Ombudsman criticises council for failure to consider relaxing local connection criterion for domestic abuse victim

A London council failed to consider the exceptional circumstances of a victim of domestic abuse when assessing her housing needs, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found.

Following a complaint about the London Borough of Wandsworth, the Ombudsman's investigation discovered the council did not consider relaxing its local area connection criterion when a domestic abuse victim who was a single mother asked for help.

At the time she applied to Wandsworth her former partner had pleaded guilty to aggravated bodily harm and criminal damage and was in custody awaiting sentencing. He was subsequently jailed for eight months.

The Ombudsman said that following the ex-partner's detention, the woman moved to her mother's home where she and her child shared a bedroom with her sister. Her former partner knew the address. She asked Wandsworth for help, but the council said she was not homeless.

The next day the woman told the council her mother wanted her to leave. The council told her about its council housing scheme, which she could apply for but not from her mother's as it was not a safe address. The council suggested she move in with her uncle for 12 months and then she would qualify for its scheme. Her uncle lived nearby to her mother, and her former partner also knew his address. She moved in with her uncle and chased the council about the housing scheme for many months with several different officers, the Ombudsman said.

Eventually, the council gave the woman a Personalised Housing Plan (PHP) which contained no future actions for the council. The council now told the woman she did not qualify for its scheme because she did not live in the borough.

The council did not investigate the woman's homeless application but instead encouraged her to withdraw it and apply to the council where she had suffered violence for help. She told Wandsworth three times she would do this if the council put its advice in writing, but it refused.

The Ombudsman's investigation found the council should have considered the woman and her child as homeless when she first approached it. It would have then accepted it owed her a relief duty and issued her with a Personal Housing Plan (PHP), but the plan it ended up giving the woman included incorrect information, saying the council could not help her to be safer where she was, and that she could not register on its allocations scheme.

The Ombudsman also found the council should have offered the woman interim accommodation. After 56 days, it should have then decided whether it owed her the main housing duty. Since the woman was homeless, eligible, in priority need and not homeless through any fault of her own, the council would have accepted it had a full duty to her, the LGO found.

According to the Ombudsman's report, the time the council took to consider offering the woman interim accommodation was far too long and could have been cut by at least eight months. It also missed numerous opportunities to tell her about her right to review the council's decisions, denying her right to appeal.

Michael King, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said the council's actions were not in line with statutory guidance on domestic abuse victims. King said: "Statutory guidance says councils should not adopt allocations criteria that disadvantage people fleeing an area because of domestic violence. This has also been extended to people who have recently arrived in an area because of domestic violence.

"In this case, the woman had suffered a brutal assault and the council's failures meant she continued to live in an area where she was at risk of violence. The council did nothing to help her find safe, alternative accommodation, even when it knew her ex-partner would be released from prison, leaving her frightened and at ongoing risk."

The Ombudsman added: "I'm pleased the council has accepted the faults in my report and hope other councils can take my findings on board to ensure they also appropriately support people in a similar situation in need of their help."

Wandsworth accepted the Ombudsman's criticism of what was - according to the council - a "highly complex" case. A spokesperson for the council said: "We accept the Ombudsman's findings and have apologised to the complainant, agreed to pay her a sum in compensation and place her in the correct category of housing need. This was a highly complex case with some unique features but we welcome the review for providing us with important lessons in how we can improve our services in such circumstances. We have certainly taken these lessons on board, tightened our working practices and procedures and are working hard to ensure a situation like this does not happen again."

Wandsworth will pay £2,300 in compensation according to the Ombudsman's recommendations and move the complainant into 'Band A' of its allocations scheme backdated to October 2018, as well as provide suitable temporary accommodation in Wandsworth.

The council has been asked by the Ombudsman to provide information to housing officers about its duties towards people fleeing domestic violence and tell officers the allocations local connection criteria does not apply.

The Ombudsman also called on Wandsworth to train its housing options and homelessness officers in dealing with people who have suffered domestic abuse and review its allocations policy.

Adam Carey