A South London council wrongly refused to help a woman fleeing domestic abuse with housing, a watchdog investigation has found.
Kingston Council delayed helping the woman, identified as Ms X in the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman report, for five months by failing to properly consider her applications.
Ms X claimed the council’s failings left her at risk of domestic abuse for longer than necessary. The council has agreed to pay her £400 for the “distress and uncertainty” she experienced.
Ms X first applied to join the council’s housing register to escape domestic abuse in November last year, including a letter from an independent domestic violence advisor (IDVA) stating she also wanted to make a homelessness application and that it was unreasonable for her to remain in her current home.
Later that month, the council ruled there was no evidence Ms X needed to be rehoused, meaning she was not added to the housing register. However, the watchdog found no evidence the council properly considered Ms X’s domestic abuse circumstances or the supporting letter from her advisor in its decision.
The ombudsman also criticised the council for failing to consider Ms X’s homelessness application. It eventually accepted its duty to prevent her from becoming homeless five months later, in April, after she made a fresh application.
The report stated: “There is no evidence to show Ms X’s circumstances changed between November 2023 and April 2024 when the council accepted the duty. The council therefore delayed by five months in accepting the duty and providing support to Ms X to prevent her homelessness.”
It continued: “I also consider the council would have decided Ms X qualified for the housing register in November 2023, as she would have had reasonable preference by virtue of the council accepting the prevention duty.
“I cannot know, on balance, what priority the council would have awarded to Ms X if it had placed her on the housing register in November 2023. This is because I do not know if the council would have accepted Ms X was fleeing domestic abuse in November 2023. I therefore cannot know if Ms X would have successfully bid for a property.
“But the fault caused distress to Ms X. It also caused uncertainty to Ms X which the council should remedy by now considering her priority.”
The ombudsman instructed the council to apologise to Ms X and pay her £400 for the distress caused by its “failure to properly consider her housing register and homelessness applications.” The council must also review its procedures for assessing housing register applications to ensure officers consider all information provided by applicants.
A Kingston Council spokesperson said: “We are committed to doing all we can to provide quality housing for residents and ensure people in the borough have a safe and comfortable place to live. We are currently supporting close to 1,000 families with temporary accommodation, and the housing crisis across London and nationally is a critical situation, with demand for properties increasingly outstripping supply.
“We accept the ruling of the ombudsman in this case. We have apologised to Ms X and made the payment of £400 to acknowledge the distress and uncertainty caused. Ms X is now on the housing register, and we wrote to her on 17 October to notify her of her status and priority in line with the ombudsman’s request.”
