Decision details

To note the Housing Ombudsman’s findings, the Council’s actions to remedy the fault and act on lessons learnt.

Matter for Decision

The report provides elected members with brief details of the Housing Ombudsman’s finding of fault in two cases. The report details why fault was found and outlines the actions the council has taken to remedy the matter for the customer and identifies areas for improvement in the future.

Decision of Executive Councillor for Housing

      i.         Noted the information contained within the officer’s report.

    ii.         Approved the remedial actions outlined and measures established to reduce or eliminate the risk of repeat mistakes in future cases.

Reason for the Decision

As set out in the Officer’s report.

Any Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

Not applicable.

Scrutiny Considerations

The Committee received a report from the Head of Housing.

The Head of Housing said the following in response to the Committee’s questions:

      i.         Asked the Committee to note that it was standard procedure on a stage 2 complaint response to refer people to the Housing Ombudsman if they were not satisfied with the response provided by the Council. It was noted that not all Council’s did this as standard practice.

    ii.         Advised that the pilot hospital discharge scheme was ended for a number of reasons. This included the fact that the funding from Central Government had ceased, and that the Council already had other processes in place.

   iii.         It was accepted that the complaints had arisen from officer errors. Training had been put in place to ensure that the issues did not arise again.

The Committee resolved by 12 votes to 0 with 1 abstention to endorse the recommendations.

The Executive Councillor approved the recommendations.

Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Executive Councillor (and any Dispensations Granted)

No conflicts of interest were declared by the Executive Councillor.