Family paid more than £1,000 in compensation after ombudsman investigation criticises Enfield Council over the homelessness case, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

A family has won a £1,100 payout from Enfield Council after they were left to live in “unsuitable accommodation” for three months.

An investigation by the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) found the council was at fault for “disrupting” a families’ life after moving them to “the other end of the country”.

The mother, referred to anonymously in the LGO report as ‘Ms X’, was fleeing domestic abuse with her children and presented herself as homeless in early 2024.

The council accepted relief duty and provided Ms X and the children with interim accommodation. Within a week a direct offer was made of a private rental property which was “out-of-area accommodation”.

The report stated Ms X had a “few days” to accept the offer.

A representative of the family highlighted one of the children was sitting their GCSEs that year, the other had special education needs and the council had not liaised with the new local authority about school places for either child.

The reliance on local support networks following the impact of domestic abuse was also highlighted as a reason the new accommodation was not suitable.

By April the council had agreed the property was unsuitable and in July offered Ms X accommodation within the borough, which she accepted.

The report found a delay “moving the family back to the areas after the review decision” caused an “injustice” to Mrs X and both of her children.

The ombudsman also said the council “must allow applicants a reasonable period to consider offers”, especially if they will end prevent and relief duties.

According to the report Ms X had from 4pm on Thursday until 10am on Monday to accept or decline the out-of-area property.

While guidance states there is not a set “reasonable period” the watchdog found the council at fault for the “short notice” highlighting it was “less than four days, and included weekend days”.

In response the council agreed to apologise and pay the family £1,100, which consists of £350 for each month the family lived in unsuitable accommodation.

This was for just under three months so £1,000 was considered “suitable” and then an extra £100 was added, by the council, to reflect it could have “managed better”.

Enfield Council was approached for comment.

Update (5th November):

An Enfield Council spokesperson said: “We accept the ombudsman’s findings and continue to work to prevent and reduce the impact of homelessness on Enfield residents. In this case, we relocated Ms X as soon as possible. We are sorry for the difficulties Ms X experienced. We try our best to house homeless residents in Enfield.

“The council is, however, facing the consequences of the housing crisis. The council is under immense pressure resulting from the lack of affordable, local housing. This means that when we cannot find suitable homes, we do have to move families out of the borough.”

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