Homelessness cases referred to Now Medical Ltd 01/01/2022 - 31/12/2022
Case reference FOI2023/01444
Published 12 September 2023
Request
From the 1st January to the 31st December 2022:
1.
a. How many homelessness cases were referred to Now Medical Ltd?
b. Of those cases identified in 1a, how many cases concerned vulnerability in relation to priority need under Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996
c. Of those from 1b, how many responses from Now Medical Ltd supported the conclusion that the individual was vulnerable?
d. Of those from 1b, how many cases were then found to be vulnerable in the s.184 decision letter and therefore in priority need?
2.
a. How many cases were referred to Housing Reviews Ltd?
b. Of those identified, how many cases concerned vulnerability in relation to priority need under Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996
c. Of those from 2b, how many supported the conclusion that the individual was vulnerable?
d. Of those from 2b, how many cases were found to be vulnerable and therefore in priority need?
Response
From the 1st January to the 31st December 2022:
1.
a. How many homelessness cases were referred to Now Medical Ltd?
b. Of those cases identified in 1a, how many cases concerned vulnerability in relation to priority need under Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996
c. Of those from 1b, how many responses from Now Medical Ltd supported the conclusion that the individual was vulnerable?
d. Of those from 1b, how many cases were then found to be vulnerable in the s.184 decision letter and therefore in priority need?
2.
a. How many cases were referred to Housing Reviews Ltd?
b. Of those identified, how many cases concerned vulnerability in relation to priority need under Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996
c. Of those from 2b, how many supported the conclusion that the individual was vulnerable?
d. Of those from 2b, how many cases were found to be vulnerable and therefore in priority need?
With regards to question 1 this information is not held in a form that would enable it to be located, retrieved and extracted within the Appropriate Time Limit which equates to 18 hours as defined by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limits and Fees) Regulations 2004.
Electronic reporting systems are unable to run a report for this information. To ascertain the data requested officers would need to manually check all applications received for housing assistance under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996 during the time frame requested to determine how many were referred to Now Medical Ltd.
An initial search has shown that case files of 1578 cases would need to be checked for this information in this way, and it is estimated that it would take approximately 5 minutes to check each file.
This would at a conservative estimate take at least 131 hours to complete. Where the Limit is exceeded Public Authorities are not obliged to supply the information requested by virtue of S12 of the Act. Please take this letter as a refusal notice under S17 of the Act.
Regarding question 2 Herefordshire Council do not employ Housing Reviews Ltd to carry out any case work, decision-making or to provide advice with regard to any applications taken under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996. All casework and decisions made by this Local Housing Authority at S184 and S202 are undertaken by officers within the Housing Solutions Team.
If you have any suggestions as to how your request can be reduced in scope to take it under the limit please let us know.
Documents
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