Service improvements

London Borough of Lambeth

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 - 10 of 32 cases with service improvements

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

  • London Borough of Lambeth (24 009 478)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 30-Mar-2025

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council delayed investigating her complaint via the statutory children’s complaint procedure and failed to carry out recommendations it agreed to as part of the process. Ms X says the Council’s actions caused her avoidable stress and frustration. We found fault by the Council. The Council has agreed to provide an apology and financial remedy to Ms X and to carry out the actions it agreed to as part of the statutory complaints process.

    Service improvements

    Remind staff of timescales as set out in the children’s statutory complaints procedure.Remind staff to complete recommendations agreed by the Council as part of the statutory children’s complaints procedure within the agreed timescales.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (24 006 548)

    Category: Housing Date: 10-Mar-2025

    Summary

    Miss X complained about how the Council responded to her concerns that her temporary accommodation was unsuitable. The Council was at fault. This meant Miss X missed out on her right to ask for a review of her accommodation’s suitability and she has been living in unsuitable housing for over a year. To remedy her injustice, the Council will apologise and pay Miss X a total of £1800. It will take action to ensure it gives accurate information about homeless people’s rights to request a review of the suitability of their temporary accommodation.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its main housing duty decision letters to ensure they give clear information about a person's right to ask for a statutory review of the suitability of their temporary accommodation.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (24 006 071)

    Category: Housing Date: 14-Feb-2025

    Summary

    Mr X complained the Council failed to provide alternative temporary accommodation after it confirmed his property was unsuitable. The Council was at fault. Mr X and his family lived in unsuitable accommodation for 18 months. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a financial payment and provide guidance to its staff.

    Service improvements

    Remind staff of the Council’s duty to people living in unsuitable accommodation.Provide guidance to all relevant staff on the actions the Council should take to source alternative accommodation. This guidance should include recording the actions the Council takes.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (24 004 791)

    Category: Housing Date: 03-Mar-2025

    Summary

    The Council was at fault for failing to provide suitable interim and temporary accommodation when Miss X was homeless. It failed to keep oversight of the managing agent acting on its behalf to provide the accommodation. The Council also communicated poorly and delayed accepting the main housing duty. As a result, Miss X experienced avoidable frustration and lived with extensive disrepair. To remedy this injustice, the Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Miss X and act to improve its services.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to ensure it considers the suitability of temporary accommodation in response to complaints of disrepair, including damp and mould, and issues a written decision setting out the applicant's right to ask for a suitability review. It will provide training or guidance as needed.The Council agreed to arrange a meeting between a senior Council manager responsible for procurement and management of temporary accommodation and a senior representative from the managing agent to discuss our findings. They should identify ways to improve liaison, information-sharing and performance monitoring to ensure the agent meets the timescales and service standards in the agreement.The Council agreed to monitor the managing agent’s performance against the service level agreement for three months from the date of our final decision. It is up to the Council how it chooses to conduct this monitoring. If the Council decides not to physically inspect all properties, it should consider identifying and inspecting properties with repeated reports of disrepair from occupants.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (24 001 840)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 12-Dec-2024

    Summary

    Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of his care and support needs. He says the Council failed to complete an appropriate care assessment and care plan. He says this means the Council is not meeting his care needs. We have found fault in the actions of the Council for failing to explain how it reached its calculation of the hours offered to Mr X. We recommend the Council issues an apology, pays Mr X a financial payment and completes service improvements.

    Service improvements

    In writing, remind officers to keep accurate records of how decisions were reached.In writing, remind officers to issue complaint responses which deal with the issues raised by complainants.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (24 000 401)

    Category: Environment and regulation Date: 14-Feb-2025

    Summary

    Ms X complained about how the Council handled an Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) case review request. She also complained the Council failed to complete actions from the case review meeting. Ms X said this impacted her mental health. The Council did not keep accurate records and did not complete the actions of the case review. This frustrated and distressed Ms X. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a financial payment, complete the action from the meeting and remind staff of the Council responsibilities.

    Service improvements

    Remind relevant staff of the importance of keeping accurate records of meetings and decision making.Provide guidance to relevant staff on the Council's responsibilities when completing Anti-Social Behaviour case reviews.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (23 021 187)

    Category: Housing Date: 10-Sep-2024

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council offered her unsuitable temporary accommodation and delayed in responding to her reports about this. Ms X says this impacted on her mental health and she had to live in conditions which were unsuitable. We have found the Council at fault. To remedy the injustice caused to Ms X, the Council agreed to apologise and make a payment to Ms X to acknowledge the distress and hardship she experienced living in unsuitable accommodation.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review any similar cases where residents in this building (living in temporary accommodation provided by the Council) have reported problems with the building and consider whether it is appropriate to move them into suitable accommodation.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (23 020 606)

    Category: Housing Date: 17-Mar-2025

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council failed to deal with a mice infestation issue in her temporary accommodation. She also complained the Council failed to resolve the issues with the window handles being too loose. We find the Council was at fault for how it handed the disrepair issues and its failure to conduct a suitability review. This caused Miss X avoidable distress and frustration, and it meant she had to live in unsuitable temporary accommodation. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to apologise to Miss X, make a payment to her to reflect the time she was living in unsuitable temporary accommodation and the distress and frustration this caused and implement service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will ensure it has mechanisms in place to assess the suitability of temporary accommodation following reports of disrepair from tenants.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (23 020 068)

    Category: Housing Date: 04-Nov-2024

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council failed to properly investigate or take appropriate action in relation to issues of disrepair in her privately rented property. We found the Council’s failure to inspect the reported disrepair at Miss X’s property in the Autumn of 2023 is fault. As is the failure to properly consider and record its decisions in relation to Miss X’s homelessness application. These faults have caused Miss X an injustice.

    Service improvements

    Review its procedures and timeframes for inspecting/responding to reports of disrepair in privately rented properties.Provide training/reminders to relevant staff of: a)the need to properly record their consideration of homelessness applications and to write to applicants to confirm what housing duty the Council decides it owes them, and to explain the applicant's rights of review; andb)the importance of properly considering whether it is reasonable for a homeless applicant to continue residing at a property which is in disrepair and affecting their health.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (23 020 047)

    Category: Housing Date: 07-Mar-2025

    Summary

    We have found fault with the Council for delays incurred during Ms X’s homelessness application process. This caused Ms X the injustice of living in unsuitable accommodation with her family. The Council has agreed to apologise to Ms X and pay her a financial amount to remedy the injustice.

    Service improvements

    Demonstrate how it will ensure that officers always carry out a suitability assessment to identify the household’s needs before making a placement in interim or temporary accommodation.fShow how it will monitor homelessness applications and set reminders of statutory deadlines e.g. 56 days, 8 weeks.

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