A Kingston disabled woman has won £3,750 after waiting 20 months for her home to be adapted. A watchdog said Kingston Council's delays in installing a stairlift in the woman's home caused her pain and distress.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman report found the council delayed processing the woman's application for a Disabled Facilities Grant, which funds works to help disabled people live independently, and install the recommended equipment.

The woman, referred to only as Ms X, said the delays impacted her health and quality of life.

Ms X asked the council for an occupational therapy assessment in March 2023 as she was experiencing pain and difficulty using the stairs to her bedroom and bathroom.

The occupational therapist confirmed she was eligible for support and proposed the installation of a stairlift in her home.

Ms X applied for a Disabled Facilities Grant to fund the installation of the stairlift. The council classed these works as non-urgent and simple, which meant it had 130 days from first contact in March to July to complete them.

However, the council did not install the stairlift until March 2025 – a delay of 20 months.

Ms X said she was forced to consider other options as she did not get any updates from the council about the works and her condition worsened over the year.

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She asked the authority to put her application on hold from December 2024 to January 2025 as she was considering moving to a one-level property, which meant the delay caused by the council was 18 months.

The report said: "Having considered Ms X's individual circumstances, I consider the council should pay Ms X £200 per month for the delay caused by the council up to the end of January 2025.

"This is because Ms X was still able to navigate stairs to her bathroom and bedroom upstairs but was experiencing pain and difficulty doing so.

"It was only in December 2024 that Ms X told the council her situation had deteriorated to the degree that she needed to consider a one-level property and Ms X placed the application on hold.

"Since the removal of this hold at the end of January 2025, the council's delay continued and the impact on Ms X was greater justifying a higher award of £300 per month.

"This was because Ms X was close to no longer being able to access her bathroom and bedroom causing not only extra pain and discomfort but also uncertainty and worry. The Council made no interim adaptations to Ms X's property throughout."

The ombudsman told the council to apologise to Ms X and pay her £3,750 for the avoidable distress and difficulty she was caused. It confirmed the council had since made improvements to the service.

A Kingston Council spokesperson said: "We have sincerely apologised to Ms X and acknowledge the distress and difficulty the delay has caused her. We have also made a compensation payment to her in light of this.

"We have since made meaningful improvements to the service, including updates to our policies and procedures and closer work with partner organisations, which have helped us address the underlying issues.

"As of December 2025, the longest application on our waiting list was less than a month old, demonstrating a significant reduction in waiting times. We have used the learnings from this case to drive significant improvement to our services."