Homeless man gets £1k after council 'did nothing'

The man had no home to go to for more than a year

A council has been ordered to pay £1,000 to a homeless man after it "did nothing" to support him for more than a year.

The Northamptonshire man had to stay with friends and sofa-surf because his case was not being dealt with.

The council watchdog said North Northamptonshire Council may have "created" copies of correspondence after the event to disguise the lack of action.

The authority has offered its "sincerest apologies".

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman was told that the man had made a homelessness application to the council at the start of 2023.

He had been given six weeks' notice to leave his accommodation by a family member.

He provided medical evidence to the council of his clinical depression.

There was no record of any further action until the man complained in July 2023, when he had already been homeless for two months.

In September, the council noticed that it had taken no action and said it was "unacceptable".

The council did nothing further until last December, when it uploaded evidence the man had sent seven months earlier, in May.

A new case worker took over in February this year and made a referral to a supported accommodation provider.

In March, a decision was made that the council did not have a duty to provide him with temporary accommodation as he was not in priority need.

North Northamptonshire Council, based at the Cube in Corby, offered its "sincerest apologies"

The Ombudsman said: “There is no evidence [the council] worked with [the man] to prevent his homelessness or provide any advice or assistance to him. This was fault.

“Even once the council upheld a complaint agreeing that it had taken no action between May and September 2023, it failed to rectify the fault and continued to do nothing."

The Ombudsman alleged copies of correspondence provided by the council could have been “created after the event to disguise the lack of action on the case", according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The Ombudsman ordered the council to apologise and pay £1,000 for its failure.

Jason Smithers, the leader of the Conservative-controlled council, said it "would like to extend its sincerest apologies to the gentleman during what must have been an extremely stressful, frustrating and difficult time.

“We will continue to work with the individual concerned to support him to find suitable housing and we will review our systems, policies and procedures to ensure that this does not happen again."