Paralysed man gets £20,000 from Redbridge after years in unsuitable housing

Redbridge Council has paid a £20,000 settlement to a severely disabled man. In the home it provided, the only way he could get to the toilet, the shower or the sole source of running water was by hauling himself over the floor.

The man, identified in the case as CPH, is paralysed below the waist and has the use of only one arm. He also has several other serious health conditions, both physical and mental. In the past he had slept on the streets.

Redbridge accommodation had no accessible toilet or kitchen

Redbridge was responsible for his care from 2020 at the latest. From August 2023 he lived in accommodation where none of the toilet, kitchen or laundry facilities could be used from a wheelchair. The shared kitchen had not been adapted and he found it hard to use. He could not wash his own clothes.

His partner later began providing essential care. At first, though, she was not allowed to be with him outside visiting hours, which ran from 10am to 8pm. He did not want to spend nights alone without care, so he started sleeping rough with her.

Two judicial reviews against the council

A judicial review followed in November 2024. After it, Redbridge undertook to commission an occupational therapy assessment and to do the work it recommended. The assessment instead suggested he stop using the bathroom entirely. It proposed that he wash and go to the toilet in his bedroom and kitchen area on a “wheeled shower commode”, with his wife helping.

In July 2025 CPH launched a second, urgent judicial review. He alleged disability discrimination and a breach of the public sector equality duty. His claim also relied on the Care Act 2014 and on two rights protected by the European Convention on Human Rights, under its Article 3 and Article 8.

That claim was settled. Redbridge agreed to offer him a different home and accepted that only accommodation fully adapted for a wheelchair user would be suitable for him. In July last year he moved into a property that has an adapted wet room.