Case Ref: 22 013 282 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council has agreed to investigate why the Council’s records show that officers believed a ‘not homeless decision’ had been made, but a decision letter was not sent to the complainant. It will then take action to ensure this does not happen again.
• The Council has agreed to discuss this case with the officers involved to ensure they are aware of the failings identified and to prevent similar failings in future.
• The Council has agreed to remind officers dealing with approaches from people requiring housing assistance that they must consider whether there is reason to believe they may be homeless or threatened with homelessness, and where there is, they must make enquiries to see whether they owe them any duty under Part 7 of the Housing Act.
• The Council has agreed to remind officers dealing with approaches from people requiring housing assistance that they must consider whether there is reason to believe they may be homeless, eligible for assistance and have a priority need, and where there is, they must secure interim accommodation.

Case Ref: 22 011 865 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Antisocial behaviour

• The Council will amend the Council’s leaflets ‘Anti-socialBehaviour: Help and advice for residents in Birmingham’ and ‘What you can do tostop antisocial behaviour’ by including in them information on the CommunityTrigger process and contact details for making an application. The Council shouldprovide us with evidence this has happened.

Case Ref: 22 011 528 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council has agreed to remind housing officers to carry out affordability assessments before placin people in temporary accommodation. The Council's letter offering should set out its reasons for considering the accommodation is suitable, including its reasons for deciding it is affordable. It should remind housing officers this is the Council’s responsibility and not the responsibility of housing providers.

Case Ref: 22 009 469 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Fostering

• Issue children social care staff with guidance to ensure they keep minutes for meetings and records of correspondence about children’s care planning and statutory complaints, and these are added to case files.
• Review its policies and procedures to ensure social workers write a handover summary for each case they hold when they leave, and these are reviewed by the supervising manager. If staff leave unexpectedly, the supervising manager should write the summary on review of the case.

Case Ref: 22 009 141 Category: Transport and highways Sub Category: Parking and other penalties

• Introduce a procedure which requires officers to keep people (who have provided evidence that the vehicle is not theirs) informed of what the Council is doing to prevent the problem of issuing incorrect Penalty Charge Notices reoccurring.

Case Ref: 22 008 129 Category: Transport and highways Sub Category: Other

• The Council has agreed to remind officers of the Council's duty to consider what reasonable adjustments it can make for individuals who may face barriers to accessing its services.
• The Council has agreed to remind officers of the accessible contact options it has already put in place to remove barriers to accessing its services.
• The Council will ensure its video sign language service is clearly signposted for individuals who may need it.

Case Ref: 22 007 825 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council has agreed to remind staff of the importance of considering risk alert information to allow reasonable adjustments to be made.
• The Council has agreed to arrange training for the housing team on the Equality Act and the public sector equality duty, in order to further consolidate staff learning on equality considerations.
• The Council has agreed to investigate why a mobility report was not added to the housing record promptly and to take action to ensure reports are always added promptly in future.

Case Ref: 22 006 362 Category: Transport and highways Sub Category: Parking and other penalties

• The Council will reflect on the issues raised in this decision statement and identify any areas of service improvement. The Council should prepare a short report setting out what the Council intends to do to ensure similar problems do not reoccur. This report should be sent to the Ombudsman.

Case Ref: 22 005 091 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council will review its latest housing allocations policy and any relevant guidance to staff to make sure the process and evidence requirements for assessing banding based on the need to move due to the threat of violence or harassment are clear. This should include clear directions on when and what information should be confirmed with the Police about the potential threat and, if relevant, the circumstances when a risk assessment by the referral agency should be carried out. The Council has agreed to include information on the Home-Choice website to advise applicants that the housing assessment for exceptional need is informed by a risk assessment that is completed by the Police. The Council will circulate any updates made following the review of its Policy to relevant members of staff.
• The Council will circulate a reminder to relevant members of staff that all valid review requests, including those made by Council Officers by completing an exceptional need form, should be treated as such and progressed in line with its Housing Allocations Policy.

Case Ref: 22 005 052 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council has agreed to provide an update on the action it is taking to ensure homeless families do not remain in accommodation with shared facilities for more than six weeks. It will also provide evidence to show the number of families who have been in such accommodation for more than six weeks, and the average length of time homeless families have to stay before self-contained accommodation is provided.
• The Council has agreed to review its processes to ensure that when it is carrying out a suitability of accommodation review and decides the applicant needs to be moved to alternative temporary accommodation, it writes to them with its decision on the review.