Northants council pays out £1k after failing to offer housing support to homeless man for a year

North Northamptonshire Council has apologised to the man and said it is reviewing its policy and systems to ensure it does not happen again.
-Credit: (Image: Nadia Lincoln LDRS)


A Northamptonshire man has complained that the council failed to provide him with proper homelessness support, leaving him staying with friends and sofa-surfing for more than a year.

A council watchdog has ordered North Northants Council (NNC) to apologise and pay him £1,000 for its actions.

The authority has said it will continue to work with the individual concerned and review its systems to drive improvement in housing services.

The man, called 'Mr B' in documents published by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO), made a homelessness application to the council at the start of 2023 after a family member had given him six weeks' notice to leave.

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He said he had clinical depression and provided medical evidence to NNC's homelessness team.

There is no record of any further action on Mr B’s case until he complained in July 2023. At that point, he had been homeless for more than two months and the council was aware he had no fixed home.

NNC responded in September, noting it had not taken any action since May and that it was 'unacceptable'. It said the Council had been attempting to make contact with the family member to verify he was being asked to leave.

Despite promising action, records show nothing further took place until December 2023 when NNC uploaded evidence that the man had provided back in May that year.

A new case worker took over in February 2024 and made a referral to a supported accommodation provider. In March, a year after the application was first made, it sent a decision saying it did not owe him main housing duty as it did not consider him to be in priority need.

'Remained in a state of limbo'

The Ombudsman noted: "Between March 2023 and February 2024 the Council failed to deal with Mr B’s homelessness application in accordance with the law and guidance.

"There is no evidence it worked with Mr B to prevent his homelessness or provide any advice or assistance to him. This was fault.

"The homelessness team took no action when it was informed Mr B was evicted and had no fixed abode. It did not consider whether it should offer him interim accommodation and failed to provide any advice or support on alternative housing options.

"It also failed to properly consider how his medical condition affected his housing needs.

"Even once the Council upheld a stage one complaint agreeing that it had taken no action between May and September 2023, it failed to rectify the fault and continued to do nothing.

"This was fault which meant that Mr B remained in a state of limbo staying with a friend for a long time while he waited for contact with the Council, and with the expectation that he would be rehoused."

The LGSCO concluded that no housing decisions or information were sent to Mr B between March '23 and 2024. It alleged that copies of correspondence provided by NNC could have been "created after the event to disguise the lack of action on the case.

"Even if they had been sent, Mr B would not have received them as they were addressed to the property from which he had been evicted."

It also called the council's complaint handling "woefully inadequate", causing the man additional distress.

The Ombudsman asked the council to offer Mr B a face-to-face appointment for a fresh homelessness application and provide him with advice and support on his housing options.

It also ordered NNC to apologise and pay £1,000 for its failure. A number of recommendations to ensure staff procedure is properly followed so similar cases don't happen again has also been agreed.

Jason Smithers, Leader of NNC, said: “North Northamptonshire Council accepts the findings of the ombudsman and would like to extend its sincerest apologies to the gentleman during what must have been an extremely stressful, frustrating and difficult time.

"The council is now establishing a Housing Improvement Board to help drive continued improvement in its housing services and strengthen its approach to complaints handling.

“We will continue to work with the individual concerned, to support him to find suitable housing and we will review our systems, policies and procedures to ensure that this does not happen again. We have completed all the requests of the ombudsman to date."