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 24 cases with service improvements

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  • 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 (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.

  • 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 (23 018 625)

    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.

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