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 11 - 20 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 (24 021 802)

    Category: Housing Date: 02-Feb-2026

    Summary

    We found fault on the complaint against the Council sent by Mr Y on behalf of his son, Mr Z, when dealing with his homeless application. It failed to properly consider whether it owed a duty to provide interim accommodation, delayed reaching a decision about whether it owed him a main housing duty, wrongly referred him to a housing provider, and missed a timescale under its own complaints procedure. The Council agreed to send Mr Z an apology, pay him £600, and review its processes. These actions remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to review processes to ensure relevant officers are aware of the correct legal test when considering the Council’s duty to secure interim accommodation when processing homeless applications.The Council agreed to review processes to ensure section 184 decisions are made according to statutory timescales.The Council agreed to review why the complaint was not dealt with under its complaints procedure according to stated timescales and ensure these are met on future cases.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (24 020 522)

    Category: Housing Date: 31-Aug-2025

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council failed to ensure adequate repairs were carried out at her temporary accommodation. Miss X also complained the unresolved disrepair issues meant the temporary accommodation provided to her was unsuitable. She said the Council’s actions caused her avoidable distress and negatively impacted her mental health. We found fault by the Council. The Council has agreed to offer suitable alternative accommodation to Miss X and provide her with an apology and a financial remedy.

    Service improvements

    Remind staff of the Council’s legal duty to ensure applicants are in suitable accommodation which is free from disrepair or hazards

  • London Borough of Lambeth (24 020 018)

    Category: Education Date: 28-Sep-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council failed to carry out agreed actions following a tribunal hearing regarding her son’s Education, Health and Care Plan. Mrs X also complained the Council failed to follow its complaints procedure. She says the Council’s actions negatively impacted her son’s mental health and meant he did not receive the provision he needed. Mrs X says the Council’s actions also caused her avoidable stress. We found fault by the Council. The Council has agreed to provide an apology and a financial remedy to Mrs X.

    Service improvements

    Remind staff of the Council’s requirement to comply with agreements and directions made as part of a Tribunal orderRemind staff to adhere to the Council’s complaints procedure

  • London Borough of Lambeth (24 014 177)

    Category: Housing Date: 23-Jun-2025

    Summary

    We found fault on Mr Y’s complaint about the Council failing to act on his reports of the condition of his temporary accommodation. Records were not made, retained, and checked about previous problems with the same property. It failed to carry out a housing needs assessment before he moved in or act promptly on his reports. Nor did it keep its suitability under review, and it failed to follow its own complaints procedure. The Council agreed to send Mr Y an apology for the failings, pay £3,850 as he lived in unsuitable accommodation, a symbolic £100 payment for increased electricity costs, and £400 for avoidable distress. It agreed to review procedures and remind officers of the need to keep temporary accommodation’s suitability under review.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to review its procedures and protocols to ensure: i) proper records are made, retained, and checked about temporary accommodation where tenants are moved because of its poor condition; ii) checks are made before moving an applicant into such a property to ensure any remedial works necessary were done to make it suitable to let.The Council agreed to review why a housing needs assessment was not done before moving the complainant in to the property and remind relevant officers of the need to do them.The Council agreed to review why delays happened in responding to reports about the property’s condition and act to ensure these cannot be repeated on future cases.The Council agreed to remind relevant officers of the need to keep interim/temporary accommodation’s suitability under review during its occupation.The Council agreed to review why there were failures with the complaints procedure and act to ensure these cannot be repeated on future cases.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (24 014 029)

    Category: Housing Date: 15-May-2025

    Summary

    We found fault on Ms Y’s complaint about the Council failing to provide her with the review decision it agreed to do during court proceedings. It failed to do the review within 8 weeks, tell her promptly of its decision that the property was unsuitable, and keep a record of its decision and reasons. She lost the chance to have the review done within this time period, commuted to her son’s school longer than needed, and suffered frustration. The Council agreed to send an apology, make a payment for the delays, establish why the review was not done within 8 weeks, remind staff about recording decisions, and to tell applicants about suitability decisions promptly.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to carry out a review to identify the reasons why the section 202 review did not take place within 8 weeks and act to ensure the delay experienced on this case is not repeated on future cases.The Council agreed to remind relevant staff of the need to record decisions about suitability.The Council agreed to remind relevant staff of the need to promptly inform applicants of the decision about suitability.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (24 013 200)

    Category: Housing Date: 07-Apr-2025

    Summary

    Miss D complained the Council failed to review the suitability of her temporary accommodation. Based on current evidence I consider the Council is at fault. It failed to refer the case to its Review Team for over 12 months and then delayed progressing the suitability assessment. This caused Miss D avoidable distress and a lost opportunity to have a suitability assessment completed. I have asked the Council to pay Miss D financial redress and to explain how it will improve its service.

    Service improvements

    set out action taken to improve delays in the Review Team

  • London Borough of Lambeth (24 012 786)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 02-Jun-2025

    Summary

    LGSCO finds the Council was at fault for failing to consider Ms X’s needs arising from her disability when replacing her shower. The Housing Ombudsman finds maladministration in the Council’s handling of Ms X’s reports of repairs. Both Ombudsmen find fault in the Council’s complaint handling. To remedy the injustice to Ms X, the Council has agreed to apologise, replace Ms X’s shower, make payments and act to improve its service.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to produce guidance for relevant staff on when and how to check a tenant’s social care and/or equipment needs when responding to repairs.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (24 012 587)

    Category: Other Categories Date: 12-Dec-2025

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council repeatedly failed to adhere to agreed reasonable adjustments in the way it communicates with her. The Council was at fault for failing to make reasonable adjustments. This caused Ms X avoidable and aggravated frustration and distress. She was also put to time and effort complaining again. The Council agreed to apologise and provide a financial remedy for the injustice.

    Service improvements

    The Council will give training or guidance to all staff across all departments on the Council’s duty to identify and engage with reasonable adjustment requests, how to identify when someone has an agreed reasonable adjustment, and how to meet this in every communication.

  • London Borough of Lambeth (24 011 977)

    Category: Housing Date: 01-Jul-2025

    Summary

    We found fault by the Council on Miss Z’s complaint about it failing to transfer her to alternative accommodation after deciding it was unsuitable in March 2023. The Council failed to move her from the property, show a record of its decision about unsuitability at the time it made it, send her a copy of the decision, or act to address the causes of its concerns while she remained in it. These failures caused avoidable injustice. She remained in an unsuitable property which did not meet their needs. The Council agreed to send her a written apology, pay £4,050 for the time she spent in unsuitable accommodation, pay £150 a month until she is moved, find her alternative accommodation, review what happened, and remind officers of the need to tell tenants about decisions when made.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to review why the complainant was allowed to remain in accommodation it had already decided was unsuitable, with no additional help from the Council to find suitable accommodation, and take steps to ensure this cannot be repeated on other cases.The Council agreed to remind relevant officers of the need to inform tenants about unsuitability decisions at the time they are made.The Council agreed to ensure tenants who remain in their temporary accommodation understand the legal position of their accommodation after a decision to end the housing duty has been made

  • London Borough of Lambeth (24 011 190)

    Category: Housing Date: 21-May-2025

    Summary

    Mr X complains the Council did not deal properly with nhis homelessness application, causing delay. The Council did not properly process his homelessness application in 2023, delayed dealing with his application in 2024 and delayed its complaint responses. Mr X suffered avoidable delay and distress, in addition to lost appeal rights in 2023. The Council should apologise, pay Mr X £500 for avoidable distress, pay Mr X £1,300 in respect of delays to dealing with his homelessness application and provide guidance to staff.

    Service improvements

    • Provide guidance to staff to ensure:a) Correspondence with applicants is properly sent and recorded.b) Homelessness applications are dealt with in a timely manner.c) Enquiries regarding crime reference numbers are made to all relevant police forces.d) Full and proper consideration is given to each applicant in relation to their eligibility for interim accommodation.e) Complaint responses are sent within the relevant timescales, or interim responses are sent clearly explaining why it is not possible to reply fully in the proper timeframe.

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