FOI REUQEST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE (FOI-3762)
Message from Hackney Council
Dear ***** *****
Re: Freedom of Information Request.
Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, received 22 July 2019. Your request has been considered and our response is in bold below.
You requested the following:
The individual waiting list times for emergency housing for every domestic abuse victim to have contacted the council from January 1 to the present date, or the most recent date for which figures are available.
If within the reasonable cost limit what was the resolution in each case - eg: successfully rehoused, deemed ineligible, told there was no room on the waiting list, etc?
I do not need the names, addresses or the age of any victim but If within the cost limit Can you please provide details on the number of children involved with the DA victims?
The Council’s Response
The Service does not keep information in relation to individual waiting times for emergency accommodation and cannot therefore provide this information.
In 2018/19 we received 237 homelessness application whereby the applicant stated that the main reason for loss of their last settled accommodation was domestic violence.
We were able to secure accommodation for 6+ months for 29 applicants
30 applicants were owed a homelessness duty
1 applicant was found to be no longer eligible
2 applicants were found to be intentionally homeless
6 applicants were found to have no priority need
25 applicants withdrew their applications or contact was lost
3 applicants refused the accommodation offered
2 applicants refused to co-operate
In total there were 212 children included in these applications.
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
Message from Hackney Council
Dear ***** *****
Re: Your Appeal / Internal Review Request – Reference:
The Internal Review process is instigated when a requester is not satisfied with the information that they have received from the Council in response to their request for information.
On 22 July 2019 you submitted a request for the following information:
The individual waiting list times for emergency housing for every domestic abuse victim to have contacted the council from January 1 to the present date, or the most recent date for which figures are available.
If within the reasonable cost limit what was the resolution in each case - eg: successfully rehoused, deemed ineligible, told there was no room on the waiting list, etc?
I do not need the names, addresses or the age of any victim but If within the cost limit Can you please provide details on the number of children involved with the DA victims?
On 19 august 2019, the Council issued a response, outlining that "The Service does not keep information in relation to individual waiting times for emergency accommodation and cannot therefore provide this information. In 2018/19 we received 237 homelessness application whereby the applicant stated that the main reason for loss of their last settled accommodation was domestic violence." We also issued you with a listed category where we were able to secure accommodation over six months for a total of 29 applicants, and also stated that 212 children were included in the applications submitted.
In your email of 20 August 2019, it appears that you were unsatisfied with the Council’s response and requested the following:
1. explain how you deem someone no longer eligible and how you deem someone to have become intentionally homeless?
2. With the 25 that withdrew their applicants or lost contact was there an attempt to regain contact with them and did they give reasons for withdrawing their application.
3. If possible and you have noted down the reasons for withdrawal of applications would it be possible to know what some of those reasons were please?
4. can you explain to me what a homelessness duty is please.
5. You received 200+ homeless applications but I have about 100 resolutions that you have sent over may I ask where the other resolutinos are please? what happened to the other applications have they not been resolved yet?
6. If within reasonable cost how many domestic abuse victims that were deemed ineligible for housing tried to apply again?
Internal Review - Outcome
The Council has reviewed the initial response and your request for an Internal Review and this has now been considered. Please refer to our response below beneath each points raised.
1. would it be possible for you to explain how you deem someone no longer eligible and how you deem someone to have become intentionally homeless?
Please visit the links below for the requested infromation:
2.With the 25 that witdrew their applicants or lost contact was there an attempt to regain contact with them and did they give reasons for withdrawing their application.
It will not be possible to provide this information. Please refer to the exemption applied question 6.
3.If possible and you have noted down the reasons for withdrawal of applications would it be possible to know what some of those reasons were please?
It will not be possible to provide this information. Please refer to the exemption under question 6.
4. can you explain to me what a homelessness duty is please.
Please refer to the link below for the requested information.
5. You received 200+ homeless applications but I have about 100 resolutions that you have sent over may I ask where the other resolutinos are please? what happened to the other applications have they not been resolved yet?
The remaining applicants cases are still in progress.
6. If within reasonable cost how many domestic abuse victims that were deemed ineligible for housing tried to apply again?
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.
If you are still not satisfied following this Internal Review, you have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner. She can be contacted at the following:
https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/email/
Information Commissioner"s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
0303 123 1113
Yours sincerely
Katharine Schopflin
Information Governance Lead
Information Management
London Borough of Hackney
Page updated: 13/04/2021 15:16:34