Hounslow Council Found to Have Failed Pregnant Homeless Woman
A carelessly discarded cigarette butt could now cost you £500
Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, Ms Amerdeep Somal. Picture: Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
May 8, 2025
Hounslow has been slammed by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) for ‘refusing to do right’ by a homeless pregnant woman.
Hounslow Council were found to have failed the woman by the ombudsman, and now are refusing to cooperate with the watchdog, it is claimed.
The LGSCO investigates complaints made against local authorities such as councils. When it finds fault, the ombudsman suggests a number of remedies the authority should make to address its failings.
However, despite six faults being found in the case of the woman, named Miss X in the report, Hounslow Council have reportedly refused to follow all of the recommendations. The council should have made Miss X an offer of ‘the next available two-bedroom property that meets her needs, to recognise the missed opportunity to be allocated permanent housing’, the LGSCO said.
Miss X was pregnant when she first approached Hounslow Council in May 2022. She was also homeless, and had been sofa surfing with friends.
According to the ombudsman’s report, the local authority told her she was in the council’s ‘top Band 0 list’ for a home, despite this band not existing. It also told her that applying as homeless would reduce her chances of getting secure housing, which is not true.
The council asked her to complete five separate questionnaires without being allocated a housing officer, and failed to respond to numerous requests for information.
Then, Miss X was told by the council that moving out of the area would not affect her application for housing, something which also was not true. This then disqualified her from Hounslow Council’s housing register, leaving her unable to apply to the housing register in her new borough as she had not lived there long enough.
Miss X continued to complain to the council about her circumstances, however it had failed to properly deal with her complaints. The ombudsman’s investigation found that the council ‘failed to make any inquiries’ into her homeless situation.
If Hounslow Council had assessed the woman’s homelessness situation when it should have, evidence shows she was ‘eligible, homeless, and in priority need’ – meaning she should have been provided accommodation immediately, which she was not.
The council told her that any interim and temporary homeless accommodation would likely be outside the borough to discourage her from applying. Additionally, by telling Miss X that she could move out of Hounslow temporarily without it affecting her housing application, the ombudsman found that the council ‘did this to avoid its legal duties to the woman as a homeless person’.
Whilst the council has paid the woman £3,750 to recognise its failings, it has refused to offer the woman a home, which the ombudsman said would recognise the council’s responsibility in Miss X ‘missing the opportunity to be allocated permanent housing’.
Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, Ms Amerdeep Somal, has called on councillors to ‘do the right thing’. She said, “Hounslow Council has left a vulnerable mother and her child without the security of knowing where she would call home at a particularly desperate time of her life. As a young pregnant person she has been forced to sofa surf despite clear evidence the council owed her a duty.
“All this has had a significant effect on her. She moved into one-bedroom shared accommodation shortly before she gave birth, and remains there to this day. All the evidence shows that if Hounslow had acted correctly, the woman would have had the safety of a social tenancy when her child was born.
“I am disappointed that, by rejecting my recommendation to offer her the next suitable property it has available, the council is failing to fully accept the gravity its incorrect advice and practice has had on this woman and her child.”
Councillor Sue Sampson, Cabinet Member for Housing Management and Homelessness said, “We maintain that at all times in this case we acted legally and in line with housing policy. During the period in question Miss X secured her own accommodation outside the borough. Our priority and responsibility around housing need is for people residing in Hounslow who cannot house themselves.
“We cannot accept all the ombudsman’s recommendations in this case. The council does not accept that there is evidence that a homelessness application would have been successful, even had one been made. Homelessness applications are subject to rigorous assessment to ensure limited resources are allocated to those most in need.”
Philip James Lynch - Local Democracy Reporter