Hounslow at Fault for Removing Pregnant Woman from Housing List

The borough has been found at fault by the local government watchdog over its failure to properly communicate with the mother regarding her housing application.

The woman, referred to as Miss H, also raised a complaint accusing the council’s housing allocations policy of being discriminatory against pregnant women on maternity leave – however this was not upheld.

In 2022, Miss H applied to join the council’s housing register. Around the same time, she contacted Hounslow Council for homelessness advice because her mother had asked her to move out.

At this stage, the local authority accepted it had a duty towards her due to her homelessness and cancelled her initial housing register application because the homelessness application took priority. In May 2024, Miss H contacted the council to check on her housing application she initially raised in 2022.

By this point, she was pregnant, had older children, and was still living with her mother. The council then informed her that the 2022 application had been cancelled and advised her that she could not make another application because she was not working.

Miss H then filed a formal complaint against the council as she was not notified that her application had been cancelled. In its first response, the council apologised for failing to notify her that the application was closed, but noted that she likely wouldn’t have been accepted onto the register since she was unemployed.

When Miss H escalated the complaint, the council’s second response clarified that the employment restriction is only applied to Band 3, and asserted that the policy did not breach equality duties as it had carried out an equalities impact assessment.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman evaluated whether the policy directly discriminated against Miss H. It found that the council did not discriminate against her.

The council was ruled to have followed government guidance explicitly encouraging housing authorities to give extra priority to working households. Importantly, the council provides an alternative route for applicants with protected characteristics, which acts as a safety valve to alleviate any indirect discrimination caused by the policy.

Hounslow Council also informed the Ombudsman that it was highly unlikely any applicant in Band 3 would receive a three-bedroom social housing property regardless of wait time, but proposed presenting Miss H’s case to this Exceptional Needs Referral Panel.

The Ombudsman ruled that the council was at fault for its lack of communication in failing to notify Miss H that her housing application was closed, and that this fault caused an injustice. To remedy the situation, the council agreed to apologise to Miss H, and write to her offering her the opportunity to apply for the Exceptional Needs Referral Panel.

Hounslow Council said: “We would not comment on individual cases. The council is constantly striving to improve its performance, this includes appropriate regard for LGSCO findings.”

Philip James Lynch - Local Democracy Reporter

Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More

This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism.

Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets.

We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more.

However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do.

We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area.

A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site.

One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute.

If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.