Council urged to end homeless family payout row

Leicester City Council said making all of the recommended payments would set an expensive precedent

Leicester City Council has been accused of dragging out a row over compensating a homeless family it had failed while they were fleeing domestic abuse.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman ruled in November a mother was not given the correct support when she asked for help.

However, the council has rejected the watchdog's recommendation that it pay the woman, referred to as Ms X, £1,300 in compensation on top of a £500 payment it had agreed to make.

At a council meeting on Thursday, opposition councillors urged the authority to make the "relatively small" payment to the woman and end the dispute.

Leicester mayor Sir Peter Soulsby told councillors making the payment could set a precedent, leaving the authority facing further claims totalling £500,000 or more.

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

But the family was placed into a B&B, split across two rooms, for 19 weeks.

The ombudsman said it was rare for councils not to accept its recommendations.

The council said the ombudsman's stance was based on laws from more than 20 years ago that "do not take account of the national housing crisis".

'She can't move on'

Soulsby told councillors: "I note the ombudsman has written to the secretary of state [for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Steve Reed] about the issue and before we come to any conclusions, I would like to do likewise."

He said the letter would explain why the council was "unable to respond adequately to those in desperate housing need".

He said it would also "seek assurances that conceding in this particular case would or would not run the risk of a substantial number of other claimants in Leicester, and elsewhere, being set as a precedent".

Soulsby added: "Officers have advised that were we to accept [making the payment], it could lead to a precedent and costs of several hundred thousand pounds to us alone and set similar precedents for other local authorities."

Green Party city councillor Patrick Kitterick said: "At the centre of this is not Ms X. She's a real person with a real family.

"We are debating £1,700. It drags it out for Ms X. She can't move on, and all the time Ms X feels unvalued for what she has gone through.

"This council pays out thousands of pounds each year in ombudsman's recommendations, and they don't set precedents."

He proposed a motion urging the council to make the full compensation payment, but it was defeated by a majority of Labour members in the chamber.

The council's deputy mayor for housing economy and neighbourhoods, Elly Cutkelvin, said: "What's interesting about this case is the [ombudsman] accepts the council's evidence that B&B accommodation at that time was the only type of accommodation that was available to Ms X.

"We have over 20 families a week presenting as homeless and this will not be the last time that we see families in unsuitable B&B for longer than a six-week period."

She said, since the case, the council had invested £45m in new temporary accommodation, creating 260 new units with 135 for families.

She added: "We have reduced the number of families in temporary accommodation – bed and breakfast - from its peak of 188 families down to seven families now."