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You Said, We Did
You Said, We Did
Between 11 September 2023 and the 9 October 2023 we undertook formal consultation with residents by asking tenants and leaseholders to provide us with their views on a draft housing compensation policy. The policy was developed to provide a fairer approach to how we assess and award compensation within Housing Services when we fail to deliver a service.
Tenants and leaseholders had the opportunity to complete a survey online or in person with the support from a council representative. It was publicised online, in council newsletters, on estates, in housing offices and by text to all residents.
The survey asked a number of questions with the opportunity to provide comments against each question. In total 391 residents visited the on-line consultation, and 237 residents gave their feedback on the draft policy.
| 'You Said' | 'We Did' |
|---|---|
| 1. The policy needs to be stronger and really explain where the money is coming from. | We have updated the draft policy to explain that compensation payments for housing service failures are made from the Housing Revenue Account. Please see section 3, page 3 |
| 2. It makes no reference to building insurance and how and when leaseholders should access this rather than seek compensation from the council | We have made it clearer in the policy when residents should submit a building insurance, or a public liability claim and when they should claim compensation. Please see section 3.8, page 4 |
| 3. You are not considering time off work for visits and time spent chasing up the matter when nothing is being resolved. | We have made it clearer in the policy when residents and leaseholders are able to make claims for missed appointments and loss of earnings. Please see section 12, page 11 |
| 4. I feel that the higher level (of exgratia payment) should be higher. If someone has experienced distress and the repair has impacted on a person’s mental health the impact is higher than that before damages. | Since carrying out the consultation the Housing Ombudsman has issued new guidance with increased bandings, and we have updated our bandings to match. We have made the policy clearer that each case will be considered according to the impact the service failure had when assessing the most appropriate remedy. We have amended our complaints online form template so that residents are required to provide details of the impact when they make a complaint so that we can make a fairer assessment of compensation as part of the process. Section 11.8, page 9 |
| 5. Please clearly define the categories of impact for exgratia payments with examples and regular reviews based on inflation | We have updated the policy to explain that when determining a compensation award, an assessment may identify several ways in which a resident has been impacted, resulting in awards for each of the component parts of the overall event. We will also update the policy to include more examples within each of these categories. We will also add a commitment to the policy to undertake an annual review of compensation levels. Section 11.8.1, page 10 |
| 6. Bias. A 3rd party external/independent moderator should deem what fair and reasonable is. | We will ensure the sign-off process is robust and includes sign-off by senior managers, at the level appropriate to the compensation awarded. We have also updated the policy to explain that where a resident disagrees with the level of compensation, they have the right to make a formal complaint or escalate any offer made on a complaint to the next stage. In some cases, the next stage may be for the resident to escalate the matter to the Housing Ombudsman. |
| 7. The staff are incompetent to resolve any issues, and they lack training to know their own procedures, therefore I don’t feel they will resolve anything. | We have facilitated training for staff responsible for assessing compensation as part of their duties in responding to complaints, as a component of the implementation of this new policy. |
| 8. Unclear on payments to leaseholders, where property tenanted. Implies payments go to sub-tenant and not lessee. | We have updated the policy to make it explicit that claims from sub-tenants of council leaseholders are excluded from this policy and that claims from sub-tenants should be made to their landlord. |
9. Definition of Vulnerability - The criteria determining what constitutes "vulnerability" could be expanded upon. Residents might benefit from a more detailed or comprehensive list to avoid ambiguity. Expand the list of vulnerabilities and provide clear criteria. | We have updated the policy to expand on the vulnerability definition. Section 3 and 8 |
| 10. Don’t understand the reason for an advocate to claim compensation. Do you provide this advocate? | We have made the policy clear that the Council does not provide advocates in this context, but residents can have a person of their choosing act as their representative. Section 3.4, page 2 |
| 11. Daily compensation for non-working lifts, especially for the disabled, is derisory. | An amount for lift failure is not covered in the Housing Ombudsman’s remedies so the value proposed is based on benchmarking with other councils. We will make it clear that we will assess the impact for residents who are unable to use the stairs. |
This engagement phase has finished
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