The Council agreed to remind relevant staff of the need to check medical recommendations on file when making an offer of temporary accommodation to a homeless applicant. The Council must ensure any accommodation offered is in line with any recorded needs based on medical conditions or disabilities.The Council agreed to decide what actions it needs to take to change its processes or train staff, to ensure it checks temporary accommodation offered to homeless applicants already has adequate facilities to store and prepare food, before it moves in a family with children.The Council agreed to review how it confused two different complainants. It will decide what actions it needs to take to change its processes or train staff to prevent this in future cases.

The Council agreed that it would ensure it put in place a case management system to specifically identify those children and young people with EHC Plans, not in school or other education institution, where the annual review of their Plan had become overdue. The procedure would make clear in those cases who had the responsibility within the Council to arrange the review and what management oversight it would exercise over this. Which in turn would include details of how the Council would escalate cases for review dependent on the length of the delay in arranging one.

The Council was at fault in the way it responded to a complaint about landlord harassment. It has agreed to create and implement a policy regarding its powers to respond to complaints of harassment and illegal eviction and retaliatory evictions by private landlords. The policy should specify which team or teams are responsible for identifying potential victims, investigating, and providing information and advice.The Council was at fault in the way it recorded inspections of a privately rented house. It has agreed to put a plan in place to ensure an accurate record is prepared and kept of any inspection of aresidential premises, that includes a record of whether the Council considerany category 1 or 2 hazards exist. The plan will explain where the Council considers that a category 1 hazard exists; it musttake the appropriate enforcement action as laid out in section 5 of the HousingAct 2005.

The Council will review how it makes housing applicants aware of their review rights in cases of a one-time direct offer for rehousing, as well as how it assesses and records decisions about the suitability of accommodation before and after a property is offered. The Council will adopt measures to improve its service in these areas. This should include sending written information about an applicant’s review rights at the time of making a property offer, and when that right is engaged and expires.