Leicester City Council has refused part of the Ombudsman’s recommendation to pay a homeless woman for not giving her the right support when she asked it for help.

The Local Government and Social Care stepped in to investigate after the mother and her children were forced to flee their home to escape domestic abuse.

The council first placed the family in interim bed and breakfast accommodation before referring them to a refuge which provided self-contained accommodation.

The mother contacted the council repeatedly as she thought the refuge was negatively affecting her children’s health conditions and was too far away from her support network. The council failed to respond.

When the council did finally get in touch following her complaint, it told the mother to go back to the refuge for support.

The council finally accepted it had a duty to house the family some four months after it should have done so, and it offered the family bed and breakfast accommodation as temporary accommodation, which they moved into after the refuge. However, it failed to tell her that it had accepted the main housing duty towards her family, and of her right to appeal the suitability of the accommodation offered through the courts. The family remained in the bed and breakfast for 19 weeks.

The council eventually offered the family a one-bedroomed property, and while the council acknowledged that it was not suitable for the family, it again failed to tell the mother she could appeal.

Ms Amerdeep Somal, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said:

“While I acknowledge the work Leicester City Council has already done to improve its support for homeless people in the city, and its acceptance of the service improvements I have recommended, I am disappointed with its reluctance to fully acknowledge what has gone wrong in this case. It is not accepting the gravity of the injustice to this family by not agreeing the pay the financial remedy I have recommended.

“The law states that families should only be put in bed and breakfast accommodation as a last resort, and this should be for no longer than six weeks. This family was in bed and breakfast accommodation for 19 weeks. The family was split over two rooms, and had no access to cooking facilities which no doubt had a significant impact on their mental health.

“The council has told me it has 170 other families who have been in this sort of accommodation for longer than six weeks. I hope the changes it is making will ensure that other families in Leicester are considered appropriately, and informed of their appeal rights in future.”

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman remedies injustice and shares learning from investigations to help improve public, and adult social care, services. In this case the council should apologise to the mother and pay her £500 for the distress caused by not responding to her concerns about the suitability of the refuge accommodation. It has agreed to pay this amount.

It should also pay the family £1,300 for the distress caused by living in unsuitable bed and breakfast accommodation for longer than they should have done and a further £150 per month for every month she remains in unsuitable temporary accommodation.

The council has not agreed to these recommendations.

The Ombudsman has the power to make recommendations to improve processes for the wider public. In this case the council has agreed to draw up an action plan for reducing the number of families it has in bed and breakfast accommodation. It will also train or remind officers about their duties towards homeless families and improve its template letters to ensure they reflect people’s rights are highlighted.

Article date: 13 November 2024