The Housing Ombudsman has published a severe maladministration finding for Sandwell Council, after it did not consider a resident’s vulnerabilities during an anti-social behaviour case, despite multiple reminders.  The Ombudsman found that the Council did not act appropriately under the Equality Act 2020 and ordered it to review its Reasonable Adjustments Policy.  The Ombudsman also made findings of maladministration in respect of Sandwell’s handling of the anti-social behaviour and its complaint handling.

Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway said: “It is clear that the landlord could have offered the resident additional support and that it missed multiple opportunities to do so, including referring him to relevant services at a much earlier point.  This represents a significant failure by the landlord which resulted in unnecessary upset to the resident and an understandable feeling that the landlord was not taking his concerns about his mental health and wellbeing seriously.  Having a Reasonable Adjustments policy in place and making it both accessible to residents whilst also having staff adequately trained on its use, is vital as social housing grapples with the complexity of the cases they’re dealing with”.