Service improvements

Birmingham City Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024

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 23 cases with service improvements

Export results (CSV)

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

  • Birmingham City Council (23 012 030)

    Category: Housing Date: 07-Mar-2024

    Summary

    The Council was at fault for delay completing a review of its decision Ms C did not qualify to join the housing register. The Council was at fault for failing to consider the information in Ms C’s review request as well as her application. The Council has agreed to apologise, backdate Ms C’s priority, and act to improve its services.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind staff responsible for completing reviews of allocations decisions to ensure they consider and address any matters and evidence raised by the applicant in the review request as well as their application.

  • Birmingham City Council (23 011 843)

    Category: Housing Date: 09-Feb-2024

    Summary

    The Council delayed assessing Miss B’s housing application and review request, but there was no fault in the way it decided that she does not qualify to join its housing register. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss B and to take action to prevent similar failings in future.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to investigate why it did not consider a request for a review which was made in March 2022 until October 2023, and it will provide details of the action it will take to ensure similar failings do not occur in future.

  • Birmingham City Council (23 010 230)

    Category: Housing Date: 09-Feb-2024

    Summary

    The Council delayed assessing Mrs X’s housing application and then failed to clearly tell her what evidence it needed to complete its assessment, which led to it closing her application. The Council has agreed to apologise, assess Mrs X’s application and backdate her registration date. It has also agreed to make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to review the wording of its letter template for requesting financial records to ensure it clearly explains the evidence it needs to see.

  • Birmingham City Council (23 009 676)

    Category: Housing Date: 19-Jan-2024

    Summary

    The Council failed to properly consider medical evidence provided by Mr B when it decided he did not qualify to join the housing register. It also delayed assessing his application and reviewing its decision. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a payment to Mr B. It has also agreed to make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to highlight this case to relevant officers to ensure that when a medical professional gives their view that an applicant’s accommodation is having a detrimental impact on their health, the officer properly considers whether the medical professional is referring to their current address.

  • Birmingham City Council (23 003 084)

    Category: Housing Date: 29-Jan-2024

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council failed to award her the correct priority on its housing register. The Council was not at fault in deciding her priority. However, it failed to properly consider whether Ms X was homeless. Ms X also complained about the Council’s refusal of a discretionary housing payment. Based on information seen, there was fault in the way it considered this, and it failed to properly consider a request for reasonable adjustments when Ms X challenged its decision. The Council should apologise for the distress and uncertainty caused and take steps to prevent recurrence.

    Service improvements

    The Council failed to offer advice and support about securing a new tenancy when the person was at risk of violence. The Council will share the decision with staff in its allocations and discretionary housing payments teams so they can learn from what went wrong in this case and prevent a recurrence of the failure of the teams to work sufficiently closely.

  • Birmingham City Council (23 003 061)

    Category: Housing Date: 19-Feb-2024

    Summary

    Ms B complained about the Council’s actions and involvement when she rented her house to a homeless family arranged by the Council. She said the Council went back on the agreement and undertakings given when she rented the property. She considered the Council’s actions misled her as to its responsibilities to the family. She said that as a result she was not able to return to the property. She said she suffered considerable distress and disruption. There was fault by the Council which caused injustice to Ms B. The Council will apologise, make a payment to Ms B and undertake service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review the accommodation finding service literature, to ensure it details in full any incentive package, the duration of the incentives provided and how the incentive package will be confirmed. And to improve case management practices to ensure case documentation is accessible to the team and records are complete.

  • Birmingham City Council (23 001 070)

    Category: Housing Date: 11-Jan-2024

    Summary

    The Council significantly delayed carrying out a review of its decision to discharge its housing duty to Mr B. As a result of the delay, Mr B was unable to bid on social housing for over a year. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Mr B and backdate his registration and award dates. It has also agreed to make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to provide an action plan detailing the action it is taking to reduce delays in carrying out reviews of homeless decisions.

  • Birmingham City Council (23 000 253)

    Category: Housing Date: 08-Jan-2024

    Summary

    The Council delayed assessing and reviewing Miss B’s housing application and did not always explain its housing priority decisions. The Council has agreed to apologise, backdate Miss B’s housing registration date and make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind officers that where an applicant has indicated they have a housing need, and it is decided to not make a band award for that housing need, the reasons are included in the housing priority decision letter.The Council has previously provided action plans to show the action it is taking to reduce delays in processing housing applications and reviews. In August 2023, the Council also provided a report showing how long it was taking to process new housing applications and reviews, and how this had changed over the last year. The Council has agreed to provide an updated action plan and an updated report to show whether delays are reducing, and if not, it will explain the reason for this. The report will include how long it is taking to process change in circumstance forms.

  • Birmingham City Council (22 018 160)

    Category: Housing Date: 28-Nov-2023

    Summary

    The Council delayed processing Mr B’s housing application and review and wrongly closed his application twice. It also failed to properly deal with his complaints and failed to action Mr B’s request for a review of its housing priority decision. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Mr B, and backdate his award date. It will also make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to investigate why an email was not added to a housing file for several weeks and why a request for a review was not processed. It will then take action to prevent such failings in future.The Council has agreed to explore whether its systems can evidence that a letter has been emailed to a housing applicant, and if it can, it will provide details to officers who may need to check such evidence.The Council has agreed to review its procedures to ensure that when an applicant suggests they are at risk of violence, the Council attempts to obtain evidence of this itself, or tells the applicant how to obtain the required evidence.The Council has agreed to discuss this case with the complaints officers involved to ensure it properly responds to complaints in future.The Council has previously provided action plans to show the action it is taking to reduce delays in processing housing applications and reviews. In August 2023, the Council also provided a report showing how long it was taking to process new housing applications and reviews, and how this had changed over the last year. The Council has agreed to provide an updated action plan and an updated report to show whether delays are reducing, and if not, it will explain the reason for this. The report will include how long it is taking to process change in circumstances forms.

  • Birmingham City Council (22 017 526)

    Category: Housing Date: 11-Dec-2023

    Summary

    When Miss B was living in a homeless centre, the Council failed to deal with her request to be moved to suitable accommodation and failed to properly follow its procedures for dealing with disputes between residents. It then failed to carry out a review of the suitability of the accommodation it subsequently offered to Miss B. The Council has agreed to make a payment to Miss B and to offer her suitable temporary accommodation. It has also agreed to make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind staff of the importance of properly following the Council’s procedures for dealing with disputes between residents at homeless centres. In particular, it will ensure it agrees an appropriate course of action with the residents involved.The Council has agreed to remind relevant officers to offer a review if they are contacted about the suitability of temporary accommodation.

LGO logogram

Review your privacy settings

Required cookies

These cookies enable the website to function properly. You can only disable these by changing your browser preferences, but this will affect how the website performs.

View required cookies

Analytical cookies

Google Analytics cookies help us improve the performance of the website by understanding how visitors use the site.
We recommend you set these 'ON'.

View analytical cookies

In using Google Analytics, we do not collect or store personal information that could identify you (for example your name or address). We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data. Google has developed a tool to help you opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Privacy settings