Homeless - private sector discharge

Dear Jo Staines

Re: Freedom of Information Act 2000
Environmental Information Regulations 2004
Reference No: 18429629

Thank you for your recent request.

Your request is being considered and you will receive a response within the statutory timescale of 20 working days, subject to the application of any exemptions. Where consideration is being given to exemptions the 20 working day timescale may be extended to a period considered reasonable depending on the nature and circumstances of your request. In such cases you will be notified and, where possible, a revised time-scale will be indicated. In all cases we shall attempt to deal with your request at the earliest opportunity.

There may be a fee payable for the retrieval, collation and provision of the information requested where the request exceeds the statutory limit or where disbursements exceed £10. In such cases you will be informed in writing and your request will be suspended until we receive payment from you or your request is modified and/or reduced.

Your request may require either full or partial transfer to another public authority. You will be informed if your request is transferred.

If we are unable to provide you with the information requested we will notify you of this together with the reason(s) why and details of how you may appeal (if appropriate).

Please note that the directorate team may contact you for further information where we believe that the request is not significantly clear for us to respond fully.

Kind regards

Customer Resolutions Administrator
Information Security & Governance
Chief Executive’s Directorate
Lewisham Council

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Dear Jo Staines

Re: Freedom of Information Act 2000
Environmental Information Regulations 2004
Reference No: 18429629

Thank you for your request for information held by London Borough of Lewisham. Please find below, a copy of your request and our response.

1) Please confirm how many people are currently owed the main homeless duty (under S193(2) Housing Act 1996)?

730 households had main duty decisions in the last year.

1b) How many of the households in answer to question 1, have been identified as being inappropriate for a private sector discharge in accordance with paragraph 2.2 of the council's private rented sector policy?

We are not able to address these questions within a reasonable timescale, as our systems for managing homeless cases and information on disability and exemptions do not connect in a simple way to those dealing with the housing register and lettings. We therefore apply S12 (1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, ‘Exemption where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit’ to this question. *

Please provide the following for the last 12 months:

2a) The number of main homeless duties that were accepted (under S193(2) Housing Act 1996) in the last 12 months?

730 households had main duty decisions in the last year.

2b) Please confirm how many of the households in answer to question 2a are single parent households with dependent children.
2c) Please confirm how many of the households in answer to question 2a are two parent households with dependent children.

Of these 730 households, data on family composition is available for 712. Of these, 484 have sons or daughters. Of these families, 69 were two-parent families and 415 were single-parent families.

3a) The number of private sector offers made under S193(7AA-AC) Housing Act 1996 in the last 12 months?

There were 982 lettings made to applicant households on the housing register. A further 392 were offered tenancies but have not yet let one.

3b) Please confirm how many of the households in answer to question 3a are single parent households with dependent children.
3c) Please confirm how many of the households in answer to question 3a are two parent households with dependent children.

We are not able to address these questions within a reasonable timescale, as our systems for managing homeless cases and relationship information do not connect in a simple way to those dealing with the housing register and lettings. We therefore apply S12 (1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, ‘Exemption where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit’ to these questions. *

3d) please provide a breakdown of answer 3a by the local auhtority area of the ofer (eg. 5 in Southwark, 7 in Lambeth etc.)

Exact figures are suppressed for protection of privacy. 8 were missing a valid postcode, less than ten were in Bexley, less than ten were in Greenwich, and all others were in Lewisham.

4) The number of homeless duties discharged due to offers made under S193(7AA-AC) Housing Act 1996 in the last 12 months?
4b) Please confirm how many of the households in answer to question 4a are single parent households with dependent children.
4c) Please confirm how many of the households in answer to question 4a are two parent households with dependent children.
4d) please provide a breakdown of answer 4a by the local auhtority area of the ofer (eg. 5 in Southwark, 7 in Lambeth etc.)

We are not able to address these questions within a reasonable timescale, as our systems for managing homeless cases and relationship information do not connect in a simple way to those dealing with the housing register and lettings. We therefore apply S12 (1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, ‘Exemption where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit’ to these questions. *

*Section 12 states:
(1) Section 1(1) does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.
(2) Subsection (1) does not exempt the public authority from its obligation to comply with paragraph (a) of section 1(1) unless the estimated cost of complying with that paragraph alone would exceed the appropriate limit.
(3) In subsections (1) and (2) “the appropriate limit” means such amount as may be prescribed, and different amounts may be prescribed in relation to different cases.
(4) The Secretary of State may by regulations provide that, in such circumstances as may be prescribed, where two or more requests for information are made to a public authority—
(a) by one person, or
(b) by different persons who appear to the public authority to be acting in concert or in pursuance of a campaign, the estimated cost of complying with any of the requests is to be taken to be the estimated total cost of complying with all of them.
(5) The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision for the purposes of this section as to the costs to be estimated and as to the manner in which they are to be estimated.

This acts as a refusal notice. This information is not held in a readily accessible format. It is estimated that the cost of locating, retrieving and collating the information would cost in excess of £450 (the set limit) and therefore exceeds the 'appropriate level' as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004 (http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2004/uksi_20...).

(Costs for staff time i.e. staff retrieving and collating information are set at £25 per hour and this task would require us to spend more than 18 hours of staff time on preparing the relevant information. You are able to make a payment so that this task could be undertaken. You may also modify your request to reduce the cost of this task. Please contact us if you wish to proceed with one of these options).

We hope you will find this information helpful.

You are free to use the information provided for your own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for the purposes of news reporting. Any other re-use, for example commercial publication, requires the permission of the copyright holder. You may apply for permission to re-use this information by submitting a request to [email address]

You have a right of appeal against this response which you can exercise by writing to: [email address]

This must be requested within 40 working days of the date of this response.
If you remain dissatisfied after receiving this decision, you then also have a further right of appeal, which you can make in writing, stating your reasons to the regulating body, the Information Commissioner's Office. Contact details are outlined below:

https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/

Telephone: 0303 123 1113.

Address: Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely

FOI Team
Information Security and Governance Team
Chief Executive’s Directorate
Lewisham Council

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