Service improvements

City of York 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 - 3 of 3 cases with service improvements

Export results (CSV)

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

  • City of York Council (21 003 895)

    Category: Housing Date: 04-Jan-2022

    Summary

    Mr X complains on behalf of his son, Mr Y, that the Council did not inform him of his right to apply for a Rent Repayment Order (RRO), when it found the property he was a tenant in was an unlicensed House in Multiple Occupation (HMO). He says when the Council did tell him it was too late, as the time limit to apply to a tribunal had ended. Mr X also says the Council did not issue notices regarding hazards at the HMO as required by law and did not respond to his complaint despite acknowledging it, which caused uncertainty and distress. We find fault with how the Council handled Mr X’s complaint, its failure to issue the required notices and with some of the information it provided. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment for the uncertainty and distress caused, and the time and trouble used pursuing the complaint. It has also agreed to make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    • Provide guidance to relevant staff to ensure they understand an RRO can only be applied for within 12 months of a relevant offence being committed.• Remind its staff of the requirement to issue occupiers with a copy of a HAN. Additionally, the communication should cover the requirement to provide notice of an inspection at a property and to inform complainants who raise questions about fire safety that it has arrangements in place with the local fire authority, and not to just direct complainants to the fire service in these circumstances.

  • City of York Council (21 003 630)

    Category: Environment and regulation Date: 13-Jan-2022

    Summary

    Mrs X, who is visually impaired and unsteady on her feet, complained that the Council has failed repeatedly, to assist, as agreed, with her bin collections. She says this causes her an injustice because she is unable to collect her bins by herself and has had falls in the past when she has tried. The Council has accepted fault and said it is willing to consider a remedy. We have suggested it remedy the fault with a payment to acknowledge distress and a period of monitoring. We have also recommended it look at how it has addressed other service-users complaints about their assisted bin collections.

    Service improvements

    The Council should contact other residents who use the Council’s assisted bin collection service and have complained about missed collections since 1 April 2021. In cases where complaints have continued, the Council should: a) review whether monitoring has failed in their cases as well, and; b) consider what steps it should take to acknowledge any distress caused. c) Those residents should be told they can take their case to the Ombudsman if they are unhappy with the Council’s approach.

  • City of York Council (20 009 245)

    Category: Housing Date: 21-Jun-2021

    Summary

    Miss X complained about the way the Council handled her homelessness applications, the cost of emergency accommodation provided during the COVID-19 pandemic and its housing register decision. The Council was at fault for not reviewing its housing register decision when Miss X provided further information in February 2020. It should apologise and carry out a review of that decision.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant staff to provide clear information in housing register decision letters about how to request a review of the decision.The Council will remind relevant staff to consider whether a complaint should actually be treated as a request for a review of a housing decision so the Council can respond appropriately.

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