Ombudsman probe uncovers six-month housing register application backlog at council

The LGSCO said: “The ongoing delays will cause injustice to other applicants, so the council should take action to address the delays.”

Miss X said the process caused her “significant distress which has worsened her medical conditions and affected her mental health”.

According to the LGSCO’s report, Miss X, who moved to the area in 2020 fleeing domestic abuse, asked the council in January 2022 if she could join its housing register after her landlord told her they wanted the property she was living in back. 

In May that year, she sent a medical form to the council explaining her current housing was unsuitable as her medical conditions meant she could not use the stairs to get in or out of the property.

However in June, she was told by Tower Hamlets Council that she did not qualify to join its housing register as she had not lived in the borough long enough.

Miss X requested a review of the council’s decision in July, as she did not think Tower Hamlets had taken account of her medical conditions or her worsening health when making its decision. 

The council reviewed the request in January 2023, but it again refused her application as she had not lived in the borough continuously for three years.

When Miss X asked for another review, the council told her there was no further right of review. But then in conflict with this, the council said it would offer a further right of review.

After Miss X submitted her request, the council then repeated it would not carry out the review, prompting her to make a formal complaint. 

The LGSCO said: “It is not clear why the council changed its mind about offering a further review. This is fault which will have raised Miss X’s expectations and caused some uncertainty to her.”

In response to Miss X’s stage two complaint, the council apologised for not considering her medical conditions when she made her application to join the housing register. 

The ombudsman found the council at fault for not telling Miss X of her right to a review of its decision to award her priority band 2B and for the time it took to process her application.

Tower Hamlets Council agreed to apologise to her and pay compensation of £500. 

It said it will draw up an action plan for reducing the delay in considering applications for the housing register and to decide applications within eight weeks.

The council also said it would be reminding officers to consider a person’s needs when considering their application and review the letters it sends reminding applicant’s of their right to seek a review.

Amerdeep Somal, the local government and social care ombudsman, said: “Taking six months to decide a person’s homelessness application – when the process should only take eight weeks – is simply unacceptable.

“While the faults I have identified have not stopped the woman from successfully bidding on a property, the time taken for the council to consider her application and its initial failure to consider her medical needs, can only have added to her distress.

“I hope reviewing the way it considers applications, and the action plan it has agreed to draw up, will significantly reduce waiting times for everyone in the borough.”

A Tower Hamlets Council spokesperson said: “We fully accept the report and its findings, and we apologise to Miss X for the upset caused by delays in processing her housing register application and initial banding placement.

“These findings came at a time when we were facing unprecedented demand for housing services.

“Our team is working hard to improve and already acting on the report’s recommendations.”

In May, the LGSCO found that Tower Hamlets Council did not do enough to help a family about to be evicted by their landlord.