Service improvements

Birmingham City Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022

Find out more about service improvements

When we find fault, we can recommend improvements to systems and processes where they haven’t worked properly, so that others do not suffer from these same problems in future. Common examples are policy changes; procedural reviews; and staff training. Service improvements from decisions are published for 5 years and those from reports are published for 10 years.

Showing 1 - 10 of 13 cases with service improvements

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Downloads the current filtered list of service improvement decisions for Birmingham City Council as a CSV file.

  • Birmingham City Council (21 004 902)

    Category: Housing Date: 10-Feb-2022

    Summary

    Mr X complains that the Council placed him and his family in bed and breakfast for five months. The Council is at fault as left Mr X and his family in bed and breakfast accommodation for 17 weeks longer than the legal limit. This caused significant distress to Mr and Mrs X including affecting their mental health and their children’s ability to do their school work. The Council has agreed to make a payment of £1700 to Mr X to acknowledge his and his family’s injustice.

    Service improvements

    Reviews its main housing duty decision letter (where the Council has decided it owes the main housing duty) to ensure it includes details of a person’s right to seek a review of the suitability of their temporary accommodation.Provides the Ombudsman with an update on the progress of its temporary accommodation shortage plan of action in April 2022.

  • Birmingham City Council (21 004 379)

    Category: Housing Date: 24-Feb-2022

    Summary

    The Council delayed assessing Mr X’s application to join the housing register. But there was no fault in the way it decided Mr X did not qualify to join the register, or its decision that he did qualify after he provided new information. The Council has agreed to make a payment to Mr X, backdate his registration date and provide an update on the action it is taking to reduce delays.

    Service improvements

    The Council has already provided the Ombudsman with a copy of its action plan to reduce housing application processing times. The Council has also agreed to provide a further update on the action it is taking.

  • Birmingham City Council (21 002 185)

    Category: Housing Date: 13-Dec-2021

    Summary

    Ms B complained about the Council’s response when she became homeless. We found fault with the Council for leaving the family in unsuitable accommodation for a prolonged period. We also found there were delays in the suitability review and complaint process. The Council agreed actions to remedy the injustice to Ms B and her children.

    Service improvements

    The Council agrees to provide the Ombudsman with an update on the progress of its temporary accommodation shortages plan of action.

  • Birmingham City Council (21 002 109)

    Category: Housing Date: 22-Mar-2022

    Summary

    The Council wrongly offered Mr B the tenancy of a property and then failed to promptly inform him that the offer had been withdrawn, and the reasons it had been withdrawn. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr B and to take action to prevent similar failings in future.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to review its procedures to ensure: • housing applicants who do not meet the preference criteria are not shortlisted for properties; and •it promptly informs applicants when housing offers are withdrawn.

  • Birmingham City Council (20 013 631)

    Category: Housing Date: 08-Nov-2021

    Summary

    Mr C complained about the way the dealt with several housing related matters. He says the Council failed to award him the appropriate priority on the housing register. We find the Council was at fault because it delayed dealing with Mr C’s housing application. It also placed it him in the wrong priority housing band. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to address the injustice caused by fault.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to amend its housing allocation scheme by 31 August 2022 to include the assessment and allocation of bedsit and studio accommodation.

  • Birmingham City Council (20 013 391)

    Category: Housing Date: 30-Nov-2021

    Summary

    There was fault by the Council. It failed to engage properly with Miss B’s housing difficulties when her close neighbour harassed her, in breach of a court order. It also took too long to process her later housing application. This caused Miss B distress and uncertainty as her neighbour’s harassment made her very scared and reluctant to leave her flat. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss B, make a payment to her, and review how it shares information between its teams.

    Service improvements

    The Council will show the Ombudsman that it has reviewed how information is shared between its Antisocial Behaviour and Housing services.

  • Birmingham City Council (20 011 188)

    Category: Housing Date: 25-Mar-2022

    Summary

    The Council has failed in its statutory duty to ensure the accommodation it provides for Mrs B’s household is suitable. The Council also failed to properly consider whether Mrs B’s son needed his own room for medical reasons and fettered its discretion when it decided not to allow Mrs B to bid on smaller properties. The Council also delayed reviewing the suitability of Mrs B’s accommodation, delayed reviewing Mrs B’s housing priority and delayed dealing with her complaints. The Council has agreed to make a payment to Mrs B, offer Mrs B suitable temporary accommodation, consider allowing Mrs B to bid on smaller properties and to take action to prevent similar failings in future.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to develop a policy on how to allocate temporary housing to homeless applicants waiting on the planned move list, and in particular how to prioritise between applicants in accommodation with shared facilities and applicants in significantly overcrowded accommodation.The Council has agreed to take action to ensure it carries out reviews of the suitability of accommodation within the statutory timescales.The Council has agreed to highlight this case to relevant staff and remind them to fully explain the reasons for their decisions when carrying out housing priority reviews.The Council has agreed to consider whether to amend its Housing Allocations Scheme to allow applicants who are significantly overcrowded, but not statutorily overcrowded, to bid on properties with one less bedroom than they need, but with two reception rooms.The Council has agreed to take action to reduce delays in complaint handling.

  • Birmingham City Council (20 010 367)

    Category: Housing Date: 11-Feb-2022

    Summary

    The Council delayed processing a change to Mr and Mrs B’s housing circumstances which meant they were unable to bid on properties of the size they needed. The Council also delayed dealing with their complaints about this. There was no fault in the way the Council decided which housing priority band to award to Mr and Mrs B, and there is no evidence of fault in the way it has allocated properties. However, information the Council publishes on its website about properties it has recently let is not always accurate. The Council has agreed to take action to ensure the information is always accurate, and to apologise and make a payment to Mr and Mrs B.

    Service improvements

    To ensure the information the Council publishes about recent lets is accurate, the Council has requested a change to its software. In the meantime, the Council will put measures in place to ensure the information it publishes is checked for accuracy.

  • Birmingham City Council (20 009 969)

    Category: Housing Date: 23-Jun-2021

    Summary

    The Council failed to establish Ms X’s care needs before deciding she did not need a two-bedroom property. This is fault. The Council has agreed to apologise, assess Ms X’s needs, and pay her £250 to remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff to ensure decision letters refer to or set out the relevant parts of the allocations policy which apply to the case.The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff to base decisions on up-to-date information. Where this is not available, the Council should ask for a new assessment to determine housing need.

  • Birmingham City Council (20 008 548)

    Category: Housing Date: 05-Oct-2021

    Summary

    Mrs Y complained about the Council’s response to her request for a re-assessment of her housing band award following a change in circumstances. The Ombudsman has found fault by the Council in the way it dealt with the request, causing injustice. The Council has agreed to remedy this by making an apology, a payment to reflect the distress and inconvenience caused by this fault and a service improvement.

    Service improvements

    provide us with evidence it has reviewed: Its response to information from applicants about their, or householdmembers, health or disability issues, to ensure its process for assessingmedical housing need is clearly explained.provide us with evidence it has reviewed its process for the completion of assessments required for theassessment of medical housing need, to ensure any barriers for applicants in arrangingthese are removed.

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