Ealing Council has apologised and agreed to pay £3,600 compensation after the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found it at fault for failing to move a mother and her baby daughter from unsuitable temporary accommodation for 18 months.
The mother, identified by the Ombudsman as Miss X, reported problems with rodents while living in the studio flat and separately raised concerns about mould and other environmental conditions.
Miss X and her daughter remained in the accommodation from July 2024 until January 2026 despite Labour-run Ealing Council accepting that they needed accommodation with a separate bedroom.
Ealing Council also upheld Miss X’s own complaint in March 2025 and apologised for not having offered her alternative accommodation after finding the studio unsuitable. She was not moved for another 10 months.
Miss X first told the council she was pregnant in October 2023 and wanted to move for medical and welfare reasons.
She raised concerns about sexual harassment and a drug environment around the accommodation which she said triggered her post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). She also reported depression and anxiety.
Her representative formally asked Ealing Council to review the suitability of the accommodation in January 2024, saying its size and washing facilities were having a negative impact on her mental health.
After her baby daughter was born, Ealing’s medical adviser recommended in July 2024 that Miss X should have accommodation with a separate bedroom.
On 19 July 2024, the council formally accepted that the studio was unsuitable and placed Miss X on its temporary accommodation transfer list.
But no move followed.
From September 2024 until April 2025, Miss X reported pests in the building. The Ombudsman found the reports were dealt with by the building’s managing agent, which arranged pest control treatment and necessary works.
She separately raised concerns about mould and environmental conditions in January 2025, which were addressed by the managing agent, as well as street noise.
On 27 February 2025, Miss X complained to Ealing Council that despite repeatedly raising concerns about her living conditions, she had not been offered alternative accommodation.
She said she and her baby daughter were living in the same room, making cooking and other everyday activities difficult, while noise could wake her child. She also said she had made multiple reports about rodents and that her situation was causing significant distress and hardship.
Ealing Council upheld her complaint on 31 March and apologised for not having made her an offer to move since deciding the studio was unsuitable.
The council said there was a chronic shortage of housing and that the system was under extreme pressure.
However, Miss X and her daughter continued living in the accommodation for another 10 months.
It was not until January 2026 that Ealing offered them alternative temporary accommodation — a two-bedroom flat outside the borough.
Miss X told the council she relied on family support and mental health services in London and that moving away would be difficult.
After the council considered her circumstances, she accepted the property and moved. She subsequently asked to return to London, saying isolation from her support network was adversely affecting her wellbeing.
That subsequent request was not part of the Ombudsman’s investigation.
The Ombudsman said 18 months was a significant length of time for Miss X and her child to remain in accommodation the council had accepted was unsuitable.
It recommended Ealing pay her £200 for each of the 18 months, making a total of £3,600 compensation, as well as apologising for leaving the family in unsuitable accommodation.
The Ombudsman stopped short of finding maladministration, instead finding that the failure to secure suitable accommodation amounted to service failure, which still constituted fault.
It found Ealing Council had taken sufficient steps to try to find alternative accommodation, including checking with existing suppliers and potential new providers and looking at availability within its own housing stock.
The council told the investigation that exceptionally high demand and other local authorities offering higher rates for temporary accommodation had contributed to a backlog.
Speaking to EALING.NEWS, Councillor Gary Malcolm, leader of Ealing Liberal Democrats, said: “Liberal Democrats say that Labour don’t seem to care about people who need their help. So often they are treated so badly as in this case. The amount of compensation is very high showing processes need to change. Why do they not want to roll their sleeves up and get things fixed?”
An Ealing Council spokesperson told EALING.NEWS: “We accept the Ombudsman’s findings and apologised to the resident and her child for the length of time they spent in temporary accommodation that had been assessed as unsuitable for their needs.
“We have agreed the recommended remedy, and recognise the distress and frustration caused by the delay in securing alternative accommodation.
“There are very significant pressures on the availability of suitable temporary accommodation, which the Ombudsman recognised, and they also noted we had taken sufficient steps to source housing and address the pressures on our temporary accommodation service.
“We are committed to increasing the supply of suitable accommodation.”
