Ombudsman upholds complaint about Ealing Council leaving pregnant woman and child in B&B for 19 weeks

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has upheld a “unsuitable temporary accommodation” complaint over the way Ealing Council allowed a pregnant woman and her child with special needs to remain in a bed and breakfast for 19 weeks. 

In its report about the complaint, the Ombudsman wrote: “Miss X complains the council placed her in unsuitable temporary accommodation. She says she was placed in bed and breakfast (B&B) accommodation that had shared facilities, even though she was pregnant and had a young child with additional needs.”

This breached the Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) Order 2003 which says the maximum stay for households that include a dependent child or pregnant women is six weeks.

As a result, the Ombudsman ordered Ealing Council to pay the woman £2600 to “remedy the injustice caused” which consists of £200 a week for each week she was left in the bed and breakfast beyond the initial six weeks.

The Ombudsman said: “In response to our enquiries, the council confirmed Miss X was in B&B accommodation from July until November 2023, a total of 19 weeks. Therefore, she was in unsuitable accommodation for 13 weeks over the six-week maximum period allowed.

“We therefore asked the council to consider remedying the injustice caused by the likely fault by making a financial payment of £200 per week, for each week Miss X stayed in B&B accommodation beyond the six-week maximum. A total of £2600.”

In its agreed action, the Ombudsman said: “To its credit, the council agreed to resolve the complaint and will complete the above within four weeks of the final decision.”

Following the Ombudsman decision, Councillor Gary Malcolm, leader of Ealing Liberal Democrats told EALING.NEWS: “Liberal Democrats feel that so many residents have been suffering or left in harm due to Ealing Labour’s extremely poor management of housing. Although housing is difficult, too many vulnerable people are treated just like a number or worse are ignored.”

Neil Reynolds, chair of Ealing Green Party told EALING.NEWS of his concerns. He said: “This is a clear case of maladministration and the council has rightly been ordered to remedy the injustice caused.”

Mr Reynolds added: “I think most people understand that housing is a difficult issue, but it is concerning that Ealing Council has shown disregard for particularly vulnerable residents in this case.”

Speaking to EALING.NEWS, an Ealing Council spokesperson said: “We sincerely apologise to this resident, and we regret this family had to live in a bed and breakfast for as long as they did.

“Ealing is at the sharpest end of the housing crisis, since 2018, private rents have almost doubled in some areas, and the total number of private rented properties across the borough has gone down by more than 40%.”

The spokesperson added: “Combined with the cost-of-living crisis and the government’s freeze in local housing benefit, we have seen a huge spike in the number of families approaching the council for help with their housing and a steep increase in the use of expensive B&B and commercial hotels for temporary accommodation.

“We are doing everything we can to provide more good-quality, genuinely affordable homes for the thousands of local families who need one and to end the use of bed and breakfast accommodation. We continue to do everything we can to tackle the housing crisis in Ealing, with the council running one of London’s biggest council homebuilding programmes, building thousands of homes to let as secure tenancies at genuinely affordable rents as well as recently announcing plans to invest £150 million in purchasing housing to use as temporary accommodation“