Service improvements

London Borough of Hackney

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2021 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 - 10 of 37 cases with service improvements

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

  • London Borough of Hackney (25 013 337)

    Category: Housing Date: 20-Mar-2026

    Summary

    We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s delay in issuing its section 202 review decision. The Council has now made its decision and has agreed to apologise for the delay. Further investigation by us is therefore not proportionate.

    Service improvements

    To remind staff to complete section 202 review requests within the statutory timeframe

  • London Borough of Hackney (25 006 991)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 01-Dec-2025

    Summary

    Mr C complains the Council and Trust failed to provide him with suitable care, respond to calls, and support him with his direct payments. We will not investigate the complaint as some of the complaints are late. The Council has acted to remedy other complaints and complete a new review. Further investigation by us would therefore not be proportionate.

    Service improvements

    Remind staff by way of staff circular, team meetings or supervisions about what to include in care reviews.

  • London Borough of Hackney (25 004 156)

    Category: Housing Date: 13-Jan-2026

    Summary

    Ms X complained about the Council’s actions after she told it she was a victim of domestic abuse. We find the Council at fault in its handling of her initial approach, including its treatment of her at its offices, its failure to complete a Domestic Abuse, Stalking and Honour Based Violence risk assessment, and its failure to provide interim accommodation without delay. We also find fault in the Council’s delay in accepting the relief and main housing duties, its failure to properly consider the suitability of the interim accommodation and unsafe areas, its failure to inform Ms X of her right to request a suitability review, and its poor complaint handling. These faults caused Ms X avoidable distress and uncertainty, placed her at risk of harm by requiring her to return to the property where the alleged abuse occurred, led to a loss of statutory review rights, and caused her unnecessary time and trouble in pursuing her complaint. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Ms X, and take action to improve its services.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agree to remind housing staff of:the low threshold for providing interim accommodation;the requirement to complete Domestic Abuse, Stalking and Honour Based Violence assessments where domestic abuse is disclosed; andthe need to advise applicants of review rights when accepting the main housing duty.

  • London Borough of Hackney (25 000 302)

    Category: Housing Date: 26-Jan-2026

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council did not fully consider her concerns about the safety of her accommodation in relation to her daughter’s health and care needs. She complained the Council failed to rehouse her family despite her concerns about the risk of harm to her daughter. Miss X says the Council’s actions caused her severe emotional distress and negatively impacted her daughter’s wellbeing. We found fault by the Council. The Council has agreed to make service improvements and provide Miss X with an apology and a financial remedy.

    Service improvements

    Provide guidance to staff to ensure they respond to service users’ queries in a timely mannerProvide guidance to staff to ensure they are aware of and understand the principles of good administrative practice as published by the Ombudsman, specifically the need to keep appropriate records and to provide a clear rational for decisions.

  • London Borough of Hackney (24 020 131)

    Category: Housing Date: 28-Aug-2025

    Summary

    Mrs D complains the Council placed her in unsuitable temporary accommodation. I have found the Council at fault because it delayed carrying out a suitability review and Mrs D remains in unsuitable accommodation. The Council has agreed to pay redress and ensure Officers are following the correct process when considering suitability review requests.

    Service improvements

    ensure officers carry out suitability assessments to identify a homelessness applicant's medical needs before placing them in accommodationensure review officers adhere to procedures when checking a request for a suitability review and see if additional officer training is neededset out the actions taken to reduce the impact of unsuitable accommodation on applicants and take account of LGSCO guide for practitioners on unsuitable temporary accommodation

  • London Borough of Hackney (24 016 748)

    Category: Housing Date: 28-Aug-2025

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council failed to deal with her repeated reports of mice issues and of disrepair in her temporary accommodation. We found the Council at fault for delays, with shortcomings in the action it took, and it did not keep suitability under review. This caused significant distress, uncertainty and frustration to Miss X. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a symbolic payment, carry out a suitability review, and to take action to prevent recurrence of fault.

    Service improvements

    The Council should use this decision as a case study to review its processes of how it deals with persistent issues or recurrent disrepair reported by complainants. It should review ways of improving communication with its Managing Agent, how it monitors performance and sets reasonable timeframes for it to complete repairs, and at what point it should consider intervening, enforcing service level agreements or addressing disputes with the Managing Agent. It should share a copy of any steps, guidance document, or action plan it makes from this.

  • London Borough of Hackney (24 015 097)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 12-Aug-2025

    Summary

    Mr B complained on behalf of his partner, Mr C, that they experienced persistent problems with the Council’s contractor undertaking minor adaptations needed by Mr C. We upheld the complaint, finding poor customer service by the contractor and faults by the Council in its practice. We considered these caused avoidable distress, which was an injustice to both Mr B and Mr C. The Council accepted these findings and at the end of this statement we set out the action it has agreed to remedy that injustice and improve its service.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed that it would brief its occupational therapy services on the importance of aiming to avoid closing referrals, where a need for minor adaptations remains outstanding. The Council had closed a referral without notifying the complainant, despite knowing they had an unmet need for an adaptation. This was on the understanding they did not want to pursue it, which was not the case. The Council will therefore introduce a practice to give a reminder to users of services if waiting for them to confirm their intention and / or put in writing if it is closing a referral where the need remains unmet.

  • London Borough of Hackney (24 013 245)

    Category: Benefits and tax Date: 06-Apr-2025

    Summary

    The complainant, X, complained that a Cyber Attack on the Council’s systems meant they were unable to pay Council Tax at the time. X was billed for Council Tax during the financial year and so the Council’s offer of a payment plan is reasonable. There was fault, as the Council failed to tell X of the right to appeal to the Valuation Fund after an application to the Council Tax Reduction Discretionary Fund was refused. Apologising and writing to X to give the right of appeal remedies the injustice.

    Service improvements

    Send evidence to show that its procedures and standard letters have been updated to ensure information is given that there is a right of appeal to the Valuation Tribunal.

  • London Borough of Hackney (24 006 509)

    Category: Housing Date: 30-Apr-2025

    Summary

    Ms X complained about the Council’s handling of her homeless application. She also complained the Council wrongly asked her to submit a new housing register application and it did not help her get her bidding details. We find the Council was at fault for the way it handled Ms X’s homeless application. It was also at fault for failing to help Ms X get her bidding details and for its communication with her on why she had to submit a new housing register application. These faults caused her frustration. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to apologise to Ms X and implement a service improvement.

    Service improvements

    The Council will issue written reminders to staff to relevant staff to ensure they must not pre-judge the outcome of a homeless application without first doing a proper assessment of the applicant’s circumstances.

  • London Borough of Hackney (23 011 262)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 10-Aug-2025

    Summary

    Mrs B complained about the failure to properly consider her brother, Mr C’s needs before placing him in a care placement, failed to ensure the placement acted appropriately when transferring him to hospital, failed to ensure the care provider put in place support for him, failed to communicate properly with her and delayed responding to her complaint. Mrs B says the failures caused her significant distress. There is no evidence of fault in how the Council considered care placements for Mr C before he moved in to a placement. The Council failed to identify a new placement when Mr C needed to move from that placement and delayed dealing with the complaint. The care provider acting on behalf of the Council failed to include Mr C in the assessment, failed to follow the transition plan and failed to follow the care plan. An apology, payment to Mrs B, a review and reminder to officers is satisfactory remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review what happened in this case in terms of identifying a new care provider following the incident in August 2022 to identify any procedural issues that can be addressed to ensure the same situation does not occur for other service users in future.The Council will remind officers working in adult social care of the need to provide advocates and family members with sufficient notice of meetings, where possible.The Council will remind officers dealing with complaints about:a) the need to ensure the Council complies with the published complaint timescales;b) the need to keep those that have complained up to date when delays occur.

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