Accommodation out of borough

The Council’s offer letter says the Council had considered the suitability of the accommodation. The letter also referred to the shortage of affordable accommodation in the Borough. But the Council’s letter had no reference to the household’s individual or collective circumstances of needs. And the Council’s file also has no record the Council considered Ms X and her family’s individual circumstances. To not consider Ms X’s individual circumstances was fault. Without doing so, the Council was not in a position to decide if it needed to seek to offer Ms X alternative accommodation later. I would also have expected an officer to consider whether Ms X needed any support in the Essex accommodation (see the Code of Guidance and the Council’s Temporary Accommodation Policy).

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