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 - 10 of 12 cases with service improvements

Export results (CSV)

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

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (22 005 826)

    Category: Housing Date: 13-Dec-2022

    Summary

    We found fault with the way the Council communicated with Mrs X about her homelessness and housing. The Council agreed actions to remedy the injustice to Mrs X.

    Service improvements

    The Council should tell the Ombudsman what action it will take to avoid repeated failures in this case.Remind relevant officers of the importance of record keeping, PHP reviews and communication of decisions in writing with review rights included.• Remind relevant officers of the importance of record keeping, PHP reviews and communication of decisions in writing with review rights included.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (22 003 938)

    Category: Housing Date: 02-Aug-2022

    Summary

    Mr X complains the Council excluded him from its housing register because he was of no fixed abode. If we were to investigate it is likely we would find fault in the way the Council dealt with Mr X’s application. Therefore we have invited the Council to remedy the injustice to Mr X and it has agreed to take the action we recommended. Further consideration of the complaint would not be proportionate.

    Service improvements

    The Council should review decisions to exclude people from its register for the past three months to see if anyone has been wrongly excluded for not having a fixed address.The Council should advise staff dealing with complaints that they should pass complaints which canbe dealt with as review requests (e.g. homelessness or housing allocations) tothe appropriate team for action.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (22 003 470)

    Category: Planning Date: 15-Feb-2023

    Summary

    Mr X complained about the Council’s failure to take enforcement action to remove a structure built without planning permission. We have found the Council to be at fault because it failed to keep Mr X informed of progress being made to take enforcement action, despite its promise to do so. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a symbolic payment to acknowledge Mr X’s frustration. We also found fault because the Council took too long to determine a retrospective planning application. However, we cannot say the overall outcome would have been different had the correct procedures been followed because the decision to take enforcement action was discretionary.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff of the statutory time limits involved with planning applications and the need to keep affected parties informed when there are delays in both the planning and enforcement processes.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (22 002 575)

    Category: Housing Date: 06-Jan-2023

    Summary

    Mr X complained the Council treated his family with bias and did not fairly consider his housing application from 2019 to 2022. The Council failed to award the family emergency priority for housing allocation for 9 months. The Council also failed to properly consider Mr X’s appeal against its decision to remove his emergency priority banding. The Council agreed to pay Mr X £1350 pounds to recognise the distress caused to him and his wife by remaining in a property that was a risk to their daughter’s life. It agreed to offer them the next available suitable property. The Council will also reconsider its decision on Mr X’s appeal and carry out staff training.

    Service improvements

    The Council will provide relevant staff with guidance on recognising and appropriately responding to complaints.The Council will remind staff to properly consider all the available information when considering appeals against decisions it has made about emergency priority for housing applications.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (22 000 646)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 05-Oct-2022

    Summary

    Mr X complained on behalf of Y. He complained about the way the Council made decisions about Y’s Disability Related Expenditure. He said this caused the family financial hardship. We found fault with the Council which caused uncertainty about its decision. The Council agreed actions to remedy the injustice.

    Service improvements

    Review and update its DRE guidance, particularly the ‘maximum amounts’ in light of the issues identified in this statement to ensure it does not fetter its discretion. It should also consider publishing this information or providing applicants with a copy to ensure its decision making is transparent. If it decides not to it should be able to explain why.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (21 013 391)

    Category: Benefits and tax Date: 26-Apr-2022

    Summary

    We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint the Council delayed paying housing benefit to which he was entitled. We are satisfied the Council has paid the benefit and it has agreed to pay Mr X £100 to remedy any injustice caused by the delay.

    Service improvements

    The Council did not agree to review its practice and improve and I have raised its poor response in the closure letter to the CX.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (21 013 094)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 29-Jun-2022

    Summary

    Ms C complains the Council wrongly pursued arrears for home care charges and reneged on an agreement to fund residential care. The Council was at fault for charging for home support services without a financial assessment, delayed in completing a financial assessment and failed to consider community based alternatives for Mr D earlier. To remedy the complaint the Council has agreed to waive some home support charges, pay Ms C £300 in acknowledgement of the time, trouble and stress the Council’s faults have caused her. It will also review procedures and remind staff about the importance of completing financial assessments as early as possible.

    Service improvements

    remind staff about the importance of completing financial assessments quickly and, if requested and within reason, when there is a challenge about an outstanding debt;review and if necessary, provide guidance for those presenting applications for funding and their managers about what information panel members need for funding approval;record and keep minutes of funding panels.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (21 010 079)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 18-Apr-2022

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council failed to notify her it had started a safeguarding in respect of her father and failed to complete the investigation and explain the reasons for this decision. The Council closed the safeguarding investigation prematurely in error, which is fault. It has now completed a retrospective safeguarding investigation reaching a decision that is unlikely to have been different even if it had been completed sooner.

    Service improvements

    Remind staff about the need to properly record the reasons for closing a safeguarding investigation to ensure public interest issues are not missed.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (21 006 765)

    Category: Environment and regulation Date: 05-Apr-2022

    Summary

    Mr X complained the Council failed to follow its policy to collect contaminated recycling within 48 hours. Mr X also complained the Council’s definition of contaminated waste is too wide. The Ombudsman found fault with the Council. The Council agreed to the Ombudsman’s recommendation to create a policy for contaminated recycling waste, complete a period of monitoring of Mr X’s block of flats recycling collections, apologise to Mr X and pay him £150 for the frustration and inconvenience caused.

    Service improvements

    Create a formal policy for contaminated recycling waste identification and collection.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (21 004 446)

    Category: Housing Date: 16-May-2022

    Summary

    Miss B complained the Council did not provide suitable temporary accommodation between June 2020 and July 2021. She also complained the Council delayed contacting other councils to source suitable temporary accommodation. We found the Council at fault for delays offering Miss B suitable temporary accommodation and responding to her complaint. The Council will apologise and make a financial payment to remedy the injustice caused to Miss B and her child by its delays.

    Service improvements

    Remind housing officers to complete inspections of temporary accommodation, or get evidence from the landlord of its condition, before moving someone into the property.

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