Ombudsman sees sharp rise in complaints about homelessness services

There has been a 14% rise in the number of complaints about homelessness services in the last two years, the Local Government Ombudsman has revealed.

In a report, No place like home, the LGO called on local authorities, central government and policy makers to drive up standards.

The report also set out a series of questions that councillors should consider asking local authorities when scrutinising the delivery of homelessness services.

Many of the cases handled by the LGO involve people being housed in temporary B&B accommodation for more than six weeks.

Under the law councils are allowed to accommodate families in B&B accommodation for up to six weeks. However, it also says that it is unsuitable and must be for a maximum of six weeks.

“Councils have to tell families placed in bed and breakfast accommodation that it is unsuitable and that it must secure alternative suitable accommodation within six weeks,” the Ombudsman said.

Statutory guidance says that B&B accommodation is unsuitable for 16 and 17 year olds altogether, even in an emergency.

The report contains a number of case studies where councils’ use of bed and breakfast accommodation to house the most vulnerable was “inappropriate”.

Calling the figures on complaints a “worrying trend”, Dr Jane Martin, the Ombudsman, said: “My challenge to local and central government, to policy makers, and to our elected representatives is to listen to the individual cases of people whose voices are too often hidden in the homelessness statistics.

“Their complaints provide the opportunity to learn, to use that learning to deliver service improvements and provide public services that are accountable to, and meet the needs of, local people.”

Dr Martin added: “Despite councils telling us that financial pressures and changes to the welfare system are affecting their ability to provide suitable accommodation, this cannot be a justification for failing to meet statutory duties. The impact of not providing a safe and suitable home cannot be underestimated.”

Writing in the foreword to the report, the Ombudsman also said: “Amongst the many examples of injustice I also see evidence of some councils doing their utmost in increasingly difficult conditions.”

The report outlines some of the actions the LGO would expect councils to take:

  • “A range of targeted and co-ordinated measures to prevent homelessness arising.
  • At the outset, discussions with the applicant about alternatives to bed and breakfast.
  • Have arrangements in place for co-operation between homelessness services and children’s services in all cases involving families and young people.
  • Where use of bed and breakfast is unavoidable, notification to applicants that the law says it is unsuitable and that the council must secure alternative suitable accommodation within six weeks.
  • Systems to prioritise the sourcing of alternative suitable accommodation for families in bed and breakfast within six weeks of placement.
  • Clear records of what has been done in individual cases to source alternative suitable accommodation.
  • Where there are families in bed and breakfast more than six weeks, councils should have a strategy in place to tackle the problem within a reasonable timescale.
  • Members should be regularly informed of the council’s performance regarding placement of families and young people in bed and breakfast accommodation.”

The questions that councillors should consider asking councils include:

  1. How many families have been in bed and breakfast accommodation for more than six weeks?
  2. How many 16 and 17 year olds have been placed in bed and breakfast accommodation?
  3. Does the local authority have a homelessness strategy and how is its implementation being assessed by senior officers?
  4. What complaints have been raised about homelessness services, what were the outcomes and how has the council improved its services as a result?

Figures published by the Department for Communities and Local Government at the end of June 2013 showed that there were 2,090 families with children living in B&B accommodation. This is the highest figure since September 2003.

In September Westminster Council agreed – following an LGO investigation – to pay out thousands of pounds after it housed 40 homeless families in B&B accommodation for longer than the recommended limit.

The council said that, despite planning for the implementation of the housing benefit cap, it had not anticipated the severity of how the credit crunch would restrict supply and increase demand from people in the private rented sector.

Cllr Jonathan Glanz reported that it was dealing with more than five times the usual homeless acceptances, at up to 100 each month. He added that the council had taken action to increase the supply of temporary homes and as a result had zero families in B&B for more than six weeks.

A copy of the LGO's report can be viewed here.