City of Westminster (Parliament Politics Magazine) – A pensioner secured a £650 payout after Westminster Council failed to provide proper homelessness support, admitting to serious errors in handling the case.
Westminster City Council was ordered by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman to backdate the resident, identified only as Ms E, on the housing register to August 2023 and to issue an apology for the anguish and uncertainty her actions caused.
According to the watchdog, when Ms. E first approached Westminster City in June 2023, they ought to have taken action to assist her in keeping her house or finding a new place to live. This involved offering guidance and assistance in order to persuade the landlord to refrain from evicting Ms. E.
It admitted that it is “more likely than not” that the council was unable to save Ms. E from becoming homeless since the landlord had raised the rent and she did not agree with the higher amount.
After evaluating Ms. E in July 2024 and advising that she had the legal right to remain in her property even after the eviction notice had expired, the Ombudsman claimed it took the council two months to assist her. While this is true, the watchdog stated that it is often unreasonable to expect someone to remain after an eviction notice has expired, according to the Homelessness Code of Guidance.
The council did not think about whether they had an obligation to locate Ms. E a new home, even though they knew her notice would end in August 2023. There’s no reason to think she wouldn’t have qualified for community-supported housing at that time, it added.
Ms. E “had no certainty as to what support the council would provide to her or when” because of the five-month delay in finding a home, according to the Ombudsman. Furthermore, it stated that the £80 given to Ms. E as compensation for its inadequate communication “does not reflect the significance of the injustice caused by the faults identified in this investigation.”
After being informed that bailiffs had been scheduled to evict her, she fled her property in July and lived with friends. She lived with various acquaintances until November 2024, when she discovered a private rental home, where she has been ever since.
In August 2024, the council offered her a suitable home, but Ms. E turned it down. She was dissatisfied with the council’s handling of her application for homelessness and claimed that it had created excessive delays. When Ms. E rejected the property, the council acknowledged that it had fulfilled its obligation to her.
The council informed Ms. E in a letter in April of this year that she had been registered for a studio apartment with a backdated registration date of February 2024.
In order “to acknowledge the delays causing distress and uncertainty in what would have been an already difficult time for Ms E,” the Ombudsman ordered the council to pay £650 in appreciation.
A request for comment has been made to Westminster City Council.
How did Westminster Council’s housing blunder lead to the £650 payout?
Westminster Council’s housing blunder that led to a £650 payout involved repeatedly offering a pensioner unsuitable accommodation. The council failed to provide appropriate housing options despite the pensioner’s needs, causing distress and inconvenience.
As a result, the council was ordered to compensate the pensioner £650 for these repeated failures related to homelessness assistance.
This payout reflects the council acknowledging its mistakes in handling the homelessness help and accommodation offers to the pensioner, highlighting shortcomings in their housing support and response processes which negatively affected the individual’s situation.