A mother who was left homeless after masked men forced their way into her house and attacked her with a hammer is to receive compensation from Croydon Council.

The council failed to provide suitable housing to the woman and her three young children for nine months after they abandoned their home following the raid.

A damning report by the Local Government Ombudsman criticised the authority for offering only inappropriate bed-and-breakfast accommodation to the mother.

The woman, referred to in the report as Ms Andrews, fled her home in April 2010 after the attackers hit, punched and kicked her and held a knife to her throat.

Her partner was seriously injured in the attack.

After Ms Andrews submitted an emergency homelessness application, the council offered the family temporary bed-and-breakfast accommodation that she said was dirty and had broken furniture, dangerous jagged edges and loose wires hanging from walls. 

The family were offered a third-floor room in the building, which had no lift, despite the fact two of the children used a pushchair.

Ombudsman Dr Jane Martin said: "The council has put forward the view that the complainant’s circumstances were not considered to be exceptional and therefore the bed-and-breakfast accommodation was considered suitable for her needs.

"Given that the attack involved a hammer and knives and resulted in her partner being hospitalised I find it difficult to understand what circumstances the Council would consider to be exceptional."

The ombudsman recommended the council apologise to Ms Andrews and pay her £2,500 compensation, review its policy and practice in relation to consideration of homeless applications, and undertake staff training for those frontline staff taking homeless applications, as a result.

Hannah Miller, executive director for adult services, health and housing, at Croydon Council said: "Like many local authorities, Croydon is currently experiencing high levels of homelessness and a serious shortage of temporary accommodation.

"In the last 12 months we have received more than 2,200 homeless applications and placed 1,470 households in temporary accommodation.

"Despite the high caseloads, it is important that we undertake our assessment process properly in all cases and ensure that there is consistency of approach among housing officers.

"Clearly, expected standards were not adhered to in this case. We have therefore taken steps to improve the consistency of our approach to managing homeless applications.

"These include recruiting permanent staff to reduce the reliance on temporary staff; retraining existing staff; introducing an online self-help tool so customers get advice early, and implementing new procedures so customers’ personal needs are always taken into consideration when deciding the suitability of emergency accommodation."