Barnet council ignored warnings that resident with epilepsy would be evicted

The watchdog considered the council had “sufficient information” in September 2021 to show Mr B was “threatened with homelessness” and in “priority need and eligible for assistance” and expected the prevention process to have begun then.

Instead it was not until 15 months later the council issued these documents, which was considered a “fault” by the ombudsman.

Between December 2022 and May 2023 Mr B lived in his flat until he was evicted from the property. The report noted if the council had issued its prevention duty letter in September a relief duty letter would have been issued in 2021, before Mr B was evicted. Relief duty was instead issued in June 2023, which was also considered a “fault”.

The watchdog said it appreciated Mr B wasn’t evicted until May 2023 but added the council did not know that in 2021 when the resident first received notice to leave the property by October.

Mr B says following the eviction the council provided him with unsuitable accommodation in the form of a studio flat and then a bed and breakfast. He said these didn’t allow for a carer to stay overnight with him.

The council said when the offers were made it didn’t have evidence to show overnight care was needed, but the watchdog said Mr B had completed a medical assessment form in September 2021 while the assessment was not carried out until Jan 2023, 15 months later.

The report noted the council provided evidence in May 2023 to show it had limited temporary accommodation available, and what was available was unsuitable for Mr B’s needs or was needed by somebody with a “greater priority” than he had.

However, the watchdog said if the council had carried out assessments in 2021 or 2022, as it “should have done” there would have been more opportunities to seek suitable accommodation before May 2023.

Mr B has now been moved into suitable accommodation.

The council spokesperson said: “We accept the decision of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and its recommendations in relation to this case.

“We have apologised to the customer for the distress, uncertainty and frustration he experienced due to the faults identified in this decision. We take learning from complaints, be they directly received or via the LGSCO, seriously and are always seeking to use that learning to continually improve how we deliver our services.”