Case Ref: 24 016 673 Category: Benefits and tax Sub Category: Council tax

• ensure staff are reminded to check for outstanding costs when closing a liability; and
• ensure that accounts are not passed to enforcement agents where liability has ended, unless a manual check confirms the balance is still due.

Case Ref: 24 003 301 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Refuse and recycling

• Review its processes for escalating cases that breech agreed timescales.
• Review its processes for proactively communicating with customers in cases of delay.

Case Ref: 23 012 811 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council has agreed to remind officers who attend the Exceptional Circumstances Panel that its records should contain sufficient detail of the discussion to demonstrate the matters it considered as well as its decision.

Case Ref: 23 008 180 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Refuse and recycling

• The Council agreed to send a written reminder to relevant staff about the need to clarify and address conflicting information provided by residents and its contractor about missed bin collections. The aim being to avoid missing opportunities to resolve bin collection problems as quickly as possible.

Case Ref: 23 004 501 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Refuse and recycling

• monitor the collections from the communal bins at Mr X’s block of flats for the next two months;
• keep records of this monitoring, including the condition of the communal bins and bin store before and after collections and any actions taken to address identified issues or in response to residents’ reports of issues; and
• provide us with its monitoring records after this exercise.

Case Ref: 22 011 681 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff that anyone can apply to join the Council’s housing register, it should not prevent people exercising this right and should provide them details of how to apply if asked.
• The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff of the requirement in the Council’s aids and adaptations policy to carry out a feasibility assessment for all complex adaptations, and give guidance on when this should include a visit to the property.

Case Ref: 22 004 512 Category: Benefits and tax Sub Category: Housing benefit and council tax benefit

• The Council will review how it can better screen Housing Benefit applications to inform ineligible application to apply to the DWP for support with housing costs. This is to limit unnecessary delays in circumstances where the Council cannot meet its targeted timescales for processing Housing Benefit applications.

Case Ref: 21 004 850 Category: Planning Sub Category: Other

• The Council agreed to continue with discussions and negotiations with the freeholder for a further three months about actions it can take which would allow the Council to discharge the condition. In the next three months it will then consider whether it has enough evidence to take enforcement action or discharge the condition. The Council should provide regular updates (once every two months) as to how matters are progressing. This decision on what action the Council should take should be made by its Executive Director (Place) and the Assistant Director(Planning).
• The Council agreed it will contact all those it identified as a group who are, or have likely to have been, similarly affected, and advise them of the issues and actions the Council intends to take. It will invite them to complain to the Council if not satisfied.