Council 'mistakes' over woman's homelessness plea

The woman - not pictured - was forced to take drastic action after the council didn't deal with her case properly

A council will pay a woman £3,650 in compensation after failings in the way it dealt with her case before and after she was evicted from her home.

The woman was renting a property in Oxford but her landlord gave her notice to leave within two months in July 2023.

Oxford City Council was found to have been too slow to react to the woman's application for emergency help and then put her and her family in emergency accommodation for too long.

A council spokesperson said the authority was sorry, accepted a finding that the woman suffered injustice, and had since made changes.

The Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) found the woman approached the council in July 2023 and that it should have acted then.

By September 2023, her case had still not been dealt with so she was forced to rent accommodation herself, which was more expensive than council rent would have been.

The LGO said the woman paid a landlord £1,500 per month for four months - but had the council helped, it would have charged £912.50 per month.

After she left that property, the council placed her and her family in a bed and breakfast for 10 weeks, four weeks longer than they should have been there.

The LGO told the council to pay back £2,350 of "avoidable financial loss" incurred by renting the property from September 2023 and £600 as a recognition of time spent in the B&B.

The woman will also receive £500 for her "distress and uncertainty" and £200 for the time and trouble she spent pursuing a complaint.

"We are sorry about the mistakes made and the unnecessary distress caused," the council spokesperson said, adding the authority had since "implemented numerous changes" to its homelessness service.

"At the time this happened the council was experiencing an unprecedented increase in demand as a result of the cost of living crisis," they continued.

"We also experienced a challenging period of recruitment as councils across the country increased the size of their housing teams.

"We have since invested heavily in additional staff and training.

"This has resulted in improved staffing levels and retention, with significant improvements to quality and quantity of work."