The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found Greenwich Council’s decisions had caused a woman “distress, worry, inconvenience, financial loss and uncertainty”
Greenwich Council has apologised to a woman for incorrectly ending her homelessness relief duty while she was away on a health holiday. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found the South London authority at fault for the way it handled her homelessness application.
On June 11 2024, Miss X submitted a homelessness application to Greenwich Council after she was evicted by her landlord. She moved out of the property on June 24, and the next day the council accepted it owed Miss X relief duty to help secure accommodation.
As part of the homelessness assessment, Miss X had to meet with the council to discuss her personalised housing plan (PHP) which sets out the steps both the council and the applicant will take to try to resolve the applicant’s homelessness.
However, Miss X notified the council that she would not be able to attend her PHP meeting as she had a pre-booked health holiday from July 3 to August 10. She admitted the timing was “unfortunate” but she could not cancel the trip as “her health was a priority”.
On July 25, Greenwich Council emailed her and said it would be ending the relief duty because it had offered Miss X accommodation which she refused as she was on holiday. According to the ombudsman, the council said Miss X had “deliberately and unreasonably refused to co-operate and undertake one or more of the actions in her PHP”.
Miss X said she never received the council’s email, and upon her return to the country she visited the council on August 23 where she was informed that her relief duty had been terminated.
She submitted two review requests of the relief duty termination decision, but Greenwich Council refused to consider either of them because it said they were submitted late. It advised Miss X to make another homelessness application.
Miss X disagreed as she made both requests within 21 days of her discovering the relief duty decision. On September 11, Miss X made a formal complaint to the council about how the authority had wrongly ended the relief duty, closed her homelessness case and refused to consider her review request.
The council did not uphold the complaint, satisfied it followed the correct process. It denied Miss X’s request to refund £400 legal costs as well as the price of accommodation she had paid since approaching the council’s homelessness service. The council again told Miss X to make a new homelessness application.
Miss X complained to the council again about its actions in early 2025, but the council refused to consider her complaint as it had already investigated and responded to her previous grievances. Miss X then made a complaint to the ombudsman.
Following this and a pre-action protocol letter from Miss X’s solicitor, the council conceded that it did not properly end the relief duty in line with housing legislation as it failed to issue Miss X with a warning before it issued her the end of relief duty notice.
Greenwich Council withdrew its unlawful decision, reopened Miss X’s homelessness application, reinstated her housing register status and offered her interim accommodation which she moved into.
The ombudsman found that the council’s decision to wrongly end the relief duty had caused Miss X “distress, worry, inconvenience, financial loss and uncertainty as to whether the council properly dealt with her homelessness case”.
The ombudsman ordered Greenwich Council to apologise in writing to Miss X, make a symbolic payment of £300 in recognition of the avoidable distress caused, refund accommodation costs she incurred during the period she was meant to be receiving the relief duty, and reimburse the £400 legal cost she incurred.
The council was also ordered to train relevant staff on the legal steps the authority should take before it decides to end someone’s relief duty.
A Greenwich Council spokesperson said: “The council has apologised to Miss X for the distress and anxiety caused by how her case was handled, and we have already taken steps to stop this happening again.
“We have agreed to pay her legal fees, temporary accommodation and recognition of any distress caused. In line with the ombudsman’s recommendation, the council has conducted further training to avoid this happening again in the future.
“The council is committed to ensuring that everyone in Royal Greenwich has access to a safe and secure home that meets their needs.”
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