Service improvements

London Borough of Hounslow

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025

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 - 5 of 5 cases with service improvements

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

  • London Borough of Hounslow (24 008 966)

    Category: Housing Date: 30-Mar-2025

    Summary

    Miss X complained about how the Council considered her housing application. The Council was at fault for significant delay in deciding on Miss X’s application, failing to tell Miss X of her right to ask the Council to review its decision and for failing to act on one of her review requests. This caused Miss X avoidable frustration. To remedy her injustice, the Council will apologise, invite Miss X to make a new housing application and pay her £300. The Council will also issue a staff reminder.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant members of staff that when they issue a decision on a person's housing application, they must include information on that person's right of review. This must happen regardless of whether the decision is included in the Council's complaint response.

  • London Borough of Hounslow (23 020 264)

    Category: Housing Date: 20-Oct-2024

    Summary

    Ms B complained that the Council failed to properly consider her medical assessment in connection with her application for alternative housing. We have found fault in the actions of the Council. The Council has agreed to apologise to Ms B, pay her £250 and invite her to submit another medical assessment. It has also agreed to give training to staff on dealing with medical assessments.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to circulate our ‘Guide for Practitioners: Medical assessments for housing applications (July 2024)' to all staff involved in making decisions on medical priority;The Council has agreed to arrange a training session to those staff on the content of the guidance to ensure the Council:1. makes its own decisions on medical priority and does not simply adopt the medical adviser’s view;2. considers all the evidence submitted in reaching its decision; and3. provides clear reasons why a person does not qualify and why their evidence has been discounted.The Council has agreed to remind medical advisers that their role is to make a recommendation (not a decision) on medical priority based on the evidence provided with clear and relevant reasons.

  • London Borough of Hounslow (23 015 313)

    Category: Housing Date: 14-Jul-2024

    Summary

    Ms X rented her property to the Council. She complained the Council failed to give the property back in good condition and delayed giving vacant possession. This caused Ms X financial and emotional distress. The Council is at fault for failing to communicate effectively with Ms X and delay in returning the terminated property.

    Service improvements

    The Council will considerand plan how it can better communicate with landlords and manage theirexpectations about when they might receive their empty property back.

  • London Borough of Hounslow (23 013 539)

    Category: Housing Date: 11-Nov-2024

    Summary

    Ms X complained about the support the Council provided with her housing. There was fault with how the Council took too long to decide Ms X’s priority under its housing allocation scheme, how it managed her homelessness application and communicated with her. The Council agree to review the duties it owes Ms X, apologise and pay her a financial remedy. It also agreed to review how it manages housing register reviews and issue reminders to its staff.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to develop and share with the Ombudsman an action plan to ensure it can process housing register review requests within the timescales set out in its allocations policy.The Council agreed to ensure all relevant staff have read our practice guidance on Medical assessments for housing application.The Council agreed to remind relevant staff that when making decisions about medical priority :for housingit is for the Council to make the decision about priority;decision makers should not simply accept the view of the Council’s medical adviser, but should weigh all the evidence, including any medical advice, before making their own decision; andthey should ensure there is a clear record of the issues considered and how the decision was made.

  • London Borough of Hounslow (23 009 269)

    Category: Housing Date: 24-Jun-2024

    Summary

    Ms Y complained about the way the Council dealt with her housing register and homelessness applications. We have found fault by the Council, causing injustice, with its failures and delays in: processing Ms Y’s housing register application; taking her homelessness application; providing her with interim accommodation and moving her to suitable accommodation; and making the main housing duty decision. The Council has agreed to remedy this injustice by apologising to Ms Y, making payments to recognise the impact on her of the delays and unsuitable accommodation, the upset, worry and uncertainty and making service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to review its guidance to officers about the Council’s duties (as set out in paragraphs 15 & 16) to take homelessness applications and make inquiries into the applicant’s homelessness;The Council has agreed to review its procedures to ensure it does not have ‘gatekeeping’ practices in place, for example, failing to take a homelessness application at the earliest opportunityThe Council has agreed to share the learning from this case with its officers.

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