Case Ref: 22 017 327 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council has agreed to ensure all letters accepting the main housing duty inform the applicant of their statutory right to review the suitability of the accommodation offered to meet that duty.
• The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff of the ongoing duty to keep the suitability of temporary accommodation under review, especially when there are reports of disrepair or other changes of circumstances which may affect suitability.
• The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff that any decision that despite disrepair or another change in circumstances, temporary accommodation remains suitable should be communicated in writing and set out the applicant’s statutory right to ask for a review of the decision under section 202 of the Housing Act 1996. It will create or amend any template letters as necessary.
• The Council has agreed to remind staff with responsibility for responding to complaints that when upholding a complaint, the response should set out what action the Council will take to remedy any injustice caused.

Case Ref: 22 016 386 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council has agreed to review its procedures for sharing information between all housing departments, such as the registration team, the temporary accommodation team and the homelessness team. When information is provided to one team, such as evidence to show that the applicant needs to add a child to their application, the evidence will be shared with other relevant teams to action accordingly.
• The Council has agreed to remind officers that they should record all decisions and respond to all correspondence.
• The Council has agreed to introduce a system to enable the Council to regularly check whether any reviews have not been completed, and that decision letters have been issued. This is to ensure reviews and decision letters are issued within the timescales set out in legislation.
• The Council has agreed to review the way it records the status of housing and homelessness applications, so that officers can easily see the status of an application, the date of any review requests and any review decisions.

Case Ref: 22 015 923 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council, Trust and ICB will formulate a communication plan to ensure Miss E and Ms D are kept informed about Miss E's care.

Case Ref: 22 015 683 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Other

• By training or other means remind staff of the importance of searching and securing alternative placements for service users in a timely manner.
• Review the communication strategies between the Council and its service users and people supporting them. This is to ensure the Council communicates information such as mental capacity assessment outcomes to people in a clear and effective manner.
• Review and make the Council’s processes and practices for securing alternative placements for service users clearer. This is to prevent any ambiguity and to manage service users’ expectations about the Council’s duties in securing the placements.
• Review the Council’s procedures to ensure it satisfies itself that identified alternative placements are suitable to meet the service users’ needs.
• Explain to the Ombudsman:How it has improved its practices for securing alternative placements for service users; andHow the Council will monitor its performance against timescales.

Case Ref: 22 015 414 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council will use this complaint as a case study in a written briefing to officers to remind them:a) to complete a suitability assessment for every applicant before they make an offer of accommodation;b)to check which housing duty is owed before making an offer of accommodation to ensure applicants receive the correct letter and are informed of their right to request a review of the suitability of the accommodation where appropriate;c)to communicate clearly and keep applicants informed if there are any unforeseen delays in arranging a planned move to alternative temporary accommodation.

Case Ref: 22 015 014 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Refuse and recycling

• The Council has also agreed to review the way it responds to requests for replacement pods. This should include how/where it delivers replacement pods, and its communication with residents to ensure they are informed of any delays and the location of their new pod.

Case Ref: 22 014 892 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council has agreed to provide guidance to its officers about the minimum floor area of a bedroom, to ensure rooms under this size are disregarded when calculating overcrowding.

Case Ref: 22 014 633 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Child protection

• The Council agrees to issue a reminder to all relevant staff, including Investigating Officers, Independent Persons and stage three panel members involved in the statutory complaint process for childrens social care to consider, and if need, recommend remedies to address the impact of delay in completing the statutory complaint process.
• The Council agrees to provide training and guidance to all staff, including Investigating Officers, Independent Persons, Adjudicating Officers and stage three panel members involved in the statutory complaint process for childrens social care on victim blaming. The training and guidance should include particular reference to the government guidance issues within the UK Council for Internet Safety - Challenging victim blaming language and behaviours when dealing with the online experiences of children and young people.

Case Ref: 22 013 941 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council has agreed to review the way it records information to ensure it is clear to officers assessing housing applications whether the applicant is owed a duty under part 7 of the Housing Act.

Case Ref: 22 013 847 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council has agreed to investigate the reasons for its delay in carrying out a mobility assessment and take action to prevent such delays in future.
• The Council has previously provided action plans to show the action it is taking to reduce delays in processing housing applications and review requests. The Council has agreed to provide an updated action plan, state how long it is currently taking to process housing applications and reviews and provide a report to show how the time it is taking has changed over the last year. If delays have not significantly reduced, it will explain the reason for this.