London Borough of Tower Hamlets (18 015 772)

Statement Upheld Planning applications 09-Aug-2019

Summary: Ms X complains the Council failed to consider the impact of a neighbour’s extension on to a small bedroom window of her property. The Council has accepted it was at fault. It has already apologised and offered a payment in recognition of the distress caused which is a suitable remedy in this case.

London Borough of Tower Hamlets (18 019 424)

Statement Upheld Safeguarding 15-Aug-2019

Summary: We uphold Mrs A’s complaint about poor wound care for her late father Mr B. The Council will apologise and pay Mrs A £1000 to recognise her avoidable distress.

London Borough of Tower Hamlets (18 015 880)

Statement Upheld Land 02-Sep-2019

Summary: Ms C says the Council delayed in making a decision on whether to allow an electrical cable to cross its land to her father’s commercial unit. She also says it wrongly refused to allow connection until the property had been valued by a surveyor and insisted on using an overpriced surveyor for the valuation. The Council was at fault for a lengthy delay. This caused injustice. However, it was not at fault for insisting on the valuation or using its pre-approved surveyor.

London Borough of Tower Hamlets (18 019 607)

Statement Upheld Council house sales and leaseholders 30-Sep-2019

Summary: There was fault by the Council. It took too long to complete the sale of the leasehold interest to Miss B under the right to buy scheme. It sent wrongly dated letters and it failed to deal with her complaint in accordance with its complaints process. This caused Miss B distress and frustration and she had to renew her mortgage offer and pay more that she should have. The Council has apologised to Miss B and offered to pay her £10,495. It will also share this decision with its relevant officers reminding them that letters should be properly dated, and staff should follow the complaints process.

London Borough of Tower Hamlets (18 016 492)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 07-Oct-2019

Summary: There was no fault in the Council securing suitable full time education for a boy with special educational needs when he moved into its area. However, there was delay by the Council in arranging speech and language therapies once it found the boy suitable full time education placement. The Council should provide additional provision to allow the boy to catch up.

London Borough of Tower Hamlets (18 015 046)

Statement Upheld Refuse and recycling 09-Oct-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman upholds Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s contractor failing to return her bin to the correct location. The Council has not done enough to monitor the contractor’s service delivery so the problem has persisted for longer than it should. The Council agreed to apologise to Ms X and make a payment to recognise the inconvenience and frustration caused. It will also carry out further monitoring of the contractor and report its findings to Ms X and the Ombudsman.

London Borough of Tower Hamlets (17 012 835)

Statement Upheld Disabled facilities grants 14-Oct-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman finds no evidence of fault causing injustice by the Council in its consideration of Mr X’s request for the Council to build an extension to his home to meet the needs of his disabled son.

London Borough of Tower Hamlets (19 003 989)

Statement Upheld Parking and other penalties 28-Oct-2019

Summary: Mrs C complains about the behaviour of a bailiff acting on the Council’s behalf during a visit to her home to collect a parking debt which she says caused unnecessary upset to her and her family and has affected their health. The Ombudsman has found fault by the Council in the way it dealt with Mrs C’s potential vulnerability and subsequent complaint. The Ombudsman considers the agreed action of an apology, payment of £100 and confirmation of training about how to deal with potential vulnerable debtors is enough to provide a suitable remedy.

London Borough of Tower Hamlets (19 001 625)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 11-Nov-2019

Summary: Ms X complains about the time taken by the Council to decide her homelessness application, the interim accommodation it put her in, and the time taken to review its suitability later on. The Ombudsman found there was fault caused by delays by the Council in deciding Ms X’s homelessness application and her request for a suitability review. It also gave her inaccurate information about reviewing the suitability of her accommodation at an earlier stage. The Council accepted our recommendation it should remedy this by apologising to Ms X, agreeing to pay a financial remedy and reminding staff of their obligations.

London Borough of Tower Hamlets (19 000 068)

Report Upheld Homelessness 11-Nov-2019

Summary: Miss X complained about how the Council handled her homelessness application when she became threatened with homelessness in February 2019, and homeless in March 2019. She complained about Council officers’ approach towards her and a lack of action to help her find somewhere to live. Miss X stayed in unsuitable, unfurnished interim accommodation while pregnant. This has affected her physical and mental health.