FOI release

FOIA Request from Freshfields (on behalf of Shelter)

Case reference FOI2025/00966

Received 6 November 2025

Published 30 November 2025

Request

1. Please provide copies of any policies, guidelines and/or training prepared and/or

followed by your authority’s housing department which relate to the practice of

notifying Applicants of an Offer in discharge of the ‘main housing duty’, and the

steps to be taken by your authority’s housing department where an Applicant

accepts or refuses an Offer.

South Derbyshire District Council utilises the ‘Andy Gale Toolkits’ which can be found via the following link: https://locatahousingservices.org.uk/new-andy-gale-toolkits-prevention-homelessness/#

We also follow the Homelessness Code of Guidance & utilise Shelter Legal for all resources/training: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homelessness-code-of-guidance-for-local-authorities & https://england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/legal

Attached is also our Allocations Policy.

2. Please confirm what information is provided, and in what format, to Applicants

when your authority’s housing department makes an Offer in discharge of the

‘main housing duty’. In particular:

(a) Please confirm whether, and if so how, Applicants are advised in relation

to:

(i) the potential consequences of accepting or refusing an Offer,

including as regards the potential termination of the authority’s

‘main housing duty’; and

(ii) the Applicant’s right to request a review.

(b) To the extent your authority’s housing department uses any templates

and/or precedents for such communications, please provide copies of the

same.

(c) Please provide copies of the information provided to the Applicants in

receipt of the five most recent Offers made by your authority’s housing

department, including the Offer itself and any subsequent correspondence.

As above in regards to utilising ‘Andy Gale Toolkits’, Letters are uploaded to the Housing Jigsaw System, in chronological order to the applicant as applicable. However, applicants at South Derbyshire bid through the housing register, we do not tend to do Direct Offers/Offers in the Private Rented Sector due to the success rate through the Housing Register, so when applicants bid and are being shortlisted, we send the offer letter to them if they are being offered.

3. Please confirm what information is provided, and in what format, after an Applicant

accepts or refuses an Offer and your authority’s housing department terminates

its ‘main housing duty’. In particular:

(a) Please confirm whether it is your authority’s housing department’s practice

to always send a separate letter to notify the Applicant of the termination

of the ‘main housing duty’ after the acceptance or refusal of an Offer.

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(b) Please confirm, and if so how, Applicants are advised in relation to:

(i) the consequences of your authority’s housing department

terminating its ‘main housing duty’; and

(ii) the Applicant’s right to request a review.

and/or precedents for such communications, please provide copies of the

same.

(d) Please provide copies of the information provided in the five most recent

cases where an Applicant has accepted or refused an Offer and your

authority’s housing department has terminated its ‘main housing duty’.

As above in regards to utilising ‘Andy Gale Toolkits’, Letters are uploaded to the Housing Jigsaw System, in chronological order to the applicant as applicable. Separate letter is sent following closure of a duty ending.

4. If your authority’s housing department’s approach to notifying Applicants of Offers

and/or the steps to be taken where an Applicant refuses an Offer is currently under

and/or has been subject to review and/or legal challenge, please provide further

details (and if already known, the outcome of that review and/or legal challenge).

N/A

Response