Recipient

London Borough of Hillingdon

First report 21 Aug 2023•Latest report 21 Aug 2023

Recipient record

Reports, concerns and published responses

Local government · London borough council. This page brings together reports naming this recipient and response statements clearly connected to concerns raised in those reports.

Reports: 1
Published responses: 100%
Concerns addressed: 4
Stated actions: 5

Reports over time

Reports naming this recipient by issue year.

Evidence profile

Report topics

Share of this recipient’s reports compared with all other recipients.

100%published responses found

5stated actions described

Topic comparisons are not available in the current evidence snapshot.

Concerns and recipient responses

Statements from London Borough of Hillingdon linked to the concerns in each report. Select any concern, action or position to view the source wording.

21 Aug2023
West London
Concerns raised4
1. Lack of clear options and forward planning after failure of an assistance plan
2. Insufficient staff training for dealing with complex hoarder cases
3. Council hoarder-support guidance failing to support tenant assistance
1. Failure to request required fire and environmental health assessments
Responses linked to these concerns
Each statement is shown once, even when linked to more than one concern.
Actions described in response 3
1. Action
  Deliver mandatory hoarding training to all Housing Management officers by the end of November 2023.
  Stated planned
2. Action
  Develop and use an Operational Guidance Note covering hoarding case progression, recording, management oversight, tailored plans, handovers and ongoing review.
  Stated planned
3. Action
  Use one revised hoarding flow chart that prompts safety referrals and supports consistent risk assessment and tenant-focused casework.
  Stated completed
AI-generated summary

Jacqueline Elizabeth Smith · Prevention of Future Deaths report

This summary was generated using AI from the published report. Please read the original report for the complete account.

Report summary

Jacqueline Elizabeth Smith took her own life by overdosing on prescribed medication at home and died in Hillingdon Hospital on 12 August 2022. She had poor physical health and considerable anxiety while seeking council assistance with hoarded possessions, and a mental health assessment was not performed after she contacted a crisis telephone service. The inquest identified concerns including insufficient staff training for complex hoarder cases, missing safety assessments, an unsuitable council flow chart, and a lack of clear options after the initial assistance plan failed.

Read the report on judiciary.uk
Source evidence
How this individual concern was interpreted
PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the report wording shown below. The report was sent to London Borough of Hillingdon; that does not assign responsibility.
PFD Monitor interpretation
Lack of clear options and forward planning after failure of an assistance plan
Wider context from the report
“(4) It was entirely unclear what options were available (if any) when the first plan of assistance completely failed, leaving the vulnerable tenant excluded from her property with no forward plan. ”
Open source report
Source evidence
How this individual concern was interpreted
PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the report wording shown below. The report was sent to London Borough of Hillingdon; that does not assign responsibility.
PFD Monitor interpretation
Insufficient staff training for dealing with complex hoarder cases
Wider context from the report
“(1) The inquest identified that there was insufficient staff training to deal with complex hoarder cases. ”
Open source report
Source evidence
How this individual concern was interpreted
PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the report wording shown below. The report was sent to London Borough of Hillingdon; that does not assign responsibility.
PFD Monitor interpretation
Council hoarder-support guidance failing to support tenant assistance
Wider context from the report
“(3) The council "flow chart" was clearly not fit for purpose to assist staff in progressing hoarder support and assistance and was focussed on enforcement procedures rather than tenant support. The inquest was advised that the council's approach was not enforcement, but their documentation did not support this. ”
Open source report
Source evidence
How this individual concern was interpreted
PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the report wording shown below. The report was sent to London Borough of Hillingdon; that does not assign responsibility.
PFD Monitor interpretation
Failure to request required fire and environmental health assessments
Wider context from the report
“(2) Other safety assessments such as a fire assessment and/or environmental health assessment were not requested despite their being a clear need. ”
Open source report
Source evidence

How this respondent action was interpreted

PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

PFD Monitor interpretation
Deliver mandatory hoarding training to all Housing Management officers by the end of November 2023.

Verbatim wording from the response
“Although training has previously been delivered to Housing Management staff by Hoarding UK, further training will be delivered to all Officers within Housing Management by the end of November 2023 as part of mandatory annual refresher training across the Service.”

Source location
Response from London Borough of Hillingdon
Page 3 · response
Published 6 September 2023
Open published response
Source evidence

How this respondent action was interpreted

PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

PFD Monitor interpretation
Develop and use an Operational Guidance Note covering hoarding case progression, recording, management oversight, tailored plans, handovers and ongoing review.

Verbatim wording from the response
“The flow chart will form part of an Operational Guidance Note for staff which will provide further clarity on key stages of casework progression such as flagging hoarding cases in management by the Panel on the Housing Management data base (NEC Software Solutions) and referencing the case on the tenancy management file within Civica workflow to ensure any staff member working on the same tenancy is aware of the vulnerability and plan associated with live hoarding casework. This will also support management oversight of live casework.”

Source location
Response from London Borough of Hillingdon
Page 4 · response
Published 6 September 2023
Open published response
Source evidence

How this respondent action was interpreted

PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

PFD Monitor interpretation
Use one revised hoarding flow chart that prompts safety referrals and supports consistent risk assessment and tenant-focused casework.

Verbatim wording from the response
“The London Borough of Hillingdon has considered the concerns the Coroner has raised and has reviewed the flow charts and amalgamated them into one flow chart for all Officers. This action was completed at the end of September 2023. This single flow chart now ensures that all Officers are prompted to make referrals to the LFB and ASC as well as Environmental Health and the resident’s GP where appropriate, and this step becomes protocol for all cases of hoarding in management.”

Source location
Response from London Borough of Hillingdon
Page 3 · response
Published 6 September 2023
Open published response

Information checked against published PFD reports and official responses · Data reviewed 7 Sep 2026 · About data quality and limitations

Data last updated 7 September 2026

Reports, concerns and published responses

Reports over time

Concerns raised4

Lack of clear options and forward planning after failure of an assistance plan

Insufficient staff training for dealing with complex hoarder cases

Council hoarder-support guidance failing to support tenant assistance

Failure to request required fire and environmental health assessments

Actions described in response An action is something this recipient says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to the concern raised.3

Actions described in response 3