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 11 - 20 of 32 cases with service improvements

Export results (CSV)

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

  • London Borough of Lambeth (23 019 748)

    Category: Housing Date: 06-Nov-2024

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council left her in unsuitable temporary accommodation. As a result she had to spend more time than she should have in this accommodation. We have found the Council at fault. To remedy the injustice caused the Council agreed to apologise to Ms X and make a payment to her for the time she spent in unsuitable accommodation.

    Service improvements

    Remind staff to ensure they carry out a suitability review of a person’s temporary accommodation when applicants or persons on their behalf raise concerns about the suitability of such accommodation.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (23 019 381)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 29-Sep-2024

    Summary

    Mr C complained about the information the Council gave to him about care fees when his brother Mr D moved into a care home. We have not found fault with the information provided but we consider the Council should have considered Mr D’s capacity in relation to the financial assessment and provided copies of information to Mr C. It also delayed excessively in responding to Mr C’s complaint. The Council has offered to pay Mr C £250 which we consider is a reasonable symbolic payment in line with our guidance. The Council has also agreed to review its social care complaints procedure.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to reviews its adult social care complaints procedure and take steps to ensure complaint responses are sent within the Council’s timescales. The Council should also ensure it has system in place to monitor complaints to identify if delays are likely to occur, to enable it to take action to minimise the delays and provide regular and meaningful updates to the complainant.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (23 018 625)

    Category: Housing Date: 18-Jun-2024

    Summary

    We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about delay in the Council responding to her section 202 review request on the suitability of her temporary accommodation. This is because the Council agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused by the likely delay.

    Service improvements

    The Council will issue a reminder to all relevant staff about the timescales to respond to section 202 review requests

  • London Borough of Lambeth (23 018 548)

    Category: Housing Date: 06-Nov-2024

    Summary

    Ms X complains about unresolved disrepair in her property. We have concluded our investigation having made a finding of fault. Due to unresolved disrepair at the property pertaining to mould and damp issues, Ms X was living in unsuitable accommodation until she was moved in June 2024, this is fault. The Council has agreed to our recommendations.

    Service improvements

    Establish a standardised policy between it, and all managing agents responsible for resolving disrepair. The policy should set out clear service level agreements for work to be completed and give the Council oversight over the presence of reported disrepair, and the completion of works. It is expected that such a policy would prevent similar occurrences where the Council has a lack of oversight over reported disrepair and can proactively take action to resolve any delay.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (23 017 860)

    Category: Housing Date: 29-Oct-2024

    Summary

    The Council was at fault for delay providing temporary accommodation because of which Ms X and her children experienced the distress of eviction. The Council was also at fault for leaving Ms X and her family in bed and breakfast accommodation for nine weeks longer than the six weeks allowed in law. This caused Ms X avoidable financial loss and the whole family significant distress. The Council has agreed to apologise and make payments to Ms X to remedy this injustice. The Council should update us on its progress against its Housing Needs Service Improvement Plan.

    Service improvements

    The Council will provide an update to the Ombudsman on its progress against the Housing NeedsService Improvement Plan.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (23 017 447)

    Category: Housing Date: 19-Aug-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X complained that she was living in severely overcrowded conditions, which was causing distress to herself and her family. She wanted the Council to inspect her flat and increase her priority on the housing register. We found fault because there was a delay of a year in the Council completing the inspection. We have recommended the Council should apologise to Mrs X, make her a symbolic payment in recognition of her avoidable time and trouble in pursuing her complaint, and backdate the date of her entry to the highest priority band on the housing register.

    Service improvements

    The Council will provide us with an explanation about how it will ensure that open cases will be reallocated and progressed following the departure of Environmental Health Officers.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (23 017 206)

    Category: Housing Date: 16-Jul-2024

    Summary

    the Council delayed investigating repair issues in Miss B’s temporary accommodation and in moving her to emergency accommodation. An apology, payment to Miss B and reminder to officers is satisfactory remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council will send a reminder to officers dealing with repair issues in interim and temporary accommodation about the need to promptly investigate any concerns about repair issues in the property and consider whether emergency rehousing is necessary.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (23 016 266)

    Category: Housing Date: 04-Nov-2024

    Summary

    Miss X complained about the Council’s actions relating to her temporary homeless accommodation. We found fault because the Council took too long to complete a suitability review of her accommodation, took too long to deal with disrepair issues and did not have appropriate oversight of the condition of the property. This caused avoidable frustration and distress to Miss X. To remedy the injustice caused by the identified fault, the Council has agreed to apologise to Miss X, make a payment to her, issue reminders to relevant officers and managers and consider reviewing some of its processes.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant officers and managers of its homelessness duties under the Housing Act 1996. This will help to ensure the Council provides temporary homeless accommodation which is free of disrepair and of the need to deal with any reported issues quickly and decisively in temporary accommodation the Council has organised under its duties.The Council will consider reviewing how it can improve its general oversight of the condition of temporary homeless accommodation it has organised under its homelessness duties in line with the Housing Act 1996. It will also remind relevant officers and managers of the need for the Council to inspect accommodation itself if there are persistent reports of disrepair issues. This will help to ensure the Council itself has a clear picture of accommodation it is placing homeless applicants into, rather than relying on information from third parties.The Council will remind relevant officers and managers of the need to complete non-statutory suitability reviews of its temporary homeless accommodation in no more than eight weeks (to mirror the timescale for statutory reviews under section 202 of the Housing Act 1996). This will help to ensure those living in temporary homeless accommodation are not left waiting for the Council to decide whether it views the accommodation as suitable or not.The Council will review the wording on its informal suitability reviews of temporary homeless accommodation it has organised. It will review this to make it clearer about the next available steps to the applicant when it has completed its initial informal review. This will help to ensure those in temporary accommodation have a clear understanding that there is the option of a formal suitability review under section 202 of the Housing Act 1996, after the Council’s initial informal review has taken place.The Council will share the Ombudsman’s focus report - unsuitable temporary accommodation: guide for practitioners (issued May 2023) with relevant staff, managers and directors. This will help to ensure relevant staff have a clear understanding of their duties to those applicants in line with the Housing Act 1996.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (23 016 151)

    Category: Housing Date: 30-Mar-2025

    Summary

    Mr X complained on behalf of his brother Mr Y that the Council failed to respond properly to his reports about anti-social behaviour and harassment. He says the Council delayed an emergency transfer. There was delay by the Council causing Mr Y avoidable distress. The Council has agreed a financial remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to consider reviewing its emergency panel decision review process to allow emergency housing transfer requests by email rather than by writing to a PO Box address.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (23 015 831)

    Category: Housing Date: 23-Jun-2024

    Summary

    Ms X complained about the way the Council handled her housing register application. We found the Council at fault for delays in processing Ms X’s housing application and medical assessment. As a result, Ms X had to wait longer than she should have to join the housing register. To remedy the injustice caused the Council agreed to apologise, make some changes to Ms X’s housing application, and make a payment to her for the distress caused by the delays.

    Service improvements

    Look at what went wrong in this case and why there were significant delays in processing the housing application and medical assessment form. The Council should consider what changes it can make to ensure it processes housing applications and medical assessments quicker.

LGO logogram

Review your privacy settings

Required cookies

These cookies enable the website to function properly. You can only disable these by changing your browser preferences, but this will affect how the website performs.

View required cookies

Analytical cookies

Google Analytics cookies help us improve the performance of the website by understanding how visitors use the site.
We recommend you set these 'ON'.

View analytical cookies

In using Google Analytics, we do not collect or store personal information that could identify you (for example your name or address). We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data. Google has developed a tool to help you opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Privacy settings