A domestic violence survivor has won a £2,250 payout after Kingston Council left her in hotels with her children for 11 weeks when they became homeless.

A watchdog investigation found the council left the family in B&B accommodation for five weeks longer than the six-week limit.

The mum, named Miss B in the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman report, said she had to spend £90 a day on takeaways to feed her family while they were living in the hotels as they had no cooking facilities.

She said the ordeal affected their mental health.

Kingston Council told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) it is committed to doing all it can to make sure residents have a safe and comfortable place to live. It has accepted the ombudsman's findings and apologised to Miss B.

Miss B began staying at her mum's with her children after she was assaulted by her then partner and another person at her home in September 2023.

She presented to the council as homeless on 3 November that year, but the authority said it did not take a homeless application from her as she said she would stay at her sister's to consider her options.

A law centre acting on Miss B's behalf wrote to the council in November to ask if it had accepted the relief duty towards her to help her secure accommodation, before chasing it up on the issue multiple times.

It provided a supporting letter from domestic abuse charity Refuge in December, which said if Miss B stayed in her property she would be at greater risk of harm as the perpetrators of the domestic abuse knew her location.

The council sent Miss B a decision in January 2024 which said it was not satisfied she was homeless.

 It issued a further decision in February declining to provide interim accommodation.

Miss B applied for a judicial review of this decision and the court issued an interim order requiring the council to provide her with accommodation in March.

The council placed Miss B and her children in a hotel on 4 April, before moving them to a different hotel four days later.

The council offered Miss B a three-bed home on 29 May, but there was no evidence it addressed her concerns about its suitability as it was close to where the perpetrators of the domestic abuse lived.

Miss B told the council she had found private rented accommodation on 20 June.

The ombudsman found the council at fault for leaving Miss B and her children in hotels for 11 weeks, which was five weeks longer than the six-week limit.

The report said there was no evidence the council had tried to find alternative accommodation for Miss B until it made her an offer in May.

The report said: "Miss B says because she did not have any cooking facilities, she spent £90 a day on take outs to feed her family and this caused her significant stress as she was concerned about running out of money.

"Miss B also says living in hotel accommodation for 11 weeks had an impact on her mental health as well as on her children."

The ombudsman also found the council at fault for delaying processing Miss B's homeless application and failing to keep proper records.

The report said: "The evidence I have seen satisfies me the law centre continually had to chase the council for responses throughout its involvement with Miss B's case.

"Delay responding to correspondence from the law centre is fault. That is unlikely to have reassured Miss B the council was taking her case seriously."

It added: "Miss B says she had various conversations with council officers over the telephone for which there are no documentary records. I am satisfied Miss B had telephone conversations with council officers as the fact conversations took place is recorded in various emails.

"In those circumstances I am concerned to note the council has not kept notes from those telephone conversations."

The ombudsman told the council to apologise to Miss B and the law centre, and to pay Miss B £2,250 for the distress she experienced and extra costs she faced buying food for her family.

A Kingston Council spokesperson said: "The national housing crisis remains a critical situation as demand for properties increasingly exceeds supply.

" Currently, we are supporting close to 1,000 families with temporary accommodation, who we have a legal duty to support. We are looking at how to increase the supply of temporary accommodation for families approaching us.

"We have accepted the ombudsman's findings and have apologised to Miss B. We have also made payments to acknowledge the distress caused, and to reflect the additional costs incurred during the family's stay in hotel accommodation.

"In addition, we have carried out compulsory refresher training on how to handle domestic abuse cases and an independent domestic violence advocate has been engaged to work one to one on a weekly basis with housing advisors in the preparation of personal housing plans.

"We have also completed a review of and amended procedures for assessing the suitability of accommodation, and we have reviewed our procurement policy and are monitoring placements in an effort to reduce the use of B&Bs for families."