Camden council enters into annual funding agreements with third parties worth thousands of pounds but doesn't, as they claim, make formal recordings of these 'agreements' and that they are merely 'verbal' agreements. On top of that they claim to have gotten rid of evidence for the year in which they gave casp a whopping £15,000.
CAMDEN COUNCIL LAND-LORDS OF THE MANOR
Borough of Camden, London, England, UK. Not endorsed or funded by Camden Council.
About this blog
NOTE: I believe this account has been illegally hacked. Little clues have been left for me. They like playing games.
Monday, 1 July 2024
ICO Decision Notice on Funding Issue
Camden council enters into annual funding agreements with third parties worth thousands of pounds but doesn't, as they claim, make formal recordings of these 'agreements' and that they are merely 'verbal' agreements. On top of that they claim to have gotten rid of evidence for the year in which they gave casp a whopping £15,000.
Thursday, 2 May 2024
Coroners Court - PFD reports
work in progress
This post is for links to Home - Courts and Tribunals Judiciary
particularly the Coroners' courts which publishes Reports to Prevent Future Deaths [PFD]
The site says about the PFD's
" Paragraph 7 of Schedule 5, Coroners and Justice Act 2009, provides coroners with the duty to make reports to a person, organisation, local authority or government department or agency where the coroner believes that action should be taken to prevent future deaths."
Hospital
4 April 2014 Eric Matthews
7 May 2014 Peter Brookes
8 May 2014 Frank Pope
Noleen McPHARLANE (died 22.04.14)
30 July 2014 Monique Whitebread
11 Jan 2016 Efstratios Voukelatos
4 March 2021 Grazyna Walczak
17 March 2021 Ben O'Hara
23 April 2024 Emmanuel Ladapo
16 Aug 2024 Daniel Klosi
27 Sept 2024 Maria Kelly
Housing
20 April 2018 Magdalena Fink
26 Oct 2020 Daniel Coleman
4 March 2024 Sandra Senior
12 Feb 2021 Philippa Day
6 Nov 2023 Kevin Gale
13 Jan 2014 Michael O'Sullivan HERE
28 Jan 2021 DWP accused of ‘gross incompetence’ after benefit claimant’s inquest (civilserviceworld.com)
7 May 2024 Colin Waterhouse
14 August 2024 joanita-nalubowa
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X POSTS on bad living environments HERE
Thursday, 4 April 2024
We are sorry says Twitter Bot
latest news from Camden Council twitter bot @CamdenCouncil about problems with their website and phones
some people have been having problems paying money to Camden Council - and the council is sorry about this.
Tuesday, 12 December 2023
Housing Ombudsman investigates
Tuesday 12 Dec 2023
posted 6 Oct 2023
"Ombudsman opens consultation on Complaint Handling Code ahead of statutory requirements"
from 28 September 2023 to 23 November 2023.
- Ombudsman working with the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
- Few changes for Landlords already using the Complaints Handling Code (CHC
- End of 2 tier system used by local councils
- Statutory Code
"An Act to make provision about the regulation of social housing; about the terms of approved schemes for the investigation of housing complaints; about the powers and duties of a housing ombudsman appointed under an approved scheme; about hazards affecting social housing; and for connected purposes.
[20th July 2023]
Be it enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—"
Published 21 July 2023
RSH Regulatory Notice
- Provider: London Borough of Camden Council
- Regulatory code: 00AG
- Publication date: 21 July 2023
- Reason for publication: Consumer Standards
- Regulatory route: Reactive Engagement
Other providers included in the judgement
None
Regulatory Findings
The regulator has concluded that:
a) London Borough of Camden Council (LB Camden) has breached part 1.2 of the Home Standard; and
b) As a consequence of this breach, there was actual and potential serious detriment to LB Camden’s tenants.
In May 2023 legal proceedings brought by London Fire Service against LB Camden concluded. The proceedings related to a fire at a large street property conversion in Hampstead in November 2017 where a tenant died. Fire risk assessments in January 2013 and May 2017 identified serious risks in the block, such as combustible wooden cladding on the internal staircase and a lack of proper fire doors on flat entrances. LB Camden had programmed but not yet implemented the required remedial actions. It pleaded guilty to two offences under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005[footnote 1] and was fined £500,000 plus costs by the court.
Following the conclusion of legal proceedings, the regulator engaged with LB Camden to understand whether the fire safety failings demonstrated by this case had been resolved and whether LB Camden was compliant with our regulatory standards.
Our investigation
As a registered provider, LB Camden is required to comply with the consumer standards, including the Home Standard. The Home Standard requires providers to meet all applicable statutory requirements that provide for the health and safety of tenants in their homes.
In respect of fire safety, LB Camden has a statutory duty[footnote 2] to regularly assess, and take precautions to prevent, the risk of fire. The Council has completed fire risk assessments for the 3,200 blocks that require one. However, our investigation found that over 9,000 fire remedial actions are currently overdue, with around 1,500 of them being overdue since 2020. We found that there are just under 400 high-risk actions overdue. Of these, a third should have been completed within 10 days and the remainder in 30 days.
As part of our investigation, LB Camden shared a 2019 internal audit of its approach to fire safety. At the time of the audit there were over 6,000 overdue fire remedial actions and issues relating to the quality and reporting of data were identified. LB Camden has since improved its ability to report on fire remedial actions, put in place new governance arrangements, including a resident fire safety panel, and has completed more than 40,000 actions generated by its current fire risk assessments. However, taking into account the outcome of the fire in 2017, the findings of the internal audit in 2019 and the current fire safety position, the evidence demonstrates a longstanding failure by LB Camden to complete all fire safety remedial actions in a timely manner and to mitigate the risks to tenants in the meantime. As a consequence, tenants have been, and continue to be, exposed to potential harm.
For smoke and carbon monoxide detectors,[footnote 3] LB Camden is required to ensure that at least one smoke alarm is equipped on each storey where there is a room used as living accommodation of a property and that a carbon monoxide detector is equipped in any room containing a fixed combustion appliance. LB Camden reports that more than 9,000 properties do not have a hard-wired smoke alarm installed and just under 4,000 properties do not have a carbon monoxide detector installed.
The regulator considered the case as a potential breach of part 1.2 of the Home Standard and has concluded that LB Camden does not have an effective system in place to allow it to meet its responsibilities in relation to its statutory fire safety responsibilities.
Our engagement
LB Camden has a plan in place to complete overdue fire remedial actions and has systems in place to monitor and report on the progress of its plans. It has also set out a programme to install smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors in all of the properties currently without them. The regulator will work with LB Camden while it continues to address the issues that have led to this situation, including monitoring how it delivers its programme to complete the outstanding overdue actions. We will continue to keep our use of statutory powers under regular review through our engagement with LB Camden.
Section 198A of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 (as amended) states that the regulator’s regulatory and enforcement powers may be used if a registered provider has failed to meet a consumer standard. In order to use regulatory or enforcement powers, as well as the failure to meet the standard, there should also be reasonable grounds to suspect that the failure has resulted in a serious detriment to the provider’s tenants (or potential tenants) or that there is a significant risk that, if no action is taken by the regulator, the failure will result in a serious detriment to the provider’s tenants (or potential tenants).
Regulatory notices are issued in response to an event of regulatory importance (for example, a finding of a breach of the Rent Standard or of a consumer standard that has or may cause serious harm) that, in accordance with its obligation to be transparent, the regulator wishes to make public. More detail about Regulatory notices is set out in Regulating the Standards.
End note: I have corrected the reported and copied by many, that 31 Daleham Gardens NW3 is/was in the ward of Hampstead - when it wasn't/isn't.
At the time of the fire [and up until the boundary changes of May 2022] the above mentioned property was in ward of Frognal and Fitzjohns.
The ward has been changed to, [or incorporated into] the nearby Belize ward.
Tuesday, 5 December 2023
new Tenants Complaints and Improvements panel
The below was recently sent to me - im guessing as a camden council tenant.I was under the impression [from an officers monthly report to the DMC's] that this group [in whatever name t is/was] called had already been set up, and that it was to be transparent, open ... my blog on it from May 2023 HERE
Then recently the below was sent out to tenants
NEW Resident Panel Opportunity: Complaints & Improvements in Housing & Repairs
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
My ad-ons
Fire Safety Works programme HERE
2 March 2024
apparently there are 2 different camden council tenants/residents panel/committee:
1 Camden Housing & Property Residents Panel
2.Complaints & Improvements in Housing & Repairs
The names of the members are being kept secret as well as the minutes of their meetings.
This makes me think that something is amiss here and that possibly only 1 or even 0 groups exist - except in the imagination of some camden council people.
27 June 2024
Taken from June/July round of DMC meetings https://democracy.camden.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=167&MId=10847
agenda item 9. Action points https://democracy.camden.gov.uk/documents/s119077/
Camden Housing Property Residents Panel
https://www.camden.gov.uk/camden-housing-property-residents-panel
Monday, 9 October 2023
Fire Safety Works Programme 2023/24
The below is from my landlord Camden Council.
Dated 26 Sept 2023
pages 1&2 of 8 |
pages 3&4 of 8 |
pages 5&6 of8 |
pages 7&8 of8 |
/////////////////////////////////////////////
Entrance hallway: wall and ceiling
Wednesday, 16 August 2023
Letter from the Boss-man
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/letter-from-secretary-of-state-to-camden-council
" Details
The Secretary of State has written to the Chief Executive of Camden Council following the publication of a regulatory notice by the Regulator of Social Housing for breaches of the consumer standards in relation to fire safety. You can find more details about the case here."
" Dear Cllr Gould,
I write following the issuing of a regulatory notice by the Regulator of Social Housing to Camden Council for your failure to meet the Home Standard. I have been clear that social housing must be safe and decent, and provide those living there with security and dignity. Residents should be treated fairly and with respect. And if things go wrong, there should be a swift and effective means of redress. It is clear this has not always been the case for your tenants. The Regulator’s investigation has found the Council to be non-compliant with the Home Standard due to fire safety failures across thousands of your homes. These include more than 9,000 overdue fire remedial actions, with 400 of these being high-risk actions that should have been completed within no more than 30 days in the majority of cases. To compound this, the Regulator found that there were more than 9,000 properties which did not have a hard-wired smoke alarm installed, and just under 4,000 properties without a carbon monoxide detector
It is extremely concerning that so many of your tenants were put at risk in such a way, and I have no doubt that these findings will have caused them much anxiety, stress, and frustration. I myself am profoundly troubled by these failings given that Camden Council pleaded guilty to two offences under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 earlier this year, in proceedings related to the tragic death of a tenant in November 2017 after a fire at an address in Hampstead. It is clear that you have continued to expose your tenants to serious potential harm from fire. This is a shocking situation. Every single person in this country deserves to live in a home that is decent, safe and secure. Your properties should meet the standards expected and you must meet your obligations to your tenants. Your management of thousands of your homes has fallen below these standards, and I am deeply shocked by the gravity and sheer multitude of failings in this case. This Government has been clear that social housing residents must be able to put their trust in their landlords to provide a decent and safe home. The health and safety of tenants should be paramount.
The Social Housing Regulation Act will bring in a tough new regulatory regime to support this Government’s commitment to driving up standards and holding landlords to account for providing social housing residents with decent homes. I expect Camden Council to take urgent action to address these failings, and the Regulator has also made this clear. I know that you have started to put a programme in place to rectify the issues, which the Regulator will be monitoring closely. I expect overdue fire remedial actions to be completed as soon as possible, with necessary improvements to your processes to be made swiftly to ensure these failures are not repeated again. I will be taking a personal interest in how your organisation continues to deliver its responsibilities to its residents.
My officials will be in touch to arrange for you to meet with the Minister for Local Government and Building Safety to discuss these failings. I am copying this letter to the CEO of the Regulator, Fiona MacGregor, and to Sir Keir Starmer and Tulip Siddiq MP.
Friday, 12 May 2023
Fined £500,000 for death of Magdalena Fink
Inside Housing - News - London borough fined for ‘unnecessary’ fire death of resident
Internet version of INSIDE HOUSING
NEWS 09/05/2023 3:45PM [Tuesday 9 May 2023] BY PETER APPS
Was at Westminster Mags this morning to see Camden Council sentenced £500k for a shocking case involving the death of a 35yo woman in a fire in November 2017. Report and some observations below:https://t.co/2JQ5NZgttH
— Peter Apps (@PeteApps) May 9, 2023
20 May 2023
9 March 2024
19 August 2021 Fires in Camden Dwellings posting
27 May 2024
LACORS - Fire Safety Guidance (hastings.gov.uk) LACORS aka Local Authority Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services Local Authority Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services
Some excerpts from the Guidance below:
5. What is a fire risk assessment?
" 5.3 The aims of the fire risk assessment are:
• to identify the fire hazards;• to reduce the risk of those hazards causing harm to as low as reasonably practicable; and• to decide what physical fire precautions and management arrangements are necessary to ensure the safety of people in the premises if a fire does start.
5.4 The terms ‘hazard’ and ‘risk’ should be understood in the context of this guidance:
• hazard: anything that has the potential to cause harm• risk: the chance of that harm occurring.
7. Introduction
7.3 This risk-based approach is enshrined in current fire safety legislation, in particular the housing health and safety rating system and the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (see Appendix 1, paragraphs A.7 and A.51).
7.4 However, some basic fundamental principles apply to fire safety generally, and these must be applied flexibly to meet the needs of a particular property. These principles are outlined in this chapter and are brought to life in the case studies in Part D.
10. Habitable basements
"10.1 Consideration needs to be given to the fire risk presented to occupiers of any storey below the main entry/exit level of the house and the risk that storey poses to the remainder of the house.
10.2 Ideally, the fire separation between the basement and the ground floor (including the staircase soffit and spandrel) should be 30 minutes fire resisting, and a 30-minute fire resisting door should be fitted at the head of the basement stairs. "
10.5 The standard of fire resistance of individual room partitions and of doors to rooms should be the same as for the remainder of the house"
19. Fire separation and compartmentation
Tuesday, 9 May 2023
House Clearances Internal Investigation
HASC = Housing and Adult Social Care
----------------------------------
• New policy and practice guidance produced for staff in Housing and Adult Social Care Department, including social workers and estate officers. This has been implemented and will be reviewed again in March 2008.
- Staff have been reminded of current procedures, particularly in relation to disposal or storage of goods.
- Current contractors were reminded of what our expectations of them are in respect of their disposing of goods from void clearances, and that no goods should be disposed of for personal gain
- Procedures for placing items into storage from voids have also been tightened.
• Spot checks on adherence to the voids policy and procedures are now being made as part of the District Office performance monitoring to ensure that these are being adhered to correctly.
• A review of the Personal Finances Team in Adult Social Care (which includes the protection of property function) has been completed and a revised structure for the team has been introduced.
• Alternative methods for disposal of goods were investigated and new arrangements for disposal via the use of a not-for-profit company are under consideration.
• GF was aware that Internal Audit had reviewed h prior to attending the interview. It is believed that he deduced this following Audit enquiries with the
• GF arranged for a washing to be provided to 5d as per the email XXXX stated that he did not obtain any financial benefit from this action, and that the £80 was a fee paid to, a BMD, for moving the machine to S. GF did not attend 5 Road in connection with the washing•
• GF stated that he had never sold any item he obtained from a void property.
• GF is paid a
• GF had not received any instruction from his manager about how to deal with items found in void properties prior to a letter that was issued by th of BMD in the first quarter of 2007, following the press reports concerning misappropriation of tenant’s belongings (Appendix D).