The Council has agreed to review the liaison arrangements with managing agents to ensure it is aware of any repair issues that are ongoing, especially where buildings are owned by a third party, to ensure the Council is meeting its repair duties.

Share learning from this decision with the homelessness prevention and assistance service.Provide internal staff training to the homelessness prevention and assistance service about when the Council’s interim accommodation duty arises. Pay attention to the different thresholds outlined in Chapter 15 of the Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities.

Ensure the Council assesses and make its decisions in a timely manner about what duty it owes to applicants who are either threatened to be homeless or are homeless.Remind relevant staff of the importance of reviewing the duty it owes applicants when there has been a change to their homeless/housing situations in line with the code of guidance. The Council should also ensure it issues applicants with its decision letters to notify them of the duty accepted or ended and the applicants review rights.Train relevant staff on the use of the Council’s new information and communication technology system for creating and monitoring personal housing plans. The Council should also remind relevant staff of the importance of creating a robust, specific and realistic personal housing plans for applicants. It should ensure the plans are reviewed regularly especially when there has been a change in the applicant’s housing situation. This will allow the Council and the applicants focus on steps required to help secure their accommodation.Remind relevant staff of the importance of adhering to the Council’s complaints procedure.

Remind staff that the Housing Act 1996 does not limit the number of homelessness applications that can be made and that applicants can apply to more than one local authority at the same time.Remind staff to ensure they consider contacts from applicants about dissatisfaction with a priority band decision as potential review requests, not only as complaints.Remind staff to ensure the Council’s decision/notification letters to applicants clearly explain the right to request a review, including timescales, and also provide clear grounds for the decision.

The Council agreed to deliver a briefing to all housing caseworkers who assess homeless applicants to reinforce advice in the Government code of guidance on the correct approach to take when the homeless applicant has received a Section 21 Housing Act from their landlord. In this case the Council had failed to follow that advice leading to unnecessary distress and costs for the complainant.The Council agreed to also introduce a procedure to review on a regular basis all cases where it has accepted it owes the prevention duty to homeless applicants. This is so it can avoid drift in cases and make timely decisions on ending that duty and / or setting out what further duties it may owe to the applicant.

Review its procedures for inspecting temporary accommodation before it is let to ensure the Council inspects whether the property has functioning heating and hot water.

The Council will remind all housing staff dealing with medical assessments of the importance of properly explaining decisions in letters.