Kingston Council has been criticised after a mum was threatened with eviction while her son was missing.

A local government probe found Kingston Council failed to take "reasonable action" to help the woman stay in her home after it started court action against her.

The woman, referred to only as Miss Y in the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman report, complained about the council's response to her request for help with her housing situation ,and the way it dealt with her application for a loan from the Homelessness Prevention Fund.

The council started court action and obtained a possession order against Miss Y in 2019 over her significant rent arrears. Miss Y, who is a council tenant, later told an officer she had arrears of £10,000 and was close to losing her home. 

Miss Y's housing adviser told the council's housing options service in November 2019 why she was struggling to pay rent on time. Her son had been missing for months and, although he had since been found, he couldn't return to his local area for safety reasons. This meant Miss Y had built up "signficant travel costs", according to the report.

Miss Y's requests for a loan from the council's Homelessness Prevention Fund were rejected twice in 2019 and 2020. The council said the requests were rejected because of a lack of consistent payments and minimal reduction in the rent arrears, according to the ombudsman report.

The council has accepted there was a three-month delay between Miss Y's request for help with her threatened homelessness in June 2019 and the housing options service contacting her in September, according to the report. The report says: "In addition to her concern about her son who was missing during this period, Miss Y was left to face the very real threat of losing her home, without any assistance from housing options."

It adds: "Miss Y was left in limbo by housing options, in the period from September 2019 until the court action was put on hold in June 2020, with no plan or information about the steps she and the council would take to try to resolve her threatened homelessness. In my view this caused her significant additional worry and distress at what was already a very difficult time for her."

The court action to evict Miss Y was put on hold in 2020 due to Covid. In 2021, children's services arranged to clear Miss Y's arrears to prevent her family from becoming homeless. Miss Y is repaying the loan in monthly instalments.

The council apologised to Miss Y in May 2021. The authority has been told to pay her £300 for the "additional worry and distress, time and trouble its failures caused her from June 2019 to June 2020, while she was facing the threat of eviction, and the delay in responding fully to her complaint". Kingston Council has been contacted for comment.