Housing benefit for 'exempt' or 'supported' accommodation

The request was partially successful.

Dear Shepway District Council,

I would like to make a freedom of information request for the
following information;

- Total number of housing benefit claimants within the authority
for 'exempt' accommodation for the current year and the total for each of the 5 previous years (calendar or financial, however it is collated).

- Total amount of housing benefit paid by the authority for
'exempt' accommodation for the current year and the total for each of the 5 previous years (calendar or financial, however it is collated).

Yours faithfully,

Luke Denne

Folkestone & Hythe District Council

Dear Luke Denne ,

Thank you for your request dated 23 October 2015. 

We will endeavour to supply the information you have requested within the requisite 20 working days. If we think that it will take longer, we will contact you.

Ayse Niazi on behalf of Rachel Neville
Information and Legal Officer
Tel: 01303 853437
Fax: 01303 853548
Shepway District Council, Civic Centre, Castle Hill Avenue,
Folkestone, Kent, CT20 2QY
E-mail: [Shepway District Council request email]
Website: www.shepway.gov.uk
 
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Folkestone & Hythe District Council

Dear Luke Denne,

 

I am writing in respect of your Freedom of Information enquiry dated 23
October 2015.    Please accept my apologies that it was not possible to
respond within 20 working days and for any inconvenience that this has
caused.  This request has been handled under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000.

 

Please find below information in response to your request.

 

1.         Total number of housing benefit claimants within the authority
for 'exempt' accommodation for the current year and the total for each of
the 5 previous years (calendar or financial, however it is collated).

 

            We have been able to extract the following date with regard to
exempt claims in all or part of year:

 

            2010/11          -           130

            2011/12          -           142

            2012/13          -           135

            2013/14          -           147

            2014/15          -           144

            2015/16          -           138

 

 

2.         Total amount of housing benefit paid by the authority for
'exempt' accommodation for the current year and the total for each of the
5 previous years (calendar or financial, however it is collated).

 

From our preliminary assessment it is estimated that compliance with the
remainder of your request would exceed the costs limits set under Section
12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.  The time required to locate,
retrieve and extract the information would exceed the 18 hour limit.  This
is because the details regarding actual amounts is not an expected return
for Government and our software suppliers therefore do not have a report
or query that provides the financial data requested for these cases.  An
officer would be required to manually go into each claim and the
corresponding subsidy cell to manually record the amounts. This would need
to be done for each case and for each year. It is estimated that this
manual intervention would take 2-3 days of an officer’s time to ensure
that the data is correct and reliable. This, together with the 6 hours
which were required to answer the first question, would be in excess of
the 18 hour limit.

 

Should you require any further information, or if you are not satisfied
with our response, please do not hesitate to contact me. You may also
request an internal review by writing to the following address:

 

Freedom of Information Appeals Officer

Compliance & Information Governance

Shepway District Council

Castle Hill Avenue

Folkestone

Kent CT20 2QY

 

Alternatively you can use our Customer Comment Form which can be accessed
at our website [1]www.shepway.gov.uk

 

In addition, if you are not satisfied with our response you may apply to
the Information Commissioner for an independent review at the following
address:

 

The Information Commissioner

Wyncliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire SK9 5AF

Telephone 01625 545700

[2]www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

 

Yours sincerely

 

Rachel Neville

Information and Legal Officer

Tel: 01303 853437

Mob:  07802 720679

Fax: 01303 853548

Shepway District Council, Civic Centre, Castle Hill Avenue,

Folkestone, Kent, CT20 2QY

E-mail: [3][Shepway District Council request email]

Website: [4]www.shepway.gov.uk

                                           

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