Complaints and other information
If a customer is not satisfied with the service they have received, the Council's Corporate Complaints Procedure can be followed. Complaints leaflets are also available from the Council offices.
Data protection
The Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK GDPR regulate the processing of information relating to individuals, which includes the obtaining, holding, using or disclosing of such information.
The Council needs to collect and use certain types of information about its service users in order to carry out its everyday business and to fulfil its objectives and its statutory functions. The Council’s:
- Data Protection Policy sets out how it will protect special category and criminal convictions personal data; and
- Homelessness Services (Housing Solutions) Privacy Notice explains that the Council collects personal information to administer these services
Equality and diversity
We are committed to welcoming and valuing diversity, promoting equality of opportunity and tackling unlawful discrimination in accordance with the Equality Act 2010. In carrying out the homelessness review and formulating a strategy, we have regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty to ensure that no individual is discriminated against based on their sex, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, gender reassignment, race, religion, belief, disability or age.
A Customer Access Review has been undertaken in conjunction with the homelessness review to assess the equality impact of our approach to prevent homelessness, to secure accommodation and to provide support. The Customer Access Review identified actions that have been taken forward into this strategy to ensure that we understand and respond to any issues that disproportionally affect specific groups in the community affected by homelessness.
Delivering the strategy
This Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy will be delivered together with our partner organisations. Some of the actions contained in the Action Plan are short-term and can be realised quickly, whereas others present longer term goals that will take time to achieve.
The quarterly Dartford Homelessness Forum will be responsible for monitoring the implementation of the strategy and measuring our performance. We will use key data to tell us how well we are doing, and review and update our actions accordingly, so the strategy is able to adapt and change to fluctuating circumstances and challenges.
The progress of delivering the strategy action plan will be reported on an annual basis to the Council’s Housing Advisory Board. The Board considers reports on proposed policy, strategy and performance in relation to housing issues and makes recommendations to Cabinet as appropriate.
If you would like to access a PDF of this strategy, or access it in another language. Please call 01322 343434 or email housing.services@dartford.gov.uk.