A council has been forced to apologise and hand over more than £8,500 to a family with two disabled children.

The apology and compensation payments come after the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) ruled a family spent three years too long in unsuitable and cramped accommodation.

The ruling said Thanet District Council failed to recognise the severity of the family's circumstances when they were called on for help and the council wrongly prioritised other families who worked or who had younger children over them.

The family of six lived in a small privately-rented three-bedroom house.

Three teenagers slept in one small bedroom – two in short bunk beds and one on a mattress on the floor.

One of the teenagers has sleep problems while another, who has mobility difficulties, needs help using the lavatory during the night.

The parents are full-time carers to two of their children who have disabilities and had been on the housing register since 2000.

In 2013 the family were asked to complete a new housing application and they were told by the council that it could only consider the medical and welfare needs of one of the teenagers.

The family completed the form and also referred to their other child’s disabilities and the family’s sleeping arrangements.

The LGO says Thanet council based the family’s application on the overcrowding, and not on their particular needs, which meant they were unable to bid successfully on homes that would meet their needs.

"I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to the family involved in this particular case for any distress that may have been caused due to our actions..." TDC director of community services Rob Kenyon

The LGO investigation found that the family’s exceptional circumstances should have prompted the council to recognise theirs was a complex case needing a cross-agency referral, and officers should have visited the family to check the size of the bedrooms.

It also found the council was wrong to tell the family it could only consider one member’s needs and gave them inaccurate information about the properties upon which they could bid.

The LGO asked the council to apologise to the family and pay them £8,400 for the impact the unsuitable accommodation had on them.

It also ruled TDC should pay the family £250 to acknowledge the avoidable stress and confusion caused by its mistaken advice.

Director of community services at Thanet council Rob Kenyon said: "We take the findings of the LGO very seriously and work to ensure that we treat all households who approach us for assistance with housing fairly and considerately.

"If we make mistakes, as we did in this case, we will always seek to put right the errors made.

"I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to the family involved in this particular case for any distress that may have been caused due to our actions.

"The case in question found fault in the council’s handling of a family's application to be placed on a higher priority housing band.

"Although the council did dispute some of the findings we did accept others.

"As a result we have reviewed our procedures to ensure that we learn from the findings of the report to prevent similar issues from arising in the future.

"The council will compensate the family for the faults found and has apologised for the difficulties that our decisions caused.

"The family has now moved into a new home suited to their needs.

"In line with the LGO guidelines we will publish a public announcement highlighting their findings, and will have a copy of the report available at the Gateway in Margate."