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Wealden District Council > Housing > Housing Options, Homelessness, Advice > Housing Options, Advice and Assistance > Duty to co-operate

Duty to co-operate

Purpose:

The purpose of this procedure is to set out the way in which Wealden District Council may bring to an end its duty to prevent or relieve a household’s homelessness where the household deliberately and unreasonably refuses to co¬operate with reasonable steps to prevent and relieve the household’s homelessness. Although such action is permitted under s.193B(2) of 1996 Act, the consequences are likely to be severe and so careful thought needs to be given before considering using the provisions set out below. Even in cases where it appears that there is non¬cooperation, the presumption must be that this is not deliberate. Housing Advisors must assess each case on its own merits, in conjunction with a manager if necessary, and if there is any doubt about either the motivations of the client or their ability to undertake the steps set out in their PHP, it will not be appropriate to invoke this procedure. Instead, officers must consider what additional assistance can be offered to the applicant to enable them to comply with the terms set out, or if these terms are in fact reasonable and appropriate. Only after this, and only if there is still a deliberate and unreasonable refusal to cooperate, should this procedure be used.

Scope:

This procedure covers all households who have made a homeless application to Wealden District Council, where the Council owes the applicant either a ‘prevention duty’ under s.195(2) or a ‘relief duty’ under s.189B(2) and who, in the opinion of the Council, are deliberately and unreasonably refusing to cooperate with one or more of the steps set out in their PHP to prevent or relieve their homelessness.

Legislative Background:

The Homelessness Reduction Act places a statutory duty on the Council to prevent the homelessness of households threatened with homelessness in the next 56 days and a duty to relieve homelessness for household that have become homeless. As part of that duty, Wealden District Council will collaborate with households to produce a Personalised Housing Plan (PHP) setting out the reasonable steps that need to be taken to prevent or relieve homelessness. The statutory Homelessness Code of Guidance describes the circumstances when the prevention or relief duty can be ended. One of these circumstances is a deliberate and unreasonable refusal to take steps that a household have agreed to take to prevent or relieve their homelessness, or that the Council has set for them in the PHP to undertake but which has not been agreed to by the applicant. If a household unreasonably and deliberately refuses to co-operate with steps to prevent or relieve their homelessness and the Council decides to end the duty for this reason, there are processes that need to be followed as set out in s.193B of the Housing Act 1996. S.193B requires a notice to be served by the Local Authority explaining why the notice to end the duty is being given, what the effects are of the notice and informing the applicants of their rights to request a review of the decision. The notice cannot be served unless a warning has been issued to the applicant first and sufficient time has passed to enable the applicant to comply with the steps required. In deciding whether it is appropriate to serve a s.193B notice the Council must have regard to the particular circumstances and needs of the applicant. It will not be appropriate to seek to discharge the prevention or relief duty in all cases where an applicant appears not to be co-operating. Each case must be assessed on its own merits and a blanket policy must not be applied. In particular, the Council must consider an applicant’s needs and circumstances, including support needs. Regulation 2 of the Homelessness (Review Procedure etc) Regulations 2018 requires the Local Authority to publish its procedure in connection with S193B notices. This document constitutes that written procedure. This procedure is required to comply with Regulation 3 of the above regulations. Regulation 3 states that the decision to serve the notice must be ratified by someone in the organisation who is at least as senior as the officer recommending service of the notice. This is to ensure that notices are only served where there is very good reason to withdraw the support offered under the prevention and relief duties.

Procedure:

1. Pre-warning stage

The Housing Advisors for each applicant is required to determine the reasonable steps and to document these in the PHP. This should be done in conjunction with the applicant and agreement must be sought from them. The caseworker should make it clear which are mandatory actions and which are suggestions. If agreement cannot be reached and the caseworker is satisfied that the steps set out in the PHP are reasonable to prevent or relieve homelessness, the reasons for the difference of opinion must be recorded and detailed on the case file. It is a legal requirement for the caseworker to keep the PHP under regular review, and any steps that need to be amended, removed or added must be subject to the same agreement and must also be recorded on the casefile. While any change in circumstances will require a review, the PHP should be reviewed at least every 28 days. For more vulnerable applicants or those facing particular problems, it may be necessary to review the PHP more frequently. If there has been no satisfactory progress in the applicant undertaking steps set out in the PHP after a reasonable period, the caseworker must attempt to contact the applicant to determine if there are any issues preventing them from making progress or if they require further assistance in order to do so. It is likely that the steps in the PHP need to be reviewed at this time. A concerted effort may need to be made to contact the applicant to find out what the issues may be. Phone, e-mail and a letter should be tried, as well as trying to make contact through any support workers or appropriate relatives or friends who may be able to assist. If there are any support agencies engaged with the applicant, the caseworker should contact them and encourage them to impress upon the applicant the importance of co¬operating with the steps in their PHP.

The caseworker should

  • ask the applicant why they have not taken the step(s).
  • seek to understand the reasons for lack of co-operation.
  • consider if the step(s) are appropriate to the applicant’s needs and circumstances, carrying out a further needs assessment if required.
  • check the applicant understands what is required and identify any support needs.
  • discuss options that may assist the applicant to take the required steps and make a record of these.
  • explain that, if the applicant does not take the step(s), the Council may issue a warning that a further notice may be issued to end the duty and the consequences of this.
  • check that the applicant wants to continue with the application.

If there continues to be a lack of progress and contact with the applicant suggest that he/she does not intend to co-operate with the PHP, the caseworker should consider whether a formal warning is appropriate. Any decision such as this must be made with regard to sections 14.50 to 14.54 of the Homelessness Code of Guidance. These sections define ‘deliberate and unreasonable non-cooperation’ and provide guidance on taking into account the needs and circumstances of the household.

2. Issuing a Warning

The caseworker will need to review the applicant’s case and review the appropriateness of the PHP steps and ensure the applicant is aware of the consequences of non-cooperation, prior to issuing any warning letter. If the caseworker considers that the applicant is deliberately and unreasonably refusing to co-operate, then the caseworker may issue a warning letter.
The warning letter should identify:

  • the step(s) that the applicant is not taking.
  • determine a reasonable period to allow the applicant time to undertake the step(s) taking into account their needs and circumstances.
  • make clear to the applicant what the consequences are of continued non-cooperation, i.e. the ending of the duty to either prevent or relieve their homelessness.

Which may entail:

  • If the non-cooperation is at prevention duty stage the applicant may later become homeless, in which case a relief duty will be owed and the applicant will then be required to cooperate with relief steps in any event (unless they withdraw their application).
  • If non-cooperation is at the relief duty stage and the applicant is not in priority need (or is homeless intentionally), there will be no further duty when the relief duty is ended.
  • If non-cooperation is at the relief duty stage and the applicant is in priority need and is unintentionally homeless, they will only be entitled to a final offer, after which no main housing duty will arise.

There is no set warning period, but the period will vary depending on the needs and circumstances of the applicant. Sufficient opportunity should be given to rectify the non-co-operation and prevent the duty coming to an end.

The warning letter should be sent to the applicant by their preferred form of contact where known, e.g. in person, online, email, post. Any service supporting the household should be informed and encouraged to impress upon the applicant the importance of co-operating with the steps in their PHP. Difficulties managing communications should be taken into account, for example, for those who are street homeless or staying between temporary addresses.

If the applicant does not carry out the required actions and the caseworker remains satisfied that there is no good reason for the failure to co-operate, the procedure for serving formal notice to end the duty begins.

3. Notification to end the prevention of relief duty due to deliberate and unreasonable refusal to co-operate.

The decision to issue the Notice must be made by someone who works for the Council and authorised by someone at least as senior who also works for the Council but who was not involved in the decision. In most cases this will be the caseworker’s line manager. If the caseworker’s line manager has been involved in the decision making, another manager must be asked to authorise issuing the End of Duty Notice.

On expiry of the warning period, the caseworker should send a request for authorisation to the manager.

The manager should carefully review the case and confirm whether to authorise the decision to issue the Notice. The manager should have regard to guidance in the Homelessness Code of Guidance, particularly para. 14.55 to 14.60 when considering whether to authorise the decision.

The Notice can be issued by the caseworker to the applicant by their preferred form of contact where known, e.g. in person, online, email, post. Any service supporting the household should be informed. The caseworker can choose not to cease prevention or relief efforts if the applicant immediately takes steps to rectify the situation and a successful resolution is likely. Otherwise, the case should be closed. If the manager does not agree that the applicant has deliberately or unreasonably refused to co-operate, they should state their reasons and record this on the casefile system. The case will then remain open for further prevention or relief activity, subject to other statutory reasons for ending the duty.

4. The applicant’s right to request a review.

There is no statutory right to review a decision to issue a warning letter. Applicants can request a review of the decision to end the prevention or relief duty and have 21 days from the date of the end of duty notice to exercise their review right.

5. Further homeless applications

An applicant can make a new application to the Council if there is a change in circumstances and this change is not trivial. However, if previous non-cooperation has resulted in the applicant’s present homelessness this could be taken into account in a subsequent assessment of intentional homelessness, though at the outset the Council will first of all support the household under the relevant prevention or relief duty respectively.

Equalities Impact

This procedure does not impact on Equalities legislation.