The Council has agreed to develop an action plan detailing the steps it will take to reduce delays in completing enquiries and determining what duty it owes to homeless applicants.The Council has agreed to provide us with a copy of its bed and breakfast elimination plan which details the actions it is taking to reduce the time families are staying in bed and breakfast accommodation.The Council has agreed to provide guidance to relevant officers about the way to respond to complaints about the suitability of interim or temporary accommodation, to ensure complainants are not deterred from requesting a review.

The Council has agreed to review the documents required for new housing applicants, joint tenants and household members, ensuring that applicants are not asked to provide unnecessary evidence. It will also ensure staff training is provided so that officers are aware of the different evidence requirements for each applicant type.The Council has agreed to ensure that housing applicants are clearly informed about which documents are required, with consistent information across the allocation scheme, website, application form and any correspondence.The Council has agreed to consider amending its procedures to give housing applicants additional time to submit missing documents before closing their applications, to prevent unnecessary delays. If the Council continues to close applications without giving applicants an opportunity to submit any missing documents, it will amend the application form to include a clear warning about the consequences of not submitting all required evidence.

The Council has agreed to review the documents required for new housing applicants and existing tenants, ensuring that applicants are not asked to provide unnecessary evidence. It will also ensure that staff training is provided to ensure that officers are aware of the different evidence requirements for each applicant type.The Council has agreed to review its procedures to ensure it assesses housing applications which have been made in accordance with the allocation scheme. Unless the Council changes its allocation scheme, it will not consider applications to be incomplete because a transfer applicant has not provided evidence of their eligibility.The Council has agreed to consider amending its procedures to give housing applicants additional time to submit missing documents before their application is closed, to prevent unnecessary delays. If it decides not to amend its procedures, it will amend the application form to include a clear warning about the consequences of not submitting all required evidence.

The Council has agreed to improve the clarity of information shared between housing and homelessness teams to ensure the housing team can clearly see when the homelessness team has decided an applicant is homeless, and therefore qualifies to join the housing register.The Council has agreed to remind officers that a person is homeless if they have no accommodation in the UK or elsewhere which is available for their occupation and which that person has a legal right to occupy.The Council has agreed to remind officers that councils should not consider it reasonable for a homelessness applicant to remain in their occupation until eviction by a bailiff.

The Council has agreed to ensure officers can record the actual reason a housing applicant has not been offered a property, and not just one from a pre-populated list.The Council has agreed to ensure Green Square Accord is aware that if it is considering an application from a Council nominated applicant, it must allocate the property in accordance with the nominations agreement.The Council has agreed to ask Green Square Accord to keep a record of all telephone contact with nominated housing applicants.The Council has agreed to consider improving its systems to allow better information sharing between Registered Providers and the Council.