Information Team Croydon
Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House
7th Floor, Zone B
Croydon
CR0 1EA

Contact: Information Team
[Croydon Borough Council request email]

NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email. If
you have a processing request, please ensure you quote that reference in
your emails to us.

DEAR Phillip Armitage

Freedom of information request - FOI/8040

Subject: Homelessness Assessments by NowMedical

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.

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.

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 Regard

Information Management Team

Croydon Digital Services

Assistant Chief Executive Directorate

7th Floor, Zone B

Bernard Weatherill House

8 Mint Walk

Croydon CR0 1EA

Dear Mr Armitage,

Thank you for your email. I would like to apologies for the length of time
it has taken for you to receive a response regarding your FOI request.

I can confirm that your request is with the service and will be looked
into.

Kind regards,
Information team 

Dear [email address],

We write to request an update on our Freedom of Information request
which should have been responded to by 11 September 2023. Please confirm
the current status of this request and when we are likely to receive a
response.

Yours sincerely,

Philip Armitage

show quoted sections

Information Team Croydon
Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House
7th Floor, Zone B
Croydon
CR0 1EA

Contact: Information Team
[Croydon Borough Council request email]

Dear Phillip Armitage

Request FOI/8040

Freedom of Information Request

Your request has been considered under the provisions of the Freedom of
Information Act. Please accept our apologies for the lengthy delay in
responding to you. Specifically, you have requested the following
information:

1. Does Croydon Borough Council have a relationship with NowMedical to
provide medical assessments for homelessness/ housing assessments? Yes/ No

YES, but under review.

2. Does Croydon Borough Council have a separate contract with NowMedical
or are assessments commissioned on a case-to-case basis with NowMedical’s
standard terms?

Commissioned on a monthly basis.

3. How many assessments per year have Croydon Borough Council commissioned
NowMedical to undertake in the last 5 financial years?

If possible, please provide a breakdown of whether such assessments were
carried out to assess applications: (a) that a homeless individual was
under priority need for accommodation under s189(1)(c) Housing Act 1996;
(b) that it was unreasonable for an individual to continue occupying a
property under s175(3) Housing Act 1996; (c) to assess the medical
priority for re-housing under s166A (3) Housing Act 1996; or (d) other.

The council does not separately capture this information and in order to
provide it a manual search of individuals records would need to be
undertaken to identify which cases fall within the remit of the
information requested. We would then need to interrogate each record in
turn to answer the subsequent questions which would exceed the appropriate
limit.  The Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit)
Regulations 2004 specifies an “appropriate limit” for the amount of time
the council needs to spend undertaking that search.  If the council
estimates that the time taken to locate, retrieve and extract the
information requested will exceed the appropriate limit, then under
Section 12 of the Act, it is not obliged to comply with that request.

The appropriate limit currently specified by the Regulations for local
authorities is £450. This represents the estimated cost of one person
spending two and a half working days in locating, retrieving and
extracting the information from where it is stored.  We estimate that the
cumulative time it would take officers to retrieve the complete records
you are seeking would exceed the appropriate limit. Therefore, we are
unable to disclose the information you are seeking.

4. How much money did Croydon Borough Council spend per year on
assessments to NowMedical in the last 5 financial years?

This information is not separately recorded and therefore we are not able
to provide this.

5. If known, how many of those assessments were solely paper-based (i.e.
the assessor did not speak directly to the individual concerned, either in
person or through video/ telephone services)?

All the assessments are paper based

6. If known, how many initial decisions made by Croydon Borough Council
after a NowMedical assessment were found in favour of the individual who
was assessed?

Data not held.

7. If known, how many individuals who had a NowMedical assessment
subsequently successfully challenged that initial decision by Croydon
Borough Council (either by internal review or a legal challenge)?

Data not held.

The Council publishes Access to Information requests and responses on its
online Disclosure Log. (Any request included within this log will be
anonymised appropriately)

To view the Council’s Disclosure Log, please visit our website available
here:

[1]The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act | Croydon Council
(disclosure-log.co.uk)

If you are dissatisfied with the way the Council has handled your request
under the Freedom of Information Act you may ask for an internal review. 
This should be submitted to us within 40 working days of this response. 
You can do this by outlining the details of your complaint by:

Email:        [Croydon Borough Council request email]

Writing:     Information Team

London Borough of Croydon
Bernard Weatherill House
3^rd Floor - Zone E
8 Mint Walk
Croydon CR0 1EA

Any requests received after the 40 working day time limit will be
considered only at the discretion of the council.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the 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 

Croydon Council

References

Visible links
1. https://croydon.disclosure-log.co.uk/