Service improvements

London Borough of Camden

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2027

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 21 - 30 of 31 cases with service improvements

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Downloads the current filtered list of service improvement decisions for London Borough of Camden as a CSV file.

  • London Borough of Camden (22 016 404)

    Category: Housing Date: 14-Sep-2023

    Summary

    The Council was at fault for poor communication, delay accepting homelessness duties, and providing unsuitable B&B accommodation to Ms X when she was homeless with her young baby. The Council has agreed to apologise, make payments to Ms X, and act to improve its services.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to share a copy of this decision with staff in the relevant departments to identify learning from this complaint.The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff that even where it must rely on B&B to meet its accommodation duty, it should consider and record whether particular applicants need accommodation in or near the borough for it to be suitable.The Council has agreed to ensure it tells homeless applicants in short-term B&B placements who need to move to another hotel where they will be going with at least 24 hours’ notice.The Council has agreed to identify a means of ensuring oversight of the relevant dates and deadlines of a homeless application, including when the 56-day relief period will end and a main housing duty decision is due.The Council has agreed to provide training or guidance to relevant staff on the circumstances in which the Council has a duty to protect the property of a homeless applicant.

  • London Borough of Camden (22 012 415)

    Category: Housing Date: 07-Jun-2023

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council did not award enough points for overcrowding on her housing register application. The Council awarded points in line with its housing allocation scheme. However the Council was at fault for the delay in issuing its review decision and for not explaining the information it relied on when it made that decision. The Council will apologise to Mrs X for the frustration caused and review its process.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind all relevant officers the need to ensure housing register decision letters explain what information was considered and the reasons for the conclusions reached.

  • London Borough of Camden (22 011 895)

    Category: Housing Date: 16-Jul-2023

    Summary

    Ms X complains about how the Council dealt with her application for the housing register. The Council is at fault as it did not respond to Ms X’s request for the Executive Director to consider if she had exceptional circumstances and failed to tell her that it would not consider her complaint. The Council has agreed to remedy the injustice to Ms X by sending a written apology, making a symbolic payment of £200 to acknowledge the distress caused and considering whether Ms X has exceptional circumstances to join the housing register.

    Service improvements

    By training, or other means, remind officers of the provisions of its complaints procedure and that complaints about statutory reviews, such as eligibility for the housing register, will not be considered through the complaints process.

  • London Borough of Camden (22 009 421)

    Category: Housing Date: 01-Mar-2023

    Summary

    Mr X complained the Council has failed to correctly assess his housing application. We find the Council was at fault for failing to consider all relevant evidence and failing to follow its policy. The Council has agreed to apologise for the injustice caused, review the application and implement service improvements to prevent the fault reoccurring.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind staff to give proper scrutiny to any relevant supporting evidence and the need to explain their reasons for not relying on the evidence where they decide not to.The Council will remind staff of its policy for social need and hardship points. This includes the importance of considering all the factors listed in the policy and ensuring the decision reasons are recorded in full.

  • London Borough of Camden (22 000 368)

    Category: Housing Date: 08-Dec-2022

    Summary

    Miss X complains the Council failed to make sure the managing agent of her temporary accommodation provided a satisfactory repairs service. She says, due to persistent issues with her immersion heater and the managing agent’s failure to resolve these, she received a very high energy bill. The Council has already accepted some fault around the handling of the disrepair issues and its handling of Miss X’s complaint. However, we find the Council failed to assess the affordability of the temporary accommodation. We find the Council has suitably remedied the injustice caused by delays in the complaint handling. However, the Council has also agreed to make Miss X a higher payment than the one offered for the disrepair issues and apologise to her to remedy the injustice she experienced. The Council has agreed to carry out several related service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to establish a responsive repairs schedule classifying categories of repairs andtime scales to repair with Managing Agent B. This should provide clear guidance to Council officers on how to handle reports of persistent disrepair issues with Managing Agent B from homeless applicants, including details of when to consider inspecting the property. The Council should consider publishing this repairs policy on its website so it is easily accessible to relevant homeless applicants and report back on this.The Council has agreed to circulate a reminder to relevant staff on the need to retain robust records of suitability assessments of temporary accommodation, including with regards to affordability.The Council has agreed to circulate a reminder to relevant staff on the duty to keep the suitability of temporary accommodation under review and to respond to suitability review requests in writing with clear reasons for any decision that is made. This reminder should clearly set out the circumstances when the Council must notify the applicant of their right to request a section 202 review of a suitability decision.

  • London Borough of Camden (21 009 953)

    Category: Housing Date: 15-May-2022

    Summary

    Miss X complained about how the Council considered her application to join the housing register and for failing to consider reasonable adjustments. There was fault in how the Council communicated its decision not to allow Miss X to join the housing register, and when it delayed in reviewing that decision. The Council agreed to pay Miss X £400 to recognise the injustice caused by the faults. There was no fault in how the Council allocated Miss X housing points or how it considered the reasonable adjustment she requested.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant staff of the importance of providing applicants with clear information explaining how it has made decisions relating to awarding, or not awarding, housing points.

  • London Borough of Camden (21 003 748)

    Category: Housing Date: 18-Nov-2021

    Summary

    The Council was at fault for not taking a homeless application from Mr X or providing him with help to try and secure accommodation. As a result Mr X did not receive any assistance to help relieve his homelessness. The Council has agreed remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    Remind staff and update any internal policy or procedure to reflect that a person does not need to complete a referral form to make a homeless application

  • London Borough of Camden (21 002 073)

    Category: Housing Date: 02-Dec-2021

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council delayed in considering her application to join the housing register and wrongly determined she did not qualify. Ms X also complains that having reviewed its decision and accepted she qualified to join the housing register, the Council failed to properly consider her circumstances or award the correct points. There is no evidence of fault in the way the Council considered Ms X’s application or in its decision to award 75 points. However, the length of time taken to complete both the stage one and stage two reviews amounts to fault. This fault has caused Ms X an injustice.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed it will produce an action plan to identify ways of improving its review response times and ensuring it meets its published timeframes. This should include a timeframe for any action.

  • London Borough of Camden (20 013 506)

    Category: Housing Date: 16-Sep-2021

    Summary

    Ms X complained about the way the Council handled her homelessness application and her complaint about that. There were faults in the way the Council considered Ms X’s application. The Council agreed to apologise to Ms X and pay her £300 for the uncertainty caused by the fault. The Council also agreed to remind its staff of the correct test to apply when considering its duty to provide interim accommodation.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to remind relevant staff of the correct test to apply when considering whether it has a duty to offer interim accommodation in homelessness cases, and the importance of keeping a clear record of the reasons for its decision.

  • London Borough of Camden (20 008 324)

    Category: Housing Date: 09-Dec-2021

    Summary

    Mr B says the Council wrongly removed him from the housing register, refused to accept his request for a review of that decision, failed to deal with his homeless applications properly and failed to follow its complaints policy. There is no fault in how the Council dealt with Mr B’s housing register application. The Council failed to deal with Mr B’s homeless applications properly and failed to act appropriately when dealing with his complaint. An apology, payment to Mr B and training for officers is satisfactory remedy.

    Service improvements

    The council will carry out a training session for officers dealing with homeless applicants to cover the requirements under the legislation to: a)interview the person that has presented to the Council as homeless; b)carry out enquiries into that application; and c)consider the Council's duty to provide interim accommodation.The Council will send a reminder to complaints officers to ensure complainants are given more time to submit a request for stage two where access to their file is necessary before such a request can be made.

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