Watchdog rejects disability discrimination complaint against Wigan Council

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman had received a complaint from a resident, identified only in the report only as Mr A, said that the local authority had: failed to deal with noise nuisance from people and traffic outside his flat; did not do enough to help him find suitable alternative accommodation; discriminated against him on the basis of his disability, and failed to give him effective social work assistance.

But, following an investigation, the ombudsman chose not to uphold the complaint after finding that “The Council gave Mr A appropriate housing advice and assistance and responded appropriately to his reports of noise nuisance” and that “there was no discrimination against Mr A and he received appropriate support from social work staff.”

The investigation was completed in November but only recently published. It found that Mr A, who has mental health problems, was living in supported housing - which was owned and managed by a housing association, at the time of the incidents he complained about.

He was offered three hours of support through a specialist mental health care provider linked to the supported housing, but the support was stopped at Mr A’s request.

The Council’s environmental health records showed Mr A reported problems with external noise from the street (like traffic and people leaving bars) in December 2017. An officer from the environmental health team visited with the landlord in January 2018, and noted that the street noise was “audible, but not loud”.

He advised that it was not reasonable to make the landlord provide sound insulation and the current provisions were satisfactory. The environmental health team took no further action, explaining in a letter to Mr A that general noise from outside could not be controlled by the Council using any of its powers under the Environmental Protection Act.

The landlord also agreed to change round the rooms so Mr A’s bedroom would be at the rear of the house, to help minimise the noise, but Mr A did not want to go ahead with this.

The investigation then said: “The Council’s housing options records showed Mr A had particular preferences about the type of properties he was willing to accept. The Council told me Mr A’s landlord offered Mr A two different properties, which Mr A said were not suitable.

“Minutes of a meeting which Mr A attended with professionals in March 2019 indicate he would not accept housing in Wigan and wanted a property in the countryside. The care provider’s worker said Mr A always found a reason to refuse any property offered to him.

“Mr A said this was discriminatory. Officers advised Mr A it would be unlikely another council would offer him social housing as he had no local connection. Officers also advised Mr A against making himself deliberately homeless because he would not likely be rehoused.”

Mr A later asked to be removed from the social housing provider’s waiting list.

The ombudsman did not uphold any of Mr A’s four complaints, on the basis that there was no evidence of discrimination on the grounds of disability, and that the council did not have the power to deal with traffic noise outside Mr A’s flat.

The ombudsman was also satisfied that council officers took appropriate steps to support Mr A in finding a new property, and also provided adequate social work assistance including regular calls and face-to-face support.

The full report can be viewed at lgo.org.uk using the reference code 19 002 826.