Domestic abuse victims applying for emergency housing (FOI-3678)
Message from Hackney Council
Dear ***** *****
Re: Freedom of Information Request.
Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. We would like to offer our sincere apologies for the delay in responding to your enquiry. Your request has been considered and our response is in bold below.
You requested the following:
1. What is the average waiting time for Domestic abuse victims applying for emergency housing?
2. If within the reasonable cost limit how many domestic abuse victims were deemed ineligible for emergency housing
The Council’s Response
1. What is the average waiting time for Domestic abuse victims applying for emergency housing?
Domestic Abuse Victims are supported to access emergency safe accommodation through either a Refuge or Temporary Accommodation. If a victim presents at DAIS they will be supported to access one or the other with the aim of accessing safe accommodation on the same day. For victims with insecure immigration status and no children, the options are more limited and they can wait much longer for a charitable bed space to become available.
The Service does not keep information in relation to individual waiting times for emergency accommodation and cannot therefore provide this information.
Information for the average wait time in these circumstances is not held in a readily retrievable format and there is no automated mechanism for the collation of the required data. Therefore, provision of this information would require manual review and processing of a large volume of data, considerably exceeding the limit to time and resource under FOIA.
The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 has set the appropriate limit as £450 based on a charge of £25 per hour. Section 12 of the Act states that the Council is not obligated to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the costs of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.
2. If within the reasonable cost limit how many domestic abuse victims were deemed ineligible for emergency housing
The Service does not hold records that report on the number of domestic violence cases with negative decision for the period Jan 2017 to April 2018 .
Published information can be viewed via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness
Information regarding clients accessing refuge accommodation is not held in a readily retrievable format and there is no automated mechanism for the collation of the required data. Therefore, provision of this information would require manual review and processing of a large volume of data, considerably exceeding the limit to time and resource under FOIA.
The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 has set the appropriate limit as £450 based on a charge of £25 per hour. Section 12 of the Act states that the Council is not obligated to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the costs of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.
Appeals & Complaints Procedure
If you are dissatisfied with this response and wish to appeal, please write to the Information Management Team and this will be dealt with through our Internal Review procedure.
Information Management Team - Governance
London Borough of Hackney
Hackney Service Centre
1 Hillman Street
London E8 1DY
Your request for an internal review should be submitted to us within 40 working days of receipt by you of this response. Any such request received after this time will only be considered at the discretion of the Council.
If you are still not satisfied following the Internal Review, you have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at the contact details provided below.
Information Commissioner"s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 01625 545 700
Yours sincerely
Information Management Team
ICT Services
London Borough of Hackney
Page updated: 21/01/2021 13:40:35