FI14820

Request

  1. The Council’s responsibility to its tenants who are on the Severe Mental Illness Register that is held by local GP Services – Officers.
  2. The Council’s roles and responsibility in ensuring the safety and well-being of its tenants.
  3. The mental health and well-being policy in general
  4. The Council’s responsibility to those who are registered disabled under KCC

Response

  1. The Council is signed up to the Kent County Council Health and Wellbeing Strategy which enables all statutory agencies to come together to decide on a local plan and outline the authorities’ priorities. The link to the strategy can be found here - Joint health and wellbeing strategy - Kent County Council. If we are aware, or it comes to our attention that a tenant has a serious mental health we will do what we can to support and signpost which includes making referrals to agencies, both statutory and non-statutory ideally with tenant consent. This includes attending multi agency meetings and carrying out joint visits with agencies to enable tenants to gain the best support.
  2. We have a duty to safeguard vulnerable tenants and have a process by which we refer to statutory agencies such as the safeguarding team, The Community Mental Heath Team and Social Servies where applicable. We seek residents’ consent wherever possible however if there is a risk of harm we will refer without consent if required.  We have public sector duty obligations and carry out community impact, vulnerability and Human Right assessments where applicable.  The Council have a responsibility to comply with the standards set out by the Social Housing Regulator namely the Neighbourhood and Community Standard and the tenancy Standard. The link that applies to all of the consumer and economic standards can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/regulatory-standards-for-landlords.
  3. The Council does not have a health and well-being policy.  The Council does however have many policies that cover elements of mental health and wellbeing. These can be found on the Council’s website at Housing documents (dover.gov.uk).
  4. The Council has a duty to comply with the Equalities Act 2010 and the Care Act 2014