Child and disabled mum left in B&B for over a year

Ealing Council broke the law by placing a disabled pregnant mother and her child in a bed and breakfast for over a year, the local government watchdog has found.

The woman uses a wheelchair and has complex medical needs and originally approached the council in February 2024 because she was homeless.

Legally, families with children can be housed in B&B accommodation for a maximum of six weeks.

The accommodation was also unsuitable as it had stairs, breaching accessibility guidelines for council-housed people reliant on wheelchairs.

The woman, referred to in the report as Miss Y, was forced by her health to stay with friends and family for more than six months before being rehoused in self-contained temporary accommodation.

The ombudsman found the council failed to act promptly upon receiving medical information from Miss Y's midwife to assess her priority band.

This delay meant that she was unable to bid on suitable properties.

Fault was also found in the council's January 2025 decision about Miss Y's housing register priority - as it failed to properly consider all of the medical information and did not tell her she had the right to request a review.

Ealing Council apologised and will pay Miss Y £6,000 for the impact of the accommodation, together with a further £150 for the distress and uncertainty.

A spokesperson said the authority was taking steps to ensure this does not happen again.

"This includes reviewing our homelessness procedures to ensure that bed and breakfast accommodation is only used where absolutely necessary".

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