Compensation for homeless families in B&B's have been delayed
- 29 May
The Westminster Council broke the law by keeping over 400 families and pregnant women in B&B's for more than 6 weeks since 2011.
The council has paid £153,968 in compensation to 81 homeless families who were illegally kept in the Bed and Breakfast accommodation, according to Inside housing.
Westminster agreed to pay £500 as compensation for each family kept longer than six weeks with an extra £83.83 payment for every subsequent week.
Last September, a Local Government Ombudsman reported of 'Mal-administration causing injustice' at Westminster Council and recommended that the financial remedy be paid, however, to date, Westminster has paid less that a third of the total coat it esimated, according to the council.
Labour Council leader for Westmister, Paul Dimoldenberg accused the council of 'dragging their feet' about contacting the families affected.
Mr Dimoldenberg also said:
"The council knows where the families are living and should have made this a priority after it had been found guilty of breaking the law in so many cases.
"You get the feeling that the conservatives simply do not care about the damage they have caused to so many vulnerable families."
Picture Source: (http://www.24dash.com/news/housing/2012-10-05-croydon-racks-up-1-5m-bandb-bill-for-homeless-families)
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Responding to the DWP Consultation: Housing Benefit Reform - Supported Housing "It was well-run, in a good location, and very useful. I've only one suggestion; as the session went on it would perhaps have been useful for bullet points of general agreement about what should be in the sector response to be displayed and added to as the session went on, maybe on a flip chart. Regarding your response paper, I particularly like the answer you give to question 9. In fact the general: "if it ain't broke don't fix it" response could be pushed harder." M.P. - Adref Ltd
