Council 'inconsistent' over case
A council in Lancashire has been described as "inconsistent" over a complaint involving a homeless family.
The family of 10 had complained the council had not responded properly when they presented themselves as homeless.
The Local Government Ombudsman had recommended that Blackpool Council reimbursed and compensated the family.
The council agreed to reimburse the family but refused to pay compensation. It said it will review the second report which called it "inconsistent".
The complainant, known as Mr Wise although this is not his real name, complained that the council did not respond properly when he and his family presented themselves as being homeless during the summer of 2003.
Written decision
The result, he said, was that they suffered humiliation, upset and distress at having to repeatedly find their own accommodation at great inconvenience.
In her first report, the Local Government Ombudsman, Mrs Patricia Thomas, had found maladministration causing injustice.
The ombudsman found that the council failed to provide the family with a written decision and the reasons for that decision.
She also found that it failed to provide interim accommodation for the family while making its enquiries.
The result was that they had to find and pay for accommodation themselves.
She recommended the council should reimburse the complainant for the actual cost of accommodating his family for a six-week period, plus £1,000 compensation for distress.
Temporary accommodation
In response to the first report, the council had accepted it should reimburse Mr Wise for the actual cost of accommodation in Blackpool for about six weeks from 7 July 2003.
The ombudsman said the council had, however, refused to pay Mr Wise any compensation for the distress which his family experienced as a result of not finding them temporary accommodation.
The council said it did not consider that the failure of the processes in this matter were "such as to cause distress to the family, which was occasioned by their own circumstances rather than any act or omission on the council's behalf".
The ombudsman said in her second report published on Monday it was inconsistent for the council to accept its maladministration but not to recognise its obligation to remedy in full the injustice arising.
A Blackpool Council spokesperson said: "Once we have seen and reviewed the report we will decide the most appropriate action to take and inform the Local Government Ombudsman of our decision."
Source: The BBC (10/10/2005)
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