Service improvements

London Borough of Lambeth

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 - 10 of 27 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 (25 012 138)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 11-Feb-2026

    Summary

    We have upheld Ms X’s complaint that the Council failed to consider offering financial compensation or acknowledge the distress it caused. The Council has agreed to apologise to Ms X, offer her compensation and make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    Within three months, the Council will review its practice for considering complaint payment recommendations to ensure consistency and recording of decision making.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (25 007 411)

    Category: Housing Date: 23-Mar-2026

    Summary

    Miss B complained the Council has failed to complete repair works at her temporary accommodation. The Council was at fault. It has delayed carrying out repair works and failed to ensure they have been completed. It also delayed making a suitability decision and its communication was poor. Miss B suffered distress and frustration and spent time and trouble chasing the Council. She was also denied the opportunity to request a review. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss B, ensure the repair works have been completed, make symbolic payments, and issue staff briefings.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant staff:• The legal duty lies with the Council to ensure applicants are in suitable accommodation which is free from disrepair, and where repair works are arranged, to ensure that they have been satisfactorily completed.• The Council has a duty to keep suitability under review, and recognise the types of communications from applicants which should trigger the Council to make a suitability decision.This will help to ensure repairs are completed in a satisfactory and timely manner and applicants are not denied the opportunity to request a suitability review of their accommodation.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (25 006 875)

    Category: Housing Date: 23-Mar-2026

    Summary

    Miss D complains about the handling of her homelessness application and being awarded an incorrect qualifying date for the housing register. I have found some fault by the Council including delay, an insufficient personalised housing plan and an incorrect qualifying date. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss D, correct the qualifying date and pay redress for avoidable distress.

    Service improvements

    set out what actions will be taken to ensure homelessness applicants are offered a timely appointment and assessment.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (25 004 116)

    Category: Environment and regulation Date: 05-Feb-2026

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council regularly missed bin collections after it approved a request to move a bin store area for the flats she lives in. The Council was at fault for not telling the residents there was a ten-metre limit for the crew to move the bins and for missing collections. This caused Ms X uncertainty, frustration and time and trouble. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a payment to Ms X.

    Service improvements

    The Council was at fault for not telling the residents of flats there was a ten-metre limit for the crew to move the bins and for missing collections. The Council has agreed to review the situation and propose a long-term solution that resolves the problems with collections and vermin in a way the contractor can comply with. It has agreed to fully fund any additional works or bin relocation.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (25 003 153)

    Category: Housing Date: 24-Feb-2026

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council placed her in unsuitable temporary accommodation and then failed to move her to a suitable alternative accommodation after it found the temporary accommodation was unsuitable. There were faults by the Council which caused injustice to Miss X. The Council will take action to remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    •provide guidance to the relevant housing staff to ensure they communicate and update applicants about the progress of their housing cases in a timely manner.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (25 002 805)

    Category: Housing Date: 02-Jan-2026

    Summary

    We found fault and service failure by the Council on Mr Y’s complaint about it failing to transfer him and his large family from his accommodation which it accepted was unsuitable. The Council failed to consider the suitability of the accommodation sooner when alerted to problems. It delayed carrying out an assessment and failed to identify it as unsuitable initially under its complaints procedure. The Council agreed to send Mr Y a written apology for the identified failures, pay £2,250 for the injustice caused living in unsuitable accommodation for 15 months, and will ensure officers explore, and keep under review, whether a household in temporary accommodation is statutory overcrowded when overcrowding is raised as a concern. This remedies the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to ensure relevant officers are aware of the need to explore whether a household is legally statutory overcrowded when an applicant in temporary accommodation raises overcrowding as a concern.The Council agreed to provide evidence the failure at stage 1 of the complaints process to identify this as unsuitable accommodation was addressed.The Council agreed to ensure relevant officers are aware of the need to keep under review the ongoing suitability of temporary accommodation when overcrowding is raised by an applicant.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (25 001 999)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 02-Mar-2026

    Summary

    The Council was at fault for not meeting Mr Y’s assessed care and support needs when it housed him in unsuitable accommodation. The Council was also at fault for its poor communication and complaint handling. It will apologise and make a symbolic payment to Mr Y to acknowledge the distress caused by his unmet care needs and the avoidable frustration and uncertainty he was caused by its faults. It will also take action to prevent the recurrence of the same faults.

    Service improvements

    The Council was at fault for not meeting a person's assessed care and support needs when it housed them in unsuitable accommodation. It was also at fault for its poor communication and complaint handling. The Council will share our decision with its Adult Social Care department and Housing team to identify areas of learning around effective communication and record keeping. It will set out the action it proposes to take to improve its services in future and prevent recurrence of the faults identified in this decision.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (25 001 080)

    Category: Housing Date: 23-Feb-2026

    Summary

    Ms F complained about the Council’s handling of her concerns about the suitability of her temporary accommodation. She said this impacted her and her family’s wellbeing and safety. We found fault by the Council for failing to complete the suitability review, action and progress disrepair with the managing agent, and to properly consider the anti-social behaviour. It also failed to adhere to its complaints policy and move the family to a suitable accommodation without delay. The Council agreed apologise to Ms F, make payment to acknowledge the injustice its faults caused her family, and complete a service improvement recommendation.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review why it did not consider and record its decision making around the anti-social behaviour and related safeguarding concerns raised in this case. It should consider its findings and set out the steps it intends to take in its Temporary Accommodation Improvement Project. This is to ensure all relevant teams are involved, views are recorded and shared internally, and decision making is evidenced and includes all relevant concerns.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (25 000 861)

    Category: Housing Date: 26-Feb-2026

    Summary

    The Council was at fault for how it handled Ms X’s reports of repairs, anti-social behaviour and for delaying assessing her homelessness situation. This meant Ms X had to wait longer for the Council to owe her a homelessness duty and has outstanding repair and anti-social behaviour issues at her property. The Council agreed to apologise, make a payment to Ms X for the distress caused and take steps to investigate the repair and anti-social behaviour issues which are ongoing.

    Service improvements

    Take steps to ensure staff know which Ombudsman they should signpost different complainants to.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (24 022 022)

    Category: Benefits and tax Date: 27-Apr-2025

    Summary

    We will not investigate this complaint about council tax liability. At our invitation, the Council has agreed to reinstate Mr X’s right to appeal to the Valuation Tribunal.

    Service improvements

    BinJ to review its procedures within two months of LGSCO decision to ensure that: a) all council tax staff can differentiate between matters carrying aright of appeal and those which are for the complaints procedure, and can take correct action on each; and b) its standard letters, website, and other relevant correspondence provide information about council tax liability appeals.

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