Leicester City Council has refused to implement a key recommendation from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman after an investigation found a homeless family spent almost 10 months longer than permitted in Bed and Breakfast accommodation – including being split across multiple rooms.
The family was placed in B&B accommodation in August 2023 in separate rooms due to their size and were moved several times before the council identified a suitable property in July 2024. The family later complained to the Ombudsman, prompting a detailed investigation.
The Ombudsman found multiple failings in how the council handled the case. These included delays in reviewing the family’s Personalised Housing Plan, not informing them of their right to appeal the suitability of the accommodation offered, and taking too long to decide the council owed the family the main housing duty. The investigation also concluded the council failed to move the family into self-contained accommodation after six weeks, as required by law.
Mrs. Amerdeep Clarke, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, criticised the council’s approach, saying: ‘The council is not alone in experiencing increasing pressure and demands on its homelessness services. However, it is unique in repeatedly declining to agree to our recommendations to remedy the injustice caused to families impacted by its failings. We cannot become apathetic to failings simply because we see these repeated across different parts of the country and we will continue to hold councils to their legal obligations.
‘By refusing to acknowledge and remedy the injustice caused to the family – including splitting them up across separate rooms – for nearly 10 months, I am concerned Leicester City Council has yet again not fully accepted the personal impact of what has gone wrong.
‘We hear the council’s concerns about wider impacts of paying a financial remedy to the family. Our report recognises the service improvements the council has made to address the use of B&B accommodation for homeless families. However, we have been clear that we have only recommend financial remedies for the two complaints brought to us and that these are based on the individual circumstances of each complaint. This is clearly reflected in the different remedies we have made in this and the previous case.
‘I urge Leicester City to reflect on this case, and its responses to my office, and to put things right for this family.’
The Ombudsman recommended the council pay the family £3,525, reflecting the 42 weeks they were left in unsuitable B&B accommodation beyond the legal limit. Leicester City Council has agreed to apologise but has rejected the financial remedy — the second time this year it has refused to accept one of the Ombudsman’s recommendations.
As required by law, the council must now consider the Ombudsman’s report at a full council meeting or an equivalent senior decision-making forum before issuing its formal response.
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