Brentwood Borough Council has been putting ‘unnecessary barriers’ in the way of people accessing its homelessness services, an investigation has found.

According to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, the Essex authority has been asking for unnecessary information when approached for help, including bank statements and a five-year address history.

Brentwood has also put an arbitrary limit on the time people have to make an application, and often closes cases when this limit passes, the investigation revealed.

Over six months, the council closed 216 out of 326 cases, even though the applicants met the legal threshold at which it should have made inquiries.

In some cases, this meant vulnerable people, such as those threatened with domestic abuse, or people who were rough sleeping, were dismissed without proper consideration.

Ombudsman Amerdeep Somal said: ‘I have serious concerns about the way the council has been managing its homelessness service, in a way that suggests it has been artificially restricting numbers by putting unnecessary barriers in the way.

She said: ‘This overly-rigid approach amounts to gatekeeping – and it is likely the council has been failing in its duties to the people most at risk in the borough.’

Brentwood chief executive Jonathan Stephenson said: ‘We accept the findings of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and acknowledge there were failings with the past triage process, which we sincerely apologise for.

‘I can confirm that we have already undertaken a review of the service and have implemented a range of measures to improve the triage process.’