Care Act policies and procedures to keep homes habitable for adults
Case reference FOI2025/00805
Received 22 April 2025
Published 16 May 2025
Request
RE: Follow-up to FOI2025/00299:
1) Can you confirm if you have a policy and procedure in place that allows Adult Social workers to ignore the Care Act requirement to help disabled, bed bound clients maintain a "habitable home", see LGSCO decision: https://www.lgo.org.uk/information-centre/news/2020/sep/council-fails-to-help-care-users-maintain-their-home
2) Can you provide copies of all your policies and procedures that expressly require you to identify and support someone to maintain their home in a habitable condition, and evidence of how you follow those instructions.
3) Can I also request a copy of the Equality Impact Assessments that should accompany any policies you provide and a list of when any out-of-date policies will be reviewed.
Response
RE: Follow-up to FOI2025/00299:
1) Can you confirm if you have a policy and procedure in place that allows Adult Social workers to ignore the Care Act requirement to help disabled, bed bound clients maintain a "habitable home", see LGSCO decision: https://www.lgo.org.uk/information-centre/news/2020/sep/council-fails-to-help-care-users-maintain-their-home
Answer: No, we do not have a policy that purports this type of practice.
2) Can you provide copies of all your policies and procedures that expressly require you to identify and support someone to maintain their home in a habitable condition, and evidence of how you follow those instructions.
Answer: The Council adheres to the policies and procedures of the Herefordshire Safeguarding Adults Board, which are publically available via the following link:
Self-neglect & Hoarding - Herefordshire Safeguarding Boards and Partnerships
3) Can I also request a copy of the Equality Impact Assessments that should accompany any policies you provide and a list of when any out-of-date policies will be reviewed.
Answer: The policies referenced in Question 2 are owned by the Herefordshire Safeguarding Adults Board, and as such Herefordshire Council does not hold copies of Equality Impact Assessments. The Service Area have consulted with the Herefordshire Safeguarding Adults Board’s Business Unit, who advised that they assessed this policy to be “low impact” and therefore have considered equality factors throughout the document. The HSAB’s policies and function has been developed to be inclusive. We embrace diversity, equity and inclusion so that our strategies and the work we do recognises and relates to every individual fairly.
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
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