Royal borough left man street homeless after failing to recognise domestic abuse

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has called on the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to apologise to a homeless man after it failed to recognise the abuse he suffered because it did not consider the alleged perpetrator a ‘relative’.

In a report the Ombudsman also told the local authority to train officers on the definition of ‘personally connected’ and meaning of ‘relatives’ as set out in section 63 of the Family Law Act 1996, to avoid the issue happening again.

The LGSCO said the man had complained after Kensington & Chelsea left him sleeping rough when he fled the home he shared with his sibling and the sibling’s spouse.

The council failed to offer the resident interim accommodation as he said he was staying with a friend, according to the Ombudsman.

The London borough failed to check how long he could stay there and whether it was settled accommodation.

It took Kensington & Chelsea 11 weeks to tell the individual it had accepted it had a duty to help prevent his homelessness with a Personalised Housing Plan (PHP).

The council has agreed to apologise to the complainant and pay him a symbolic payment of £300 to recognise the distress and uncertainty caused. It will also review the homelessness duty owed to the individual, notify him of the decision and his rights to seek a review.

The Royal borough has also agreed to send written apologies to all applicants affected by the delays in issuing PHPs, and draw up an action plan for reducing the number of people waiting.

Amerdeep Somal, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: “The council’s delays in confirming what duty it owed the man, coupled with not recognising the alleged abuse he suffered, can only have caused him uncertainty and distress at a time of crisis

“During our investigation the council told us it has a significant backlog of cases requiring a Personalised Housing Plan. This is not good enough. These are important documents, required by law, which explain what the council will do, and what people themselves can do, to help prevent or relieve their homelessness – delays in providing them creates a real injustice to people at a vulnerable time in their lives.

“I welcome the action the council has told us it is taking to improve how it deals with people fleeing domestic abuse and the moves it is making to address the backlog in issuing PHPs. I have asked the council to report on this backlog to a relevant committee every quarter to ensure this is not left to drift.”

A Kensington and Chelsea spokesperson said: “We take the support of victims of domestic abuse very seriously and apologise fully for falling short of the standards our residents should expect in this case. We accept the Ombudsman’s findings and are implementing the recommendations made.

“We are constantly working to ensure our staff have the skills and expertise to identify and support anyone experiencing domestic abuse. This includes running compulsory training sessions for officers across our housing service who may be called upon to deal with reports of abuse.

“We are also training more frontline staff to spot the signs of domestic abuse and have set up a Domestic Abuse Champions Network comprising those who have had more intensive training and can advise and support colleagues on casework.”

The spokesperson added that “as with much of London”, Kensington and Chelsea had seen a surge in the number of people approaching it as homeless, with an average of 631 enquiries received each month.

They said: ““We have introduced new methods to manage this increased load, including recruiting experienced staff, commissioning training and prioritising outstanding Personalised Housing Plans with a view to reducing the backlog.”

Harry Rodd