Service improvements

London Borough of Camden

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026

Find out more about service improvements

When we find fault, we can recommend improvements to systems and processes where they haven’t worked properly, so that others do not suffer from these same problems in future. Common examples are policy changes; procedural reviews; and staff training. Service improvements from decisions are published for 5 years and those from reports are published for 10 years.

Showing 1 - 9 of 9 cases with service improvements

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Downloads the current filtered list of service improvement decisions for London Borough of Camden as a CSV file.

  • London Borough of Camden (25 016 446)

    Category: Housing Date: 23-Feb-2026

    Summary

    There is no fault in how the Council handled a section 202 review. However, the Council delayed dealing with the homeless application after withdrawing the original decision, failed to record the reasoning for its decision Mr X did not have priority need, failed to respond to his emails and wrongly refused to respond to the complaint. That caused Mr X distress and left him with some uncertainty. The Council will apologise, make a payment to Mr X and provide guidance to officers.

    Service improvements

    The Council will provide guidance to officers dealing with homeless applications about how to how to assess priority need and the fact there is a low bar to reach at initial application stage. That guidance should make clear requiring applicants to provide a GP summary before the Council considers priority need is not acceptable.The Council will provide guidance to the complaints team about the circumstances in which the Council can refuse to consider a complaint.

  • London Borough of Camden (25 005 458)

    Category: Housing Date: 24-Nov-2025

    Summary

    The Council was at fault for delay in reviewing its decision on whether homelessness accommodation it offered to Mr X was suitable. It also failed to keep appropriate records of how it decided other accommodation was suitable for him. This caused Mr X avoidable frustration and uncertainty but we cannot say, even on balance, that it meant he missed out on housing he should have had. To remedy Mr X’s injustice, the Council will apologise and pay him £250. The Council will also identify what it needs to do to ensure it keeps proper records in future.

    Service improvements

    The Council will identify what changes it needs to make to its computer system to allow housing officers to record their rationale of whether homelessness accommodation it provides is suitable for the homeless applicant's needs. The Council will tell the Ombudsman what those changes will be and when it intends to complete them by.

  • London Borough of Camden (25 004 652)

    Category: Housing Date: 26-Feb-2026

    Summary

    Miss B complained that the Council failed to properly assess her medical needs in respect of her housing application. We found fault in the way the Council reached its decision that she was not eligible for higher priority which caused Miss B significant distress and uncertainty as to whether she had missed out on the chance to move to more suitable accommodation at an earlier point. The Council has backdated the medical priority to the date Miss B applied for it. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss B and make a symbolic payment.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to share a copy of our practitioner guidance (Medical Assessments for Housing Applications) to all staff involved in medical assessments and ensures they are aware of the need to consider all the evidence provided from all sources, weigh that evidence appropriately and give full reasons for their decision based on the evidence and not just the view of the external medical adviser.

  • London Borough of Camden (25 004 216)

    Category: Housing Date: 07-Jan-2026

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council failed to properly consider her medical and safety needs when assessing her housing application. We find no fault in the Council’s decision not to award her medical priority points. However, we find fault in the Council’s failure to consider whether it was reasonable for Miss X and her children to remain in their current accommodation in light of the harassment she was experiencing, and in its failure to appropriately signpost her to, or coordinate with, its homelessness service. These failings caused Miss X uncertainty about whether she should have received additional advice or assistance. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Miss X, assess whether Miss X’s current circumstances give rise to homelessness duties, and take action to improve its services.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind relevant housing allocation and domestic abuse staff of the need to consider, when harassment or abuse is disclosed, whether it may be unreasonable for an applicant to remain in their accommodation, and of the requirement to appropriately signpost the applicant to, or liaise with, the homelessness service where relevant.The Council has agreed to review and, where necessary, update its internal procedures to ensure that information about harassment or domestic abuse disclosed through housing allocation processes is consistently shared with the homelessness service, so that homelessness duties can be considered at an early stage.

  • London Borough of Camden (25 000 877)

    Category: Housing Date: 28-Jan-2026

    Summary

    Mr X complained how the Council handled matters when his mother became homeless. He says the Council provided his mother with unsuitable accommodation and it failed to provide her with appropriate support for her needs. He also says the Council concluded its stage two complaint response within 24 hours without properly addressing his questions. We find the Council was at fault for failing to evidence it reassessed the suitability of the interim accommodation for Mr X’s mother. It also failed to respond to all the points in Mr X’s stage two complaint. These faults caused uncertainty and frustration. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X and his mother, make a payment to Mr X’s mother and provide evidence of a service improvement.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to provide evidence of the new system it has put in place to ensure better record keeping for property management, compliance and auditing purposes.

  • London Borough of Camden (24 019 817)

    Category: Housing Date: 03-Dec-2025

    Summary

    Miss B complained the Council failed to consider her medical issues properly when awarding priority on the housing register and delayed considering her stage two review. The Council failed to properly consider Miss B’s circumstances and evidence when making a decision on medical priority and delayed carrying out the reviews. That means Miss B is left with some frustration and distress that the Council has not assessed her application properly and is left with some uncertainty. An apology and payment to Miss B, agreement to carry out a further review and reminder to officers is satisfactory remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council will send a reminder to officers who deal with housing reviews to ensure they give proper scrutiny to supporting evidence and explain the reasons for their decisions.

  • London Borough of Camden (24 015 570)

    Category: Housing Date: 27-May-2025

    Summary

    Miss X complained about how the Council dealt with the disrepair issues at her temporary accommodation. The Council was at fault for its failure to properly deal with and resolve the disrepair issues Miss X reported to it. The Council’s faults caused Miss X distress, worry, inconvenience, frustration and she and her child continued to live in accommodation with recurring disrepair for a significant period. The Council will take action to remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    •ensure thorough investigations of recurring disrepairs are completed and resolved in a timely manner•remind relevant staff of the importance of ensuring all disrepair issues have been resolved before the case is closed on the Council’s system•by training or other means, remind relevant staff of the Council’s duty to keep the suitability of applicants’ temporary accommodation under review.

  • London Borough of Camden (24 009 776)

    Category: Housing Date: 10-Apr-2025

    Summary

    Mr and Mrs X complained about the Council’s handling of their homelessness application. We found the Council was at fault for issuing a decision letter which was unclear. This caused frustration to Mr and Mrs X for which the Council has already apologised. The Council has agreed to a service improvement to prevent further fault.

    Service improvements

    To ensure, by training or other means, the relevant staff are clear about the difference between the prevention and relief duties when it accepts a duty. The decision letters must clearly state which duty has been accepted.

  • London Borough of Camden (24 001 962)

    Category: Housing Date: 27-May-2025

    Summary

    Mr B complained the Council failed to move him from unsuitable accommodation, wrongly closed his homeless application, failed to tell him about his right to request a review, delayed awarding medical priority and delayed responding to his complaint. The Council delayed providing Mr B with suitable accommodation, failed to follow the right process when closing his homeless application, failed to tell him about his review rights, failed to properly consider his medical priority and delayed responding to his complaint. That meant Mr B stayed in unsuitable accommodation for longer than necessary which caused him distress. An apology and payment to Mr B, alongside a reminder to officers is satisfactory remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council will send a memo to officers dealing with homeless applicants in temporary accommodation to remind them of:the need to ensure applicants are informed of their review and appeal rights;the need to complete a suitability review if a person in temporary accommodation raises concerns about the suitability of it; andwhen the Council accepts temporary accommodation is unsuitable it needs to arrange alternative accommodation immediately rather than just try to do so or wait until something suitable becomes available.The Council will put in place a process to ensure management of those cases where a homeless applicant has been placed in unsuitable temporary accommodation to ensure alternative temporary accommodation is promptly sought.The Council will remind officers dealing with medical assessments of the need to ensure a formal decision is issued with review rights and that those decisions should ensure all the information the applicant has provided is taken into account.

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