Reference: FOI-343680796
Date of request: 21/06/2021
Title of request: Exempt accommodation

Dear Victoria McDermott,

Please accept this e-mail as acknowledgement that your recent Freedom  of
Information request has been received by Reading Borough Council. You
should expect to receive a response within 20 working days from the date
your request was received.

Please note, if your request is received on a weekend or bank holiday your
request will be registered as being received on the next working day.

Kind regards,

FOI Team

The information in this e-mail is confidential to the intended recipient to whom it has been addressed and may be covered by legal professional privilege and protected by law. Reading Borough Council does not accept responsibility for any unauthorised amendment made to the contents of this e-mail following its dispatch. If received in error, you must not retain the message or disclose its contents to anyone. Please notify us immediately quoting the name of the sender and the addressee and then delete the e-mail. Reading Borough Council has scanned for viruses. However, it is your responsibility to scan the e-mail and attachments (if any) for viruses. Reading Borough Council also operates to the Protective Document Marking Standard as defined for the Public Sector. Recipients should ensure protectively marked emails and documents are handled in accordance with this standard (Re: Cabinet Office – Government Security Classifications).

Reference: FOI-343680796
Date of request: 21/06/2021
Title of request: Exempt accommodation

Dear Victoria McDermott,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST

Thank you for your recent request received by the Council on 21 June 2021.

You have requested the following information under the provisions of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000:

 I am interested in understanding more about how your local authority
manages its provision of “Exempt Accommodation”.

Exempt Accommodation in these questions is defined in legislation, namely
accommodation which provides Housing Benefit claimants with exemption from
the main HB rent restriction schemes that have been introduced from
January 1996 ie:

•       the local reference rent rules; and

•       the local housing allowance rules.

1)      Please complete the following questions below about the cost of
exempt provision in your local authority in 2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21.

A) How much did you spend on the provision of “exempt accommodation”?

B) How many HB claims did you receive under the exempt rules?

2)      Please complete the following questions below about the providers
of exempt accommodation in your local authority for each of the following
years:  2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21.

a)      Total number of providers who received exempt HB funding

Of which were:

•       Registered Providers (registered with the Regulator of Social
Housing).

•       Registered Charities (Organisations registered with Charity
Commission but not with Regulator for Social Housing)

•       Community Interest Companies (registered as a CIC on the Companies
House register, but not registered with the Regulator of Social Housing or
the Charity Commission).

•       Local Authority (including those where the Authority is also
registered with the Regulator of Social Housing).

•       Other

a)      Total number of units provided that received exempt HB funding 
for each of the following years:  2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21, of which
were provided by:

•       Registered Providers (registered with the Regulator of Social
Housing).

•       Registered Charities (Organisations registered with Charity
Commission but not with Regulator for Social Housing)

•       Community Interest Companies (registered as a CIC on the Companies
House register, but not registered with the Regulator of Social Housing or
the Charity Commission).

•       Local Authority (including those where the Authority is also
registered with the Regulator of Social Housing).

•       Other

3)      Please can you provide links to or copies of any policy/procedure
or guide for the following:

•       Strategic document setting out the Authority’s position on exempt
HB housing

•       Registration of provider/property for exempt HB claims

•       Periodic revalidation of provider/property for exempt HB claims

•       initial assessment of claims made by claimants for HB under the
exempt rules.

•       Validation of exempt HB claims in payment

•       Ending an exempt HB claims by the Authority due to a concern.

If you have exempt HB accommodation but are unable to provide specific
formal documentation please could you set out briefly how you administer
each of these scenarios.

4)      Please provide information as to the cost to the Authority for
each of the following years:  2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21.

o       Overall spend on Administration of Exempt HB

o       Of which was administering exempt HB Claims

o       Of which was administering provider or property

o       Of which was enforcement activity associated with exempt HB

5)      Thinking about complaints or action taken on complaints:

•       How many complaints did you receive regarding properties
registered for exempt provision in each of the following years: 2018/19,
2019/20 and 2020/21?

•       How many properties have you removed from your register in each of
the following years:  2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21?

6)      What was the housing solution for Homeless people who presented to
the Authority (or its referral agencies) in each of the following years:
2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21?

•       Number housed in exempt accommodation

•       Number housed in Temporary Social Housing

•       Number Housed in specialist commissioned services

•       Number housed in social housing

•       Number housed in PRS

•       Number housed in other

7)      What is the primary need for Homeless People housed in exempt
Accommodation in each of the following years: 2018/19, 2019/20 and
2020/21?

•       Ex-offender

•       Substance misuse

•       Care Leaver

•       Young Person

•       Mental Health

•       Domestic Violence

•       Refugee Status

Our response is as follows:

This information is not normally recorded. As a result it would  require
at least 10 hours to gather the Benefit data.

To answer the questions from the Benefit data they would need to be
manually extracted which would take another 8 hours. 

 That is before answering the non Benefit questions.

We are therefore unable to provide you with the information as it is not
readily available.  The work necessary to interrogate the system to obtain
this information would place the cost of responding to your request above
the appropriate limit set by the Freedom of Information and Data
Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004, issued under
Sections 9, 12 and 13 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and
therefore there is no obligation on the Council to provide the
information.

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 the Information Governance
Team at [1][email address]. 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

Kind regards,

FOI Team

The information in this e-mail is confidential to the intended recipient to whom it has been addressed and may be covered by legal professional privilege and protected by law. Reading Borough Council does not accept responsibility for any unauthorised amendment made to the contents of this e-mail following its dispatch.

If received in error, you must not retain the message or disclose its contents to anyone. Please notify us immediately quoting the name of the sender and the addressee and then delete the e-mail.

Reading Borough Council has scanned for viruses. However, it is your responsibility to scan the e-mail and attachments (if any) for viruses.
Reading Borough Council also operates to the Protective Document Marking Standard as defined for the Public Sector. Recipients should ensure protectively marked emails and documents are handled in accordance with this standard (Re: Cabinet Office – Government Security Classifications).

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]

PLEASE NOTE : From 1 March 2021, the process to submit Freedom of
Information Act requests has changed to an online request form via Reading
Borough Council's website. The preferred and most efficient way for your
request to be responded to is by our online
service, you can submit your request following this link.
https://self.reading.gov.uk/Forms/Freedo...

If you do not wish to submit your request via our online service, let us
know via this e-mail address, stating you do not wish to submit your
request through the online service.

If your experiencing issues accessing the system through our website,
please contact us by this e-mail address and we will endeavor to assist
you.
If you are requesting an update regarding a request you have sent in
previously, we will reply to your e-mail shortly.
Kind Regards
Customer Relations Team

Dear Ms McDermott

Thank you for your email.

I have checked with Benefit section and they have advised it is doubtful they could respond within the 18 hour time limit.

If you are still interested in question 5-7 which were mostly for Housing they have not said how long they think that part will take so you could make a new request just for that part.

Yours sincerely

Mr N Bullough
Customer Relations Officer
Customer Relations Team| Directorate of Resources
Civic Office
Bridge Street
Reading Borough Council
RG1 2LU
Team 0118 9372905
Direct 0118 9372726
Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

show quoted sections

Dear Ms McDermott

Thank you for your email.

I will relog it later today for question 5-7.

Yours sincerely

Mr N Bullough
Customer Relations Officer
Customer Relations Team| Directorate of Resources
Civic Office
Bridge Street
Reading Borough Council
RG1 2LU
Team 0118 9372905
Direct 0118 9372726
Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

show quoted sections

Reference: FOI-349767902
Date of request: 16/07/2021
Title of request: Homeless

Dear Victoria McDermott,

Please accept this e-mail as acknowledgement that your recent Freedom  of
Information request has been received by Reading Borough Council. You
should expect to receive a response within 20 working days from the date
your request was received.

Please note, if your request is received on a weekend or bank holiday your
request will be registered as being received on the next working day.

Kind regards,

FOI Team

The information in this e-mail is confidential to the intended recipient to whom it has been addressed and may be covered by legal professional privilege and protected by law. Reading Borough Council does not accept responsibility for any unauthorised amendment made to the contents of this e-mail following its dispatch.

If received in error, you must not retain the message or disclose its contents to anyone. Please notify us immediately quoting the name of the sender and the addressee and then delete the e-mail.

Reading Borough Council has scanned for viruses. However, it is your responsibility to scan the e-mail and attachments (if any) for viruses.
Reading Borough Council also operates to the Protective Document Marking Standard as defined for the Public Sector. Recipients should ensure protectively marked emails and documents are handled in accordance with this standard (Re: Cabinet Office – Government Security Classifications).

Reference: FOI-349767902
Date of request: 16/07/2021
Title of request: Homeless

Dear Victoria McDermott,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST

Thank you for your recent request received by the Council on 16 July 2021.

You have requested the following information under the provisions of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000:

Customer's Request

 1)      Thinking about complaints or action taken on complaints:

   •       How many complaints did you receive regarding properties

 registered for exempt provision in each of the following years: 2018/19,

 2019/20 and 2020/21?

 •       How many properties have you removed from your register in each
of  the following years:  2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21?

  2)      What was the housing solution for Homeless people who presented
to  the Authority (or its referral agencies) in each of the following
years:

 2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21?

  •       Number housed in exempt accommodation

  •       Number housed in Temporary Social Housing

  •       Number Housed in specialist commissioned services

  •       Number housed in social housing

  •       Number housed in PRS

  •       Number housed in other

  3)      What is the primary need for Homeless People housed in
exempt  Accommodation in each of the following years: 2018/19, 2019/20 and

 2020/21?

  •       Ex-offender

  •       Substance misuse

 •       Care Leaver

  •       Young Person

  •       Mental Health

 •       Domestic Violence

 •       Refugee Status

Our response is as follows:

Q1 - we do not record whether complaints are associated to exempt rent
accommodation.  

Q2

All Secured Accommodation 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 Total
Exempt Accommodation - not recorded  -  -  -  -
Temporary accommodation* (several sources
including RBC owned TA, paid nightly, B&B) 18 50 73 141
Supported Housing/Hostel - commissioned
service 94 106 108 308
Social Housing 131 169 59 359
PRS 355 307 303 965
Other (several sources including  - staying
with family, tied accommodation, refuge) 41 31 30 102

*Note - temporary accommodation figures do not include those that were
placed into TA and subsequently moved to alternative accommodation listed
in the response.

 Figures do not reflect overall approaches as there will be outcomes other
than housed for one of the above reasons (withdrew application, refused
offer, no further contact etc) 

Q3 - for all years - substance misuse.

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 the Information Governance
Team at [1][email address]. 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

Kind regards,

FOI Team

The information in this e-mail is confidential to the intended recipient to whom it has been addressed and may be covered by legal professional privilege and protected by law. Reading Borough Council does not accept responsibility for any unauthorised amendment made to the contents of this e-mail following its dispatch.

If received in error, you must not retain the message or disclose its contents to anyone. Please notify us immediately quoting the name of the sender and the addressee and then delete the e-mail.

Reading Borough Council has scanned for viruses. However, it is your responsibility to scan the e-mail and attachments (if any) for viruses.
Reading Borough Council also operates to the Protective Document Marking Standard as defined for the Public Sector. Recipients should ensure protectively marked emails and documents are handled in accordance with this standard (Re: Cabinet Office – Government Security Classifications).

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]