Council to pay family more than £5k after placing them in B&B accommodation for six months

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has found that Birmingham City Council failed to provide suitable accommodation to a family placed in bed and breakfast (B&B) accommodation for more than 26 weeks, 20 weeks over the maximum time such accommodation can be used for homeless applicants with dependent children.

Birmingham has agreed to make a payment of more than £5,700 to the complainant to remedy his family’s injustice. It has also agreed to make service improvements.

The complainant alleged that the city council had placed his family in unsuitable accommodation when they became homeless in June 2023. He says that his family had to live in B&B accommodation until December 2023.

The complainant also said the living conditions had caused his family distress, affected their health and caused avoidable expense.

The Ombudsman’s report noted that B&B accommodation can only be used for households which include a pregnant woman or dependent child when no other accommodation is available and even in those circumstances, then for no more than six weeks.

The Homelessness Code of Guidance defines B&B as accommodation which is not self-contained, not owned by the council or a registered provider of social housing and where the toilet, washing, or cooking facilities are shared with other households.

The complainant and his wife initially approached Birmingham in June 2023 when their family became homeless. At the time, their children were aged between 7 and 20 years old.

The council accepted the relief duty to the family and placed them in B&B accommodation in another area, around 50 miles away. There were no kitchen facilities. The eldest child left after a few weeks.

The local authority placed the family in alternative B&B accommodation in Birmingham at the end of July. This also did not have any kitchen facilities.

A charity then contacted the council on behalf of the family. It complained that the family had been living in B&B type accommodation for more than six weeks. It said the accommodation was unaffordable, overcrowded and was having an impact on their health and wellbeing.

Birmingham accepted that the accommodation was unsuitable. It apologised and made an offer of financial redress. It offered to make a payment of £800 for eight weeks excess stay in B&B accommodation between 29 July and 22 September 2023 and to pay a further £100 per week until suitable accommodation was found. It also offered to make a payment of £300 to recognise the family’s distress.

The complainant rejected the council’s offer.

In October, Birmingham moved the family to alternative B&B accommodation with shared kitchen facilities. The family remained there until 18 December, when they were moved to self-contained temporary accommodation.

In its report the Ombudsman said that when the complainant approached the council for assistance, the local authority carried out an assessment and provided him with a personalised housing plan (PHP).

However, the council had failed to include information about the housing needs of the applicant and their household, and what accommodation would be suitable for them, and failed to carry out a proper assessment. This was fault, the LGSCO found.

Additionally, the report said that the council had a duty to secure suitable accommodation for the family. The accommodation it provided between 16 June and 31 July 2023 was around 50 miles outside of Birmingham. Before placing a family outside of its district, the council must consider whether it would cause any significant disruption to the education of any members of the household.

“At the time, one of Mr B’s children was in the middle of completing their A-levels. Mr B’s younger children also attended school in Birmingham and Mr B worked in Birmingham,” the report added.

The Ombudsman found that the council had failed to properly consider the family’s housing needs when it decided the accommodation was suitable. This was fault. If there had been no fault by the council, the Ombudsman considered that the council would have provided accommodation in Birmingham.

Finally, the report noted that the law says that B&B accommodation can only be used for households with dependent children when no other accommodation is available and then for no more than six weeks.

The Ombudsman concluded that Birmingham had breached its duties under the Housing Act 1996 by failing to provide suitable temporary accommodation. The council also failed to inform the family that the accommodation could only be provided for six weeks, after which it had a duty to secure an alternative. These errors were found as separate examples of fault.

With regard to payments, the Ombudsman found it likely that the family incurred extra petrol costs of around £100 a week between 16 June and 31 July and extra food costs of around £105 a week between 16 June and 6 October because they did not have the use of a kitchen.

This, in addition to the excessive length of their stay in B&B accommodation would have caused the family inconvenience, distress and impacted their health.

The report said Birmingham had accepted the relief duty to the family in June 2023 but did not decide that it owed the family the main housing duty until April 2024. This delay was fault and caused uncertainty for the family.

Birmingham has agreed to take the following actions within four weeks:

• make a payment of £600 for the additional travel expenses the family incurred for six weeks between 16 June and 31 July 2023.
• make a payment of £1,050 for the impact of being placed in unsuitable accommodation outside of Birmingham between 16 June and 31 July 2023. This figure is based on a weekly payment of £175 for six weeks.
• make a payment of £1,680 to for the additional food costs the family incurred for 16 weeks between 16 June and 6 October 2023.
• make a payment of £2,400 for the impact of being placed in unsuitable B & B accommodation between 1 August and 18 December 2023. This figure is based on a weekly payment of £120 for 20 weeks.

The city council has also agreed to take the following actions within eight weeks:

• provide training or guidance to relevant officers to ensure they are properly considering relevant matters when carrying out homelessness assessments, in accordance with the Homelessness Code of Guidance, and that they are completing personalised housing plans appropriately.
• change its letter template to ensure that when the council places a family with dependent children in bed and breakfast accommodation under the interim or main housing duty, it confirms that the Homelessness Code of Guidance states this should be limited to no more than six weeks.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s full decision is available here.

Harry Rodd