Our client instructed us to request a suitability review of her new temporary accommodation. Her family has very complex needs, as two of her three children have autism and one has PICA syndrome like traits, meaning that he would try to eat both food and non-edible items. The family’s temporary accommodation does not have a lockable kitchen, because the only bathroom is accessible through the kitchen, and the door needs to remain open. This is a major trigger for one of our client’s children, as exposing him to food can trigger challenging behaviours.

After putting the council on notice of our intention to raise a suitability review, we sent them a pre-action letter threatening judicial review proceedings due to their failure to start the review, to which they replied asking to submit representations before a decision was made. We collected as much evidence as possible by instructing an independent Occupational Therapist, who visited the client and her family at the property, and by visiting our client to take detailed information around the property and photographs of the space. After our visit, we wrote a detailed witness statement highlighting our views on the suitability of the accommodation. We then submitted this evidence as part of our representations.

The review officer got back to us with a decision in which they found our client’s accommodation to be unsuitable, which obliges the council to make an alternative offer of accommodation which matches our client and her family’s needs.