A TOTAL of £1000 was paid in compensation to a man who had a gun held to his head but was not given emergency housing by the council.

Details of the case have been released as part of a report by the Local Government Ombudsman into complaints made against Waltham Forest Council.

The police advised the man to leave his home folllowing the incident, but he was informed by the authority that he did not qualify for emergency housing and spent two nights sleeping in his car.

The Ombudsman also ruled that the council failed to properly communicate with a family which was the subject of child protection proceedings.

Social workers failed to properly explain what was being done and and why. The family was later awarded £500 in compensation and offered an apology.

The report also details the case of an abused teenager girl whose suffering was made worse by council inaction, as reported by the Guardian last year.

The girl, now an adult, was raped while on holiday when she was 13 years old. She was then sexually abused by a neighbour and described as being extremely troubled and suicidal.

But her repeated requests for help from the council between 2004 and 2008 fell on deaf ears, the Ombudsman Tony Redmond found.

The girl then had to give evidence at the trial of her abuser without any support from her family or social services.

The council paid £7,000 in compensation and apologised to the victim.

Mr Redmond said: “Support and services were eventually provided but they should have been provided sooner and, in the interim, the child suffered harm and distress that could have been avoided.”

However, no member of staff was disciplined over the case.

Of the 151 complaints made to the watchdog about the authority in the financial year from April 2009, 24 related to housing, seven to parking and five to highway management.

Other complaints included eight about anti-social behaviour and seven about waste management.

The team also looked at five issues with school admissions, six about children and family services, nine about housing benefits and six about council tax.

The advice team forwarded 94 complaints to the investigation team - which is 20 more than last year.

The Ombudsman referred 23 of the complaints to the council to take action. There was insufficient evidence to uphold 21 of the complaints.

Twenty eight complaints were not pursued because in most cases there was insufficient evidence an injustice had been caused.

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