Deposit Guarantee Scheme statistics

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Dear Reading Borough Council,

Please would you provide statistics on the takeup of the Deposit Guarantee Scheme, which offers homeless or vulnerable people the chance to enter the private rented housing sector.

I'd like to know how many tenants have successfully applied for help under this scheme, broken down by year, and if available, how many applications have not been successful.

Thanks.

Yours faithfully,
Peter Bowyer

DESSH FOI, Reading Borough Council

Dear Mr Bowyer,

 

Thank you for your request for information under the provisions of the
Freedom of Information Act (2000).  In accordance with the Act, you can
expect to receive a formal response to your enquiry by the 22^nd of April
2013.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Martyn Tarry

Complaints Officer & FOI Co-ordinator

Customer Relations Team

Level 5, Civic Centre, Reading, RG1 7AE

Tel: 0118 937 2565        Internal Ext: 72565

Complaints Line: 0118 937 2905

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DESSH FOI, Reading Borough Council

Dear Mr Bowyer,

 

Thank you for your request for information under the provisions of the
Freedom of Information Act (2000). Our response is as follows:

 

You are looking for statistics on the take-up of the Deposit Guarantee
Scheme, including how many tenants have successfully applied for help
under this scheme, broken down by year, and how many applications have
not been successful.

 

Deposit Guarantee Scheme records began in mid-2008 when there was a change
in management of the Scheme. Prior to 2008 the Scheme was relatively small
in scale.

 

Deposit Guarantee tenancies created

 

August 2008 – March 2009:   214

April 2009 – March 2010:      484

April 2010 – March 2011:      409

April 2011 – March 2012:      252

April 2012 – March 2013:      282

 

We do not keep records relating to unsuccessful applications. The reason
for this is that there aren’t any, as such. People needing assistance with
housing approach the Housing Advice team, who identify individuals meeting
the Deposit Guarantee Scheme’s criteria, collate the necessary evidence
and accept them onto the Scheme. People who do not meet the Scheme’s
criteria are offered alternative advice regarding their housing options,
and there can be a wide range of outcomes to their enquiry. Each enquiry
is entered on our computer system as a ‘case’, and this case is closed
when the housing situation is resolved, or when Reading Borough Council’s
involvement comes to an end. We record the reason why each case is closed.

 

Some people who are accepted onto the Deposit Guarantee Scheme do not end
up signing up to a tenancy through the Scheme. The reasons for this vary
but include a change in their circumstances, a move away from the area or
an offer of social housing. When the cases relating to these individuals
are closed, the reason given for closure reflects the outcome of their
situation rather than the fact that they did not in the end take up a DGS
tenancy. This makes information regarding the number of people accepted,
but not accommodated, by the Scheme very difficult to come by.

 

I hope this answers your request, in the fullest way in which I am able.

 

Above information withheld under Section 43 which permits information to
be withheld if it is considered to be commercially sensitive. The
disclosure of financial information could be prejudicial to both the
commercial interests of the provider and to the Council, given that we are
still within the first year of the contract.

 

You are free to use any information supplied to you for your own personal
purposes or for non-commercial research, private study or news reporting.
However, you do not have the right to re-use the information in a way
which infringes copyright, for example, by distributing, making copies of
or publishing the information, without the permission of the copyright
holder, which in most cases will be Reading Borough Council. If you wish
to obtain permission for such use, please contact Mr C Brooks, Head of
Legal and Democratic Services, at Reading Borough Council.

 

Please note that your request may itself be the subject of a FOI request
and will be disclosed in that event.

 

If you are unhappy with this response to your request for information
under the Freedom of Information Act then you may ask for an internal
review.  Please make a request in writing to Mr C Brooks, Head of Legal
and Democratic Services, at Reading Borough Council.  If you request such
a review and are not content with its outcome, then you have a right to
apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.  The
Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

 

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

 

Yours sincerely,

 

David Kerr

Complaints Officer

Customer Relations Team

Extn: 74931  Direct: 0118 937 4931

 

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