Council used “outdated, narrow definition” of domestic abuse which led to pregnant woman being turned away, Ombudsman finds

Ealing council wrongly turned away a pregnant woman who approached it for help with housing, despite professionals raising concerns for her safety, an investigation by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found.

The report noted that the woman had suffered domestic abuse and harassment at the hands of her former partner, and was sofa-surfing with family in Ealing, when she approached the council for help.

However, despite police and other agencies saying it was not safe for her to return to her tenancy in another area, the council decided she did not meet its criteria for help.

The Ombudsman said: “The council decided there were ‘no special circumstances’ to exempt her from meeting its local residency criteria to enable her to join the housing register.”

Following investigation, the watchdog concluded that the council was using an “outdated, narrow definition” of domestic abuse, limiting it to physical attacks.

“This is contrary to the legal definition that includes non-physical abuse, including psychological abuse and coercive and controlling behaviour, which came into force in 2021”, the Ombudsman noted.

The investigation also revealed the council “disregarded” information that the ex-partner had kicked in the woman’s door, because the police took no further action to prosecute the partner.

The report noted: “Instead of relying on the lower ‘balance of probabilities’ standard of proof it should do when making decisions, the council instead applied the higher ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ standard of proof used in a legal criminal case, which was completely wrong.”

The watchdog said the council has agreed to apologise to the woman, review her homelessness status, and review her application to its housing register.

It will also pay her £1,000 to recognise the “significant distress” she endured.

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, Ms Amerdeep Somal said: “This case demonstrates a clear lack of understanding within the council’s housing department of what constitutes domestic abuse, as defined by law. The idea that domestic abuse is limited to physical violence is outdated. This lack of knowledge could potentially have affected other vulnerable people in the council’s area.

“It failed to even investigate whether it owed her a duty to house her, or to offer her interim accommodation. Instead, it left a pregnant woman to sofa-surf with family.”

She added: “This woman had the additional distress and indignity of giving birth not knowing where she and her baby would live.

“I hope the measures the council has agreed to put in place will ensure other vulnerable people who have suffered domestic abuse do not have their experiences discounted in future.”

An Ealing Council spokesperson said: “We are sorry for the procedural errors we made in this case around the statutory rules on domestic abuse, and for the impact the errors have had on this person.

“Domestic abuse ruins lives, and we should have done better in this case. We accept the Ombudsman’s finding that we should have been more proactive with supporting her to apply for our housing register. We have apologised and provided compensation to them.

“This case was also affected by the fact that we implemented a new allocations policy midway through our handling of her initial enquiry and incorrectly applied the outdated version. We are urgently reviewing the person’s application to join our housing register using our new allocations policy."

The spokesperson added: “It is categorically not true that we did not investigate whether we owed the person a housing duty or offer her interim accommodation. We assessed and reviewed her case and repeatedly offered her emergency housing, which she refused. We are approaching the Ombudsman to raise questions about this serious misunderstanding of the facts of this case.

“We have made some internal changes as a result of the Ombudsman’s recommendations. We have amended our internal procedures to be more proactive and are providing additional guidance to our officers on the statutory rules on domestic abuse.”

Lottie Winson