Summary: The Council failed to provide suitable accommodation when Mr B and his family were homeless. It placed the family in bed and breakfast accommodation for over 41 weeks, 35 weeks over the maximum time such accommodation can be used for homeless applicants with dependent children. The Council has agreed to make a payment to Mr B to remedy his family’s injustice. It has also agreed to make service improvements.

The complaint

1. Mr B complains that the Council placed his family in unsuitable accommodation when they became homeless in January 2023. He says that his family had to live in bed and breakfast accommodation until November 2023. Mr B says their living conditions have caused his family distress and have caused avoidable expense.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

4. I have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by the complainant;
• discussed the issues with the complainant;
• considered the comments and documents the Council has provided; and
• given the Council and the complainant the opportunity to comment on my draft decision. All comments received were considered before this final decision was issued.

Back to top

What I found

5. Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 and the Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities set out councils’ powers and duties to people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness.

The main housing duty

6. Under the main housing duty, councils must ensure that suitable accommodation is available for the applicant and their household until the duty is brought to an end, usually through the offer of a settled home. (Housing Act 1996, section 193(2))

Suitability

7. The duty to provide suitable accommodation is immediate, non-deferrable, and unqualified. (Elkundi, R (On the Application Of) v Birmingham City Council [2022] EWCA Civ 601)
8. Applicants can ask a council to review its decision that the accommodation offered is suitable. A request for a review must be made within 21 days, or longer if allowed by the Council. (Housing Act 1996, sections 202, Homeless Code of Guidance, paragraph 19.3)

Bed and breakfast accommodation

9. Bed and breakfast (B & B) accommodation can only be used for households which include a pregnant woman or dependent child when no other accommodation is available and then for no more than six weeks. B & B is accommodation which is not self-contained, not owned by the council or a registered provider of social housing and where the toilet, washing, or cooking facilities are shared with other households. (Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) (England) Order 2003 and Homelessness Code of Guidance, paragraph 17.35)
10. When a council secures B & B accommodation for an applicant with family commitments, it should notify the application that the council will be unable to continue to secure B & B accommodation for such applicants any longer than 6 weeks, after which the authority must secure alternative, suitable accommodation. (Homelessness Code of Guidance, paragraph 17.36)

Key events

11. The Council placed Mr B, his pregnant wife and their two children, aged 10 months and three years old in bed and breakfast (B & B) accommodation when they became homeless in January 2023. They shared one room which had a private bathroom and they had access to shared kitchen facilities.
12. In September, a charity complained to the Council on Mr B’s behalf about the length of their stay in B & B accommodation. It said that the family was having to depend on takeaways because they did not have access to a kitchen and had to travel to wash their clothes because there were no laundry facilities. The charity explained that Mr B works until the early hours of the morning and struggled to sleep once the children were awake and the lack of space was having a negative impact on the children’s social and educational development.
13. The Council apologised and made an offer of financial redress. It offered to make a payment of £2900 for 29 weeks excess stay in B & B accommodation between 3 March and 22 September 2023 and to pay a further £100 per week until suitable accommodation was found. It also offered to make a payment of £900 to recognise the family’s distress.
14. The charity wrote to the Council and advised that Mr B accepted its offer but that it also needed to consider the additional costs he was incurring by staying in B & B accommodation.
15. In the Council’s response it said that when it was deciding how much to offer, it had taken into consideration that while he was staying in B & B accommodation, Mr B did not have any utility bills, council tax or maintenance expenses, and that his rent was less than he was paying for the accommodation he was renting before he became homeless.
16. The Council said that it had revised its offer of financial redress. It offered to make a payment of £3400 for 34 weeks excess stay in B & B accommodation between 3 March and 27 October 2023 and to pay a further £100 per week until suitable accommodation was found.
17. The family remained in B & B accommodation until they moved to permanent self-contained accommodation in November 2023. The Council made a payment of £3500 to Mr B. He does not consider it sufficiently remedies his family’s injustice.

Analysis

18. The law says that B & B accommodation can only be used for households with dependent children when no other accommodation is available and then for no more than six weeks. Mr B’s family were living in B & B accommodation for over 41 weeks, from 20 January until 6 November 2023. The Council breached its duties under the Housing Act 1996 by failing to provide suitable temporary accommodation.
19. When the Council placed the family in B & B accommodation, it should have informed Mr B that it could only be provided for six weeks, after which it had a duty to secure alternative, suitable accommodation. It did not do so; this was fault. If there had been no fault by the Council here, Mr B may have approached the charity for assistance sooner.
20. The Council accepts that the B & B accommodation it provided between 3 March and 6 November 2023 was not suitable. It made a payment of £3500 for 35 weeks excess stay in B & B accommodation.
21. I have considered whether the payment offered by the Council is sufficient to remedy the family’s injustice. Our guidance on remedies was revised in May 2023. The previous guidance said that where a family has had to stay in unsuitable B & B accommodation in excess of the six-week legal limit, we are likely to recommend a weekly payment in the range of £50 to £150. Our current guidance says that we are likely to recommend a weekly payment in the range of £100 to £200. The recommended weekly payments are in addition to the reimbursement of any specific quantifiable costs that the homeless household incurred.
22. While I do not have evidence of any additional costs the family incurred, I consider it likely that they incurred extra food costs of around £25 a week between 20 January and 6 November 2023 because they had limited access to kitchen facilities. I do not consider the Council should reimburse the family’s laundry costs.
23. The excessive length of the family’s stay in B & B accommodation would have caused them inconvenience and distress. It would have been particularly difficult due to the young age of the children. I consider the Council’s offer to make a weekly payment of £100 was too low.

Back to top

Agreed action

24. The Council has agreed to take the following actions within four weeks of this decision:
• Make a payment of £1025 to Mr B for the additional food costs the family incurred for 41 weeks between 20 January and 6 November 2023.
• The Council has already made a payment of £3500 to Mr B. It will also make an additional payment of £600 for the impact of being placed in unsuitable B & B accommodation between 3 March and 6 November 2023. This figure is based on a weekly payment of £80 for the 9-week period when our previous guidance on remedies applied, and a weekly payment of £130 for the 26 weeks since our current guidance has applied.
25. The Council has also agreed to change its letter template to ensure that when applicants with dependent children are placed in B & B accommodation under the interim or main housing duty, they are informed that the Homelessness Code of Guidance states that this should be limited to no more than six weeks. It will take this action within eight weeks of my final decision.
26. The Council has provided us with its updated B & B elimination plan which details the actions it is taking to reduce the time families are staying in B & B accommodation, which we are continuing to monitor.
27. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

Back to top

Final decision

28. I have completed my investigation and uphold Mr B’s complaint. There was fault by the Council which caused injustice. The action the Council has agreed to take is sufficient to remedy that injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman