Stoke-on-Trent City Council has been criticised after a complaint handling failure left vulnerable children in a damp and mouldy property.
The mother of the children complained to the council on two occasions but eventually was forced to approach the Housing Ombudsman who intervened to get the landlord to escalate the complaint.
After an investigation, the Housing Ombudsman found severe maladministration for the city council.
It ordered the landlord to apologise to the resident, pay £1,000 in compensation and review its processes and staff training needs.
Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: ‘Our Complaint Handling Code is clear that landlords must issue residents with a formal stage one response.
‘In previous cases we have seen significant delays in responses but for a resident to receive nothing, when her two vulnerable children are living in a damp and mould home, is completely unacceptable.’
A Stoke-on-Trent City Council spokesperson said: ‘We apologise fully that the response our customer received in this case fell below the standards expected of our teams and by our customers.
‘We have apologised to our customer and made the appropriate compensation payment. We are committed to continuously improving services and learning from mistakes and welcome the learning from the Housing Ombudsman.’
