Service improvements

London Borough of Newham

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 - 5 of 5 cases with service improvements

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

  • London Borough of Newham (25 005 345)

    Category: Housing Date: 23-Mar-2026

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council failed to action homelessness application in July and November 2024 and failed to action a referral to children’s social care. The Council accepts fault in respect of the three incidents above which Ms X says impacted on her mental and physical health. A suitable remedy including a symbolic payment and service improvements is agreed.

    Service improvements

    Provide details of the procedures in place to ensure referrals to children's social care are properly madeProvide details to show how homeless approaches to individual members of staff are recorded and responded to and will not go unanswered

  • London Borough of Newham (24 021 687)

    Category: Housing Date: 25-Feb-2026

    Summary

    On behalf of Mr X, Ms Z complained the Council delayed assessing Mr X’s household’s housing circumstances, failed to consider relevant evidence, and did not consider requests for reasonable adjustments. She said this disadvantaged the household and caused avoidable distress, frustration and uncertainty. We have found the Council at fault for failing to properly decide Mr X’s homelessness application and for not providing review rights. We also found fault with its complaints handling and for not considering Mr X’s requested reasonable adjustments. The Council has agreed to apologise and pay a symbolic financial remedy, and invite a further homelessness application from Mr X’s household. The Council has also agreed to provide guidance to officers on reasonable adjustments. We have not found the Council at fault for how it completed its review of Mr X’s household’s housing priority. There are other parts of Ms Z’s complaint we have not investigated. We explain why in our decision statement.

    Service improvements

    The Council will share the findings of the Ombudsman's investigation with relevant officers, along with a copy of our focus report Equal access: Getting it right for people with disabilities. This is to highlight good practice concerning reasonable adjustments in service delivery and complaint handling.

  • London Borough of Newham (24 020 053)

    Category: Housing Date: 26-Aug-2025

    Summary

    We found no fault on Miss Y’s complaint about the Council preventing her from bidding on suitable properties. There was fault on her complaint about it failing to consider whether it needed to assess whether she was homeless because it was unreasonable to expect her to continue living in her home. The Council agreed to send a written apology, pay £400 for the injustice caused, remind relevant officers of the duties owed to those who may be homeless, and consider whether it owes her a homeless duty. It also agreed to check whether she needs help bidding and contact her about the key safe and pendant alarm.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to remind relevant officers of the low threshold giving rise to the duty to make inquiries and what, if any, duty a person is owed where there is reason to believe they might be homeless or threatened with homelessness.The Council agreed to remind relevant officers they should accept the relevant duty as soon as they are satisfied an applicant is homeless or threatened with homelessness.The Council agreed to remind relevant officers of the need to tell applicants of the decision about what, if any, homeless duty is owed along with information about review rights.The Council agreed to consider whether it owes the complainant any homeless duty taking into account all the available evidence as well as her circumstances and notify her of its decision.The Council agreed to contact the complainant to see whether she still needs help with checking for suitable accommodation to bid for and explain i) how this will work and ii) the period covered over which it agrees to do this.The Council also agreed to contact the complainant about the key safe and pendant alarm and arrange for their provision if they were not provided.

  • London Borough of Newham (24 018 863)

    Category: Housing Date: 21-Sep-2025

    Summary

    Mr X complains the Council failed to provide him with interim accommodation when he made a second homelessness application in July 2024. The Council was at fault for ending interim accommodation too early after Mr X made a homelessness application in July 2024. It also delayed in completing his review request. This left Mr X homeless and caused avoidable distress and uncertainty. The Council will apologise, make a financial payment, and remind staff of the correct legal duties.

    Service improvements

    The Council will reminder staff that:•the section 188 interim duty arises on a low “reason to believe” threshold and should continue until the section184 decision is issued, and•section 202 reviews must be completed within eight weeks unless an extension is agreed with the applicant.

  • London Borough of Newham (24 009 777)

    Category: Housing Date: 20-Oct-2025

    Summary

    Ms X complained about the Council’s failure to provide suitable temporary accommodation and promptly respond to her reports of disrepair. We found the Council was at fault because it took too long to carry out a suitability review. There was also fault with the Council’s complaint handling and the actions of the Council’s contractor. The Council already accepted some fault and provided a partial remedy in response to her complaint. To remedy the outstanding injustice caused by the additional areas of fault we identified, the Council agreed to apologise and make a further symbolic payment to Ms X. It will also take action to improve its service.

    Service improvements

    By training or other means, the Council will remind officers they should ensure suitability reviews are carried out within eight weeks of a request being made.

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