Council challenges homeless family payout ruling

Leicester City Council says making all of the recommended payments would be "disastrous" for local authorities

A city council has partially rejected a government watchdog's recommendation to pay a mother who was made homeless after fleeing domestic abuse.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman says the woman was not given the right support when she asked Leicester City Council for help.

She fled her home with her children and was placed in an interim bed and breakfast (B&B) before being referred to a refuge which provided self-contained accommodation.

The city council says it will pay the woman £500 in compensation, but will not accept the further £1,300 recommended by the watchdog, as it is based on laws from more than 20 years ago that "do not take account of the national housing crisis".

The ombudsman said the mother contacted the council "repeatedly" as she thought the refuge was negatively affecting her children's health conditions and was too far away from her support network, but the authority failed to respond.

According to UK law, families should only be put in B&B accommodation as a last resort for no longer than six weeks.

However, this family was placed into a B&B, split across two rooms, for 19 weeks after moving from the refuge.

'Disappointed' with council

The ombudsman said: "[The city council] failed to tell her that it had accepted the main housing duty towards her family, and of her right to appeal the suitability of the accommodation offered through the courts."

The family was eventually offered a one-bedroom property and, despite the council acknowledging it was not suitable, it failed to tell the mother she could appeal, the ombudsman said.

It recommended that the city council should apologise to the mother and pay her £500 for the distress caused by not responding to her concerns about the suitability of the refuge accommodation.

The city council was also advised to pay the family £1,300 for spending 13 weeks longer than they should have done in the B&B and a further £150 for each month she remains in "unsuitable" temporary accommodation.

Ms Amerdeep Somal, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, says the city council is not "accepting the gravity of the injustice to this family".

She added: "While I acknowledge the work Leicester City Council has already done to improve its support for homeless people in the city, and its acceptance of the service improvements I have recommended, I am disappointed with its reluctance to fully acknowledge what has gone wrong in this case."

'We are sorry'

The city council says making all of the recommended payments would be "disastrous" for local authorities.

It declared a housing crisis in November 2022 and says it currently spends about £16m a year on homeless services.

The authority says the lack of suitable housing is "out of its control" despite efforts to provide more affordable housing and the legislation which limits B&B accommodation to six weeks is more than 20 years old.

Elly Cutkelvin, deputy city mayor for housing said: "Five years ago we had no families living in B&B accommodation in Leicester.

"This year – owing to successive governments' failures to tackle the housing crisis by building more new homes - we have 171 in B&Bs and a further 365 in other temporary accommodation, including hotels and self-contained flats.

"I understand how distressing this must be, and the impact it will have on everyday life."

Ms Cutkelvin said a precedent set by the ombudsman's full recommendation would see the council pay out £220,000, which is "money we simply don't have".

"We do accept that there were some failings in our service in this case," she added.

"We are sorry for this, and have apologised to the family concerned.

"Staff training and recruitment is under way to ensure these failings are not repeated."