Case Ref: 21 011 244 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council has agreed to:•by training or other means remind staff of the importance of using the correct words / terms when dealing with housing applications and communicating with applicants
• •review and ensure its housing allocation policy clearly confirms who and how housing transfer applications on welfare grounds will be dealt with.

Case Ref: 21 006 566 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Antisocial behaviour

• The Council agreed to issue advice to all relevant staff on the importance of basic recordkeeping when investigating reports of noise nuisance or ASB; to include brief details of telephone calls and action being taken on cases;
• The Council agreed to issue advice to all relevant staff on where there might be instances where it can investigate or take action in respect of reports of shouting or raised voices if these are not reflective of ‘normal domestic use’ of dwellings.
• The Council agreed to complete a review of the information published on its website to provide a link from the page on noise nuisance to those dealing with anti social behaviour. It also agreed that information about anti social behaviour would include more information about its powers to tackle this and include a reference to the role of its Community Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference (CMARAC).
• The Council agreed to review of its current arrangements for checking on the progress of open investigations into noise nuisance or anti social behaviour to ensure these did not drift; for example, producing reports for management review where there has been no action taken on a case for several weeks (we suggested 8 weeks as a benchmark).
• The Council agreed to review its procedure for following up when it had issued a reply to a complaint to ensure it takes the action promised in that reply. We advised it that complaint responses should ideally contain named points of contact for complainants with information about who will be responsible for taking action and by when.

Case Ref: 21 008 103 Category: Benefits and tax Sub Category: Other

• The Council will remind all officers to provide an explanation to people when there is a significant change to their council tax account. The Council will provide us with evidence it has done this.

Case Ref: 21 006 254 Category: Transport and highways Sub Category: Parking and other penalties

• Alter the standard wording on its letters rejecting informal representations to comply with the Code of Practice by including information on the right to appeal and issuea reminder to civil enforcement officers (CEOs) that the London Borough of Camden issues virtual permitsrather than physical ones.
• Review its procedures to consider whether a process could be put in place whereby CEOs are able to check whether a motorist has a residents’ permit issued by the London Borough of Camden.

Case Ref: 21 003 657 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council will review its decision letters to Housing Register applicants to clearly advise of any appeal rights they may have and the timescales in which to submit an appeal, as well as including a link to its Housing Allocations policy.

Case Ref: 21 002 377 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• By training or other means remind officers that they should consider the impact of a person’s mental health on their ability to meet outcomes and their wellbeing when carrying out a care act assessment and determining their eligibility for care and support

Case Ref: 20 013 993 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Child protection

• The Council agreed to review its approach to online children's service meetings to ensure that, where a parent tell the Council they cannot access the meeting, the problem is resolved before the meeting continues. It also agreed to provide suitable raining or reminders to staff on the reviewed approach.

Case Ref: 20 013 462 Category: Housing Sub Category: Private housing

• The Council agreed to remind its housing advice staff that they should not make statements to applicants which imply the Council has decided what action to take, when the Council has not yet made a decision or inappropriately encourage applicants to withdraw homelessness applications.

Case Ref: 20 013 446 Category: Benefits and tax Sub Category: COVID-19

• The Council will provide training or guidance to staff to ensure they keep contemporaneous records of decision making and publish relevant policies in future.

Case Ref: 20 012 749 Category: Housing Sub Category: Private housing

• The Council should review how it handles communications from members of the public and how they are then entered on CRM systems in order to ensure they are properly assessed and actioned and then report back to the Ombudsman regarding its findings and proposed action.