Service improvements

London Borough of Lewisham

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023

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 - 4 of 4 cases with service improvements

Export results (CSV)

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

  • London Borough of Lewisham (22 006 537)

    Category: Housing Date: 19-Dec-2022

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council refused to assist her with her housing despite her having been given notice by her mother. The Council was at fault as it offered Miss X access to its rent deposit scheme then refused to assist her and in the way it ended its prevention duty and refused to accept a homelessness application. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss X, offer to carry out a statutory review of its decision to end the prevention duty and reconsider whether she can access the rent deposit scheme.

    Service improvements

    remind officers to properly consider whether toexercise their discretion in considering applications for the rent depositscheme.

  • London Borough of Lewisham (22 002 014)

    Category: Housing Date: 17-Nov-2022

    Summary

    Miss C complained the Council failed to resolve the billing issues for her interim accommodation with the housing provider. She also says the Council delayed providing her with a final decision letter on her homelessness application. We find the Council was at fault as it should have been more proactive in resolving the billing issues and it significantly delayed providing Miss C with a decision on her homelessness application. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to address the injustice caused by fault.

    Service improvements

    The Council will issue written reminders to relevant staff to ensure homelessness applications are processed in a timely way. If there are going to be delays, staff should keep applicants updated at key intervals.

  • London Borough of Lewisham (21 017 084)

    Category: Housing Date: 01-Sep-2022

    Summary

    Mrs X and Mr D complained the Council wrongly found their temporary accommodation suitable and it discharged its housing duty towards them. He also said it had failed to act as set out in its repairs policy when they had mould in the property and water leak from another flat. We found no fault by the Council on the substantial matters complained about, or these were late and had already been considered by a court. However, the Council did cause a service failure due to its delays in completing repairs to their accommodation as set out in the Council’s Policy. The Council has agreed to apologise the Mrs X and Mr D, complete the assessed repairs without delay and make payment to acknowledge the distress this caused them.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review Mrs X and Mr D complaint against its Repairs Policy to identify learning and ways to ensure any delays in the inspection and repairs process are limited and consistent with its Policy. Including, how the Council communicates any delays outside its control to individuals affected.

  • London Borough of Lewisham (21 016 662)

    Category: Housing Date: 26-Oct-2022

    Summary

    Miss X complained about the Council’s handling of her homelessness application and about various matters relating to the interim accommodation it provided. The Council was at fault for a significant delay in deciding her homelessness application, a failure to review whether the interim accommodation was suitable and poor communication in relation to repairs. The faults caused Miss X frustration and uncertainty, although she has potentially benefitted from the delay in making the homelessness decision. The Council should apologise and make a modest payment to remedy the injustice.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its processes to ensure it decides homelessness applications without undue delay, keeps proper records of all key information relevant to the application, and has a system to identify when cases need reallocating, for example, due to the unexpected absence of staff.

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