City of Westminster (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Westminster Council has been ordered to pay a pensioner £650 in compensation after repeatedly offering unsuitable housing while processing a homelessness application.
Westminster Council was ordered by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman to backdate the resident, identified only as Ms E, in the housing register to August 2023 and to issue an apology for the distress 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.
The Ombudsman said the five-month delay in helping Ms E find a home meant she
“had no certainty as to what support the council would provide to her or when”.
It also said the £80 offered to Ms E in recognition of its poor communication
“does not reflect the significance of the injustice caused by the faults identified in this investigation”.
According to the Ombudsman, it is impossible to determine if Ms. E would have been offered a suitable apartment if she had been added to the housing registry in August 2023.
In June 2023, Ms. E went to the council to complain that her landlord had raised her rent to an unaffordable level. She informed the council that an eviction notice that would expire on August 5 had been handed to her.
When the notice period ended, Westminster Council informed Ms. E that she had a legal right to remain on the property and gave her links to information about her rights from a homelessness organization.
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. Ms. E is still dissatisfied with how the municipality handled her application for homelessness.
The Ombudsman ordered the council to make a recognition payment of £650
“to acknowledge the delays causing distress and uncertainty in what would have been an already difficult time for Ms E”.
Westminster City Council has been contacted for comment.
How might this compensation affect the council’s approach to homelessness management?
The council will likely be pushed to adhere more strictly to its legal duties to provide suitable accommodation promptly. Compensation payments highlight the consequences of failing to meet these obligations and create incentives for better compliance to avoid future financial penalties.
Such compensation outcomes often come with recommendations or expectations for the council to review and improve its homelessness procedures and staff training. This can lead to enhanced internal policies that reduce delays, improve decision-making, and ensure accommodation offers align with applicants’ needs.
The council may strengthen monitoring and quality control measures related to homelessness services, ensuring that mistakes causing distress or unsuitable offers are caught and rectified sooner.