Single mum-of-three left homeless after council wrongly accused her of owing £8.6k — when they owed her cash

A SINGLE mum and her three kids were left homeless after a council wrongly accused her of owing £8,600 — when it actually owed her money. Her housing benefit was suspended and the council told her landlord of a probe for “overpaid benefits”, leading to her being evicted from the three-bedroom home. Bosses at Haringey […]

A SINGLE mum and her three kids were left homeless after a council wrongly accused her of owing £8,600 — when it actually owed her money.

Her housing benefit was suspended and the council told her landlord of a probe for “overpaid benefits”, leading to her being evicted from the three-bedroom home.

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Bosses at Haringey Council in North London have now apologised after the Ombudsman found it “mishandled” the case.

The council has paid the mum – who cannot be named – just under £5,600 in compensation.

Michael King, of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: “The miscalculation of this woman’s benefit entitlement has had a significant impact on her family’s life.

“To compound that problem, the council did not deal with her homelessness application properly and failed to refer her case to the appeal tribunal.”

Haringey Council said it was reviewing all similar housing benefit cases between July 2017 and March 2018.

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