Wandsworth Council has been ordered to pay compensation after the ombudsman upheld three separate complaints from vulnerable residents who were failed by its housing and care services.
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found the south London borough had not properly worked out what each vulnerable person needed — taking too long to assess a homeless man and a mother facing eviction, and squabbling with the NHS over who should pay for a young man’s care before anyone had assessed what he needed.
Seven weeks sleeping rough
In early April 2025, a man filled in Wandsworth’s online homelessness form and wrote that he was sleeping rough with nowhere to stay. The council did not see him until 20 May — seven weeks later.
The ombudsman said: “Given Mr X had explained he was rough sleeping in his application form, seven weeks was not a reasonable timeframe to assess his application.”
Before his first appointment he had sent in supporting documents, including medical information and bank statements — yet after being seen, the council asked for the bank statements again. When he said he had already sent them, the council told him in June his case could not move without them. Only after he sent proof did the documents go on his file.
The ombudsman found he had supplied everything without delay; the hold-up was the council’s. The council must pay him £350.
“Send the papers again”
In a second case, a mother of dependent children was told by her private landlord in mid-March 2025 that the family home was being sold and they would have to leave by mid-May. Unable to afford private renting after deteriorating health and surgery, she applied to the council as homeless and sent a large bundle of documents.
She then heard nothing, despite chasing by email, phone and in person. In May the council asked her to send her documents again, along with medical evidence — and then asked a second time, because different officers had picked up her case. When she was finally seen with her children, the officer had not read them.
A manager told her people facing no-fault eviction were given later appointments, and that once her notice ran out, her landlord would need a court order and a bailiff’s warrant before the council would offer temporary accommodation. The ombudsman found that advice “suggests it routinely delays arranging interim accommodation until a possession order is obtained.”
The family did not move into a ready home until late November — about three months after the council first owed them somewhere to live. The council must apologise and pay her £500.
Care costs argued before needs assessed
The third case, decided jointly with the Health Service Ombudsman, concerned a young man with autism who came home after four months in hospital to find none of the day activities he had relied on for years had been arranged.
An urgent review his mother requested was not held before he was detained, and costs were divided between the council and the NHS before anyone assessed what he needed. Both the council and NHS South West London Integrated Care Board were found at fault.
The board must pay the young man’s mother £400 and the council £250, with both ordered to review how they handled his care.
A pattern of failings
These are at least the ninth and tenth rulings against Wandsworth’s homelessness and rehousing service since August 2025. Among earlier cases, a woman sleeping on night buses was left without emergency accommodation for two months, and a mother came home from hospital with a newborn to a room with no heating.
Putney.news sent the council seven questions about the two homelessness rulings on 9 October, including whether it had paid either person and whether it still waits for a court order before offering families emergency housing. The council did not respond.
For more on south London councils, see our coverage of calls for a Bromley councillor to resign and Ealing Council’s £18,500 rodent fine.
