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.

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.