"Brinkmanship" by council left immune-compromised child facing unnecessary risk of harm: Ombudsman

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) found the vulnerable young child, who was immuno-compromised and required two years of hospital treatment, should have been placed in accommodation without any mould or damp issues, with no shared facilities and within the borough to be near to their hospital for treatment.

However, despite the council’s own assessment detailing their needs, the council left the family in their private accommodation until a week before bailiffs evicted them, leaving too little time to find the family suitable accommodation.

This left the child and their family placed in another borough, with damp and mould issues.

The child’s nurses could no longer make their weekly visits and instead the child had to travel to hospital, putting them at further risk of harm.

The family had been told by Lewisham to remain in their accommodation because the council’s policy stated it would not act until a week before bailiffs turned up.

The council said it would deem them "intentionally homeless" if they moved before this time, and they would have no right to help.

Alongside this, the family was facing court bills of more than £46 a day, which the council had been told about and which the family could not afford.

The Ombudsman’s investigation found Lewisham took 13 months too long to provide the family with interim accommodation and criticised the council's handling of the family’s complaint.

Amerdeep Somal, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said:  “This kind of brinksmanship has placed a severely ill child at grave risk and compounded an already distressing situation by forcing the family to live with the threat of being physically removed from their home hanging over them.

“The council has failed to grasp the seriousness of this case from start to finish and the family's situation was only made worse by the council's failure to provide suitable temporary accommodation or to properly respond to their complaints 

“This awful situation could have been avoided, and more suitable accommodation found sooner, had Lewisham not left it so late to act.

Somal added: “The council has agreed to end its flawed policy of leaving people facing homelessness in their property until the court grants a bailiff warrant. It will now assess and rectify the situation for others at risk of homelessness in the borough who are awaiting assistance. I hope this will now improve the outlook for people facing homelessness in Lewisham.”

By way of remedy, the council has agreed to apologise and pay the family £9,440 to include the avoidable rent arrears the family paid, along with court costs, and avoidable distress and risk of harm.

Lewisham will identify all open cases where an applicant who may be in priority need has remained beyond expiry of a section 21 eviction notice and assess and act on their cases appropriately.

A Lewisham Council spokesperson said: “We have accepted all the recommendations made by the Ombudsman and will take forward the actions detailed.

“We have also revised the policy which compounded the unacceptable delays in this case.

“We have apologised to the resident affected and acknowledge that we fell well short of the service expected of us.”

Harry Rodd