Man left sleeping on sister’s couch for ‘much longer than necessary’ after Peterborough council housing delays

A vulnerable man was left sleeping on his sister’s couch after his divorce for “much longer than necessary” after a months-long delay at Peterborough City Council (PCC) to correctly calculate his level of need for housing.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) ordered the council to pay the man, referred to as Mr X in their judgement, £2,750 in compensation after he missed out on properties on its housing register during this period and a further £200 because of the repeated delays he faced during the complaints process.

PCC’s communication with Mr X was “poor”, regulators said, and its email responses to him sometimes “abrupt” and appearing not to “recognise the impact of the long delays Mr X had experienced”.

The man, considered vulnerable due to a “physical and mental health condition”, told the LGSCO that he no longer has a relationship with his sister and brother-in-law because of the extended time he stayed in their home.

During this time he was also unable take care of his children, for whom he had joint custody, he said, worsening his relationship with his ex-wife.

As well as losing family support, he lost his job, he added, meaning he also lost the extra priority he could have had on PCC's housing register for being in employment.

PCC says that it has changed its internal processes to ensure proper oversight of its policies being implemented since this case was investigated.

Mr X applied to join the register in November 2021. By February 2022 he had been assessed as being in the second band of priority and in need of a one-bed property – despite his child caring responsibilities.

In the same month, he reported to the council that he was homeless and was advised three months later, in May, that he would be moved to the highest band of priority. But this didn’t happen until October – in which time the council accepts he missed out on housing.

PCC tried to remedy this by offering the man a two bed property and £1,650 compensation after he raised a series of complaints over his treatment.

But when the money had not been paid to him two months after he accepted the offer, he escalated the complaint to the LGSCO which increased the recommended payout.

A council spokeswoman said: “We accept the Ombudsmen’s findings and the compensation payment.

“Our own internal investigation upheld Mr X’s complaint but we did not resolve within the time we should have. We sincerely regret the series of delays in responding to this complaint and any distress this caused Mr X.

"Since this investigation we have changed our processes to ensure there is proper oversight over housing cases to ensure they are being assessed in line with our policies and we are communicating in a timely way with those on our housing register.”