Disabled man left in 'unsuitable' home by council for year-and-a-half

Barnet Council has been ordered to pay the disabled man £1,900 in compensation, reports Joe Ives, Local Democracy Reporter

Barnet Council has apologised and paid compensation for the “injustice” it caused by leaving a man with disabilities in unsuitable accommodation for 19 months.

It comes as a result of a recently-published decision by The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

The ombudsman’s report details how a man, referred to as ‘Mr X’, remained in an unsuitable home for 19 months after a council review in December 2024 deemed his home unsuitable for his “disability needs”.

The review came the month after the local authority had placed Mr X, a wheelchair user, into temporary accommodation in November 2024.

The ombudsman conceded that it had “seen evidence that the council actively searched for alternative accommodation”. Nevertheless, it concluded that the local authority’s failure to find a suitable property for over a year-and-a-half “was a service failure which amounts to fault”.

Indeed, in the period between June 2025 and February 2026 alone, the local authority looked into a total of 86 properties for Mr X – all of which were found to be unsuitable.

In October 2025, during the lengthy search for a suitable alternative home, Mr X filed a complaint with the ombudsman, who has now confirmed the council’s responsibility for “fault causing injustice”.

As a result, the local authority was ordered to pay Mr X £1,900 in compensation – £100 for each month he spent in unsuitable accommodation.

It was also told to formally apologise to Mr X for the lengthy period of time he was left in the unsuitable property after its December 2024 review.

Eventually, in March this year, the council offered Mr X a property, which he agreed to move into once adaptation work had been completed. The decision was also subject to a final agreement from Mr X and his occupational therapist.

The council was asked by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) to explain if the failures in Mr X’s case came as a result of errors by staff or from poor availability of homes in the borough.

A spokesperson from the local authority responded, saying “this was an issue of suitable housing supply”, especially in terms of accessible social housing in Barnet for residents with disabilities.

“To find a property suitable for Mr X staff needed to identify a property which could be adapted to his needs; staff worked closely with an occupational therapist to identify a property which could be adapted,” the spokesperson added.

The council confirmed that it had issued the payment and apology to Mr X as instructed by the ombudsman.

Asked what steps were being taken to prevent similar issues occurring in the future, the council’s spokesperson said: “We take learning seriously and are always seeking to improve how we deliver our services.

“Using the outcomes of this case, we will strive to ensure our customers receive the highest level of care and service.”

Mr X had also complained that he was wrongly being charged for heating at the unsuitable property he had been living in, and had refused to pay heating charges to the council.

On this matter, the ombudsman sided with the local authority, declaring that Mr X’s “outstanding heating debt” should be deducted from his £1,900 compensation payment.

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