BackLondon Borough of Tower Hamlets has agreed to review the way it allocates properties after the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman uncovered it had a long backlog in processing applications to join its housing register.
The discovery came when the Ombudsman investigated how the council handled an application from a woman who was resident in its area. The woman, who has mobility problems, moved to Tower Hamlets as she was fleeing domestic abuse. When her landlord told her they wanted the property back, she approached the council to join its housing register. The woman told the council her property was not suitable due to her medical conditions – she could not leave the property and could not manage the stairs to its entrance.
The council decided the woman did not qualify to join its housing register as she had not lived in the borough long enough.
The woman asked the council to review its decision. The council took six months to do so and the council did not change its decision. She complained and the council apologised for not considering her medical conditions properly and agreed to reconsider the woman’s application on medical grounds.
It awarded her a priority band 2B but failed to tell her of her right to seek a review of this decision.
The Ombudsman’s investigation found problems with the way the council considered the woman’s application – taking six months to do so when the Ombudsman recommends it should have been decided in eight weeks. The investigation also found the council failed to assess her application on medical grounds when she first made contact.
The Ombudsman also found the council at fault for not telling the woman of her right to a review of its decision, and for the time it took to carry out its review when she asked it to do so.
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Source: Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, UK
