Service improvements

London Borough of Tower Hamlets

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 - 7 of 7 cases with service improvements

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

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (25 027 355)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 28-Jul-2026

    Summary

    Ms C complains the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and NHS North East London ICB failed to pay her daughter’s, Ms D’s housing costs despite her eligibility under section 117 Mental Health Act 1983. Ms C also complains they failed to respond to her complaints properly. The Council is at fault for failing to pay Ms D’s housing costs. This caused her avoidable stress and inconvenience. To remedy the complaint the Council will make a symbolic payment and service improvements.

    Service improvements

    Within two months of the final decision the Council should review how it responded to Ms C’s complaint and produce an action plan to ensure as far as possible complaints are dealt with promptly and properly.5. Within three months of the final decision the Council should produce a draft action plan to address the fault this investigation found. This should include a trigger during section 117 aftercare plan reviews to identify those people who are claiming benefits or paying privately for housing costs which the Council should be paying. The Council should include the ICB where appropriate when formulating the action plan. A final action plan should be produced within six months of the final decision.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (25 018 172)

    Category: Housing Date: 20-Jul-2026

    Summary

    Mrs C complained about the way the Council in respect of her housing application, dealt with her request for a medical assessment and her request for a direct offer of accommodation. We found fault in the Council’s actions. It has agreed to apologise to Mrs C, make a symbolic payment and improve its procedures for the future.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to review the implementation of its allocations policy in respect of direct lets to ensure it is acting consistently in accordance with that policy and the law and that it offers a right of review against those decisions.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (25 016 469)

    Category: Housing Date: 17-Jun-2026

    Summary

    We have upheld Mr X’s complaint about the preference date on his housing register application. The Council has agreed to take appropriate steps to remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council will provide guidance to relevant staff to ensure they set the preference date as the earliest date the applicant was in a reasonable preference category where the priority band remains the same but the reasonable preference category changes. This position should apply unless or until the Council amends its allocation scheme to set out clearly a different position for such cases.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (25 014 908)

    Category: Benefits and tax Date: 18-Jun-2026

    Summary

    Miss X complains the Council have sent her backdated council tax bills for a period the Council had miscalculated as not being owed. Miss X says the matter has caused her distress and financial hardship. We have found fault in the Councils actions for incorrectly closing Miss X’s account and for delayed complaints handling. The Council has agreed to write to Miss X to apologise, pay her a symbolic payment and agree an affordable repayment agreement and complete a service improvement.

    Service improvements

    Advise the Ombudsman of what steps the Council can implement to ensure errors are not made when updating council tax accounts.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (25 012 071)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 06-Jul-2026

    Summary

    The Council was at fault in its adjudication of Miss X’s complaint that followed a stage three Panel review as part of the statutory children’s complaints procedure. The Council’s fault caused Miss X and her family frustration and uncertainty and put Miss X to time and trouble. The Council should agree actions to remedy the injustice caused and to improve its service.

    Service improvements

    The Council was at fault in its adjudication that followed a stage three Panel review as part of the statutory children's complaints procedure. The Council has agreed to clarify to relevant staff that they are not empowered to challenge the stage three Panel’s findings.The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff that, where they propose to disagree with a stage three Panel’s recommendations, they should invite comment from all the Panel attendees and provide full reasoning for their decisionsThe Council has agreed to amend the template for the stage three adjudication letter to remove the line: “this adjudication will set out whether the council agrees with the findings and conclusions of the investigation”.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (25 005 243)

    Category: Housing Date: 19-Apr-2026

    Summary

    Ms X complains the Council has not dealt properly with her housing because it has placed her in unsuitable temporary accommodation. The Council is at fault because it did not complete a medical review. Ms X suffered uncertainty and had to live in unsuitable accommodation. The Council should apologise, make a symbolic payment to Ms X and review its processes.

    Service improvements

    Review its processes for monitoring the progress of medical assessments to ensure they are completed.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (24 014 937)

    Category: Housing Date: 14-Jun-2026

    Summary

    Miss X complains the Council failed to deal with a request to review the suitability of her accommodation. Miss X also says the Council failed to assess information she provided it to relevant medical conditions. Miss X says this has resulted in her living in unsuitable accommodation and has affected her mental health. We have found fault in the actions of the Council for failing to complete a suitability review, review medical information passed to it and provide decision letters which included all relevant information. The Council has agreed to write to Miss X to issue an apology, pay her a symbolic payment and complete a service improvement.

    Service improvements

    Review the Ombudsman’s Good Practice Guide: Medical Assessment for Housing Applications and advise the Ombudsman of what action it will take to ensure its practice is in line with the guide.Advise the Ombudsman what action it will take to ensure suitability review requests are picked up and actioned.

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