Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman criticised Enfield Council’s “failure” to help the two families, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter
Enfield Travelodge is one of the hotels frequently used by the council to house homeless families
Enfield Council has been told to pay a total of almost £13,000 in compensation to two families forced to live in hotels for “considerably longer than the law permits”.
The large compensation payouts follow two separate complaints to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman by families both placed in hotel accommodation beyond the six-week legal limit and for a combined 74 weeks in total.
In the first case, a family comprising a mother – dubbed ‘Ms X’ in the ombudsman’s report – and “several children”, including one who has special needs, were placed in a hotel in early August 2023 after they became homeless.
The family remained in hotel accommodation until the end of July this year, a total of 51 weeks – 45 weeks beyond the legal limit.
The council accepted that it had a ‘relief duty’ to the family in August and “should have made a decision” on whether to accept main housing duty by October, the end of the 56-day limit.
Relief duty applies when a local authority is satisfied an applicant is homeless and eligible for assistance. Main housing duty is a duty to provide temporary accommodation.
The watchdog said the council “did not do this” and this was a “fault”.
The ombudsman’s report said: “This caused injustice with frustration and denied Ms X her statutory right to ask the council to review the suitability of the temporary accommodation she was in.”
It added: “Apart from making a referral to a homeless support organisation, I cannot see a record of the council specifically considering her [Ms X’s] children’s welfare and needs or offering any real support or assistance for them.”
In July Ms X accepted a direct offer of a property from the council, meaning she could finally leave the hotel.
But during their near year-long stay the family had no access to cooking facilities, and the watchdog determined their accommodation was “extremely overcrowded” and would have been “particularly difficult” for the child with special needs.
Enfield Council was ordered to pay Ms X £9,500, comprising £500 in recognition of her “distress and frustration” and £9,000 for the “injustice” given the “significant time” spent in “unsuitable interim accommodation”.
In the second case, a mother and her two children received an eviction notice from their private landlord in June 2023. Following this, the mother contacted the council for help, and later visited the council’s offices in October but heard nothing.
In November, she and her children, plus their pet dog and cat, presented to the council as homeless. However, they were told to stay with friends or family because there was “no available accommodation”.
The mother said she had no friends or family in the country and so was advised to go to a hotel.
In the ombudsman report, it states the council denied saying this and instead offered the family interim accommodation, but they chose to stay with friends instead. The watchdog concluded it could not “say for certain” what was said.
On 11th December 2023 the family moved into hotel accommodation offered by the council. The mother and her children had to share one room and had no access to cooking or laundry facilities.
Although initially refused, the dog was allowed to stay at the hotel with the family, but they had to make other arrangements for the cat.
It wasn’t until 21st May this year that the council finally provided the family with self-contained temporary housing. They had spent 23 weeks living in hotels.
The council were ordered to apologise to the family, on one count for not advising the family on “what it could do” to help with the removal and storage of their belongings, and on a second count for the length of time the family spent living in a hotel, for which they received £3,400 in compensation.
Enfield Council was approached for comment.
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