referrals were made to relevant support agencies and because it had accepted her temporary accommodation as unsuitable, she would be contacted regarding the provision interim accommodation until it could offer something suitable. It offered a £500 remedy payment for the distress caused.
30. In June 2025, Miss X raised her concerns again with the Council. She said the Council had failed to take action since its stage two response in April 2025. She had received and provided information regarding her child’s needs and comments on her PHP in May however there had been no substantive response. Further despite agreeing her temporary accommodation unsuitable in March 2025 there had been no further offers of temporary accommodation made.
31. Immediately following this complaint, the Council made a second offer of temporary accommodation (property B) to Miss X. Miss X did not move into the property.
32. Miss X complained again to the Council, she said the property B was unsuitable due to state of disrepair and the matter was having an impact on both hers and her children’s mental health and well-being. She also asked for a reassessment of her housing priority banding.
33. In late June 2025, the Council accepted the main housing duty towards Miss X. It also registered a housing assessment request and provided a complaint response. It said:
• a second offer of temporary accommodation had been made to Miss X but this had not proceeded; and
• Miss X had been contacted by telephone and informed a further offer of temporary accommodation would be made, however none were currently available. It said Miss X should advise it if emergency accommodation was needed.
34. Miss X escalated her complaint, she said the Council had failed to address all of the matters she had raised and she had received a rent invoice for the offer of temporary accommodation that had not proceeded due to landlord refusal.
35. In late June 2025, Miss X received a third offer of temporary accommodation (property C), Miss X was provided with her review rights. Her tenancy commenced mid-July 2025.
36. In August 2025, Miss X’s housing register reassessment was completed, she was assessed as remaining in band B with change to a four bed need and was provided with her review rights.
37. In early September 2025, the Council provided Miss X with a stage two response to her complaint. It apologised for the delayed response but did not uphold her complaint, it said:
• it did not believe the second temporary accommodation (property B) offered was ‘hazardous’ and rent charges for this property had been removed;
• the Council had previously apologised for the distress caused to Miss X and issues had been responded to in a timely manner with updates on progress provided; and
• the Council was taking action regarding property offers involving safeguarding and vulnerable families.
38. Miss X remained unhappy with Councils actions and responses and asked the Ombudsman to investigate.

Analysis

39. If a council has reasons to believe a person may be homeless it has a duty to make inquiries and decide what, if any, further duty it owes.
40. After approaching the Council in November 2024 and asking for homelessness assistance due to domestic abuse, the Council should have made interim accommodation available to Miss X immediately whilst it carried out further investigation and provided Miss X with a decision letter. Not doing so is fault.
41. By March 2025 the Council knew that Miss X was homeless and in priority need and offered her temporary accommodation. The Council delayed assessing her to decide on its relief duty and to find out whether it should arrange interim accommodation for her. Miss X was therefore left in unsuitable accommodation due the risk of domestic abuse between November 2024 and March 2025. This is fault.
42. If the Council had applied the correct test in assessing Miss X’s housing and personal circumstances, it should have decided whether it owed Miss X any housing duties by November 2024. Had it done so, on balance it would have offered Miss X interim accommodation. This is because this is what the Council decided in March 2025 and Miss X’s circumstances, including the risk of domestic abuse had not changed between November 2024 and March 2025.
43. If no accommodation is offered, the homelessness relief duty ends after 56 days from the date a council has accepted it. This is when the council should consider whether it still owes a housing duty to the homelessness applicant. The Council accepted relief duty in its complaint response in April 2025, however I have not seen evidence that Miss X received a decision notice.
44. Had the Council accepted its relief duty for Miss X without delay, this duty would have ended by the end of January 2025 and at this point the Council would have considered whether it owed Miss X the main housing duty and provided Miss X with her statutory right of review earlier. The Council did not accept main housing duty for Miss X until June 2025. On the balance of probabilities, I consider that if the Council had made its decision in the January 2025, it would have accepted the main housing duty at this point. This is because Miss X’s housing circumstances relevant to the Council’s decision did not change between January 2025 and June 2025. The Council’s delay of six months to decide on its main housing duty for Miss X is fault.
45. The Council decided Miss X’s temporary accommodation (Property A) was unsuitable in April 2025. Miss X and her family remained in this property until June 2025 when an alternative offer was made, a period of two months. This is fault.
46. The Council has already agreed to undertake work on improving staff awareness relating to the provision of interim and temporary accommodation to those fleeing domestic abuse and statutory duties relating to decisions and timescales after the Ombudsman upheld other cases. For this reason, I have not made further service improvement recommendations here as we will monitor the impact of these changes through our complaints.

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Action

47. To remedy the injustice the Council caused to Miss X and her family, the Council agreed to within one month of the final decision:
1. apologise in writing to Miss X to acknowledge the injustice its faults caused her and her children;

We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisation should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings.

2. make a symbolic payment to Miss X and her children of £1,950 to recognise the distress, frustration and uncertainty caused by:
1. the Council’s delay in offering interim accommodation, leaving Miss X and her family in unsuitable accommodation due to risk of harm from domestic abuse from November 2024 to March 2025, a period of three months;
2. the Council’s six-month delay in deciding its main housing duty towards Miss X and her family and failing to communicate its decisions relating to this in line with statutory process; and
3. the Council’s delay of two months in providing alternative accommodation after deciding Miss X’s temporary accommodation was unsuitable in April 2025.
2. The Council will provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

49. I found fault causing injustice. The Council agreed to actions to remedy the injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman