To approve the proposed redesign of the allocations arrangements for Herefordshire.

The cabinet member health and wellbeing introduced the item. The head of strategic housing and wellbeing commissioning and the strategic housing team leader spoke to the report.

The main points noted were:

·         that the council had a range of statutory duties relating to housing but did not own any housing stock of its own;

·         providers operating in the county were not prepared to continue with the existing allocation system and the council had no power to force a system on them;

·         Herefordshire was one of the first, but not the only, council to make significant changes to its housing allocations system;

·         changes to the system would not go live until fully tested with an expected implementation in autumn 2018;

·         under the new system users would have the choice to go on the housing register and/or register directly with the individual providers;

·         the council would make referrals from its housing register to the three largest providers in the county – with around 80% of the total housing stock – through a single system called homehunt while smaller providers would receive direct nominations;

·         the new arrangements would include automatic transfer of data, all parties would work to a detailed agreement on data protection and data handling;

·         while there was a measure of complexity in the new arrangements, the existing homepoint system was also quite complex;

·         a no wrong door approach would be put in place to assist users and the council would monitor the performance of the new system overall;

·         the IT systems behind the new allocation arrangements would be important and the council was seeking to revise and upgrade systems, a recent procurement exercise had resulted in no contract being offered as none of the bids were considered satisfactory but work was continuing to seek a suitable system;

·         providers were content that homepoint continue until the new system was ready but did want the new system in place as soon as possible;

·         the council was working closely with partners and a working group of communications officers from all the organisations involved to develop a communications strategy for the launch of the new system;

·         there was no requirement for alignment in policies between English and Welsh authorities but discussions with neighbouring Welsh councils had proved useful in the past and could be renewed, it was noted that generally social providers based in Wales had not expanded into English border areas;

·         social rent was generally fixed below affordable rent which was set below market rate, however in practical terms in most schemes there was little difference between social rent and affordable rent;

·         social housing could only be operated by a registered provider and increasingly providers were focussing on commercial risk, leading in some cases to being unable to provide social housing on rural developments as no provider was willing to take them on.

Group leaders were invited to give the views of their group. It was confirmed that written answers would be provided to questions submitted prior to the meeting. Views expressed set out that:

·         there was surprise that providers could not be required to comply with the council allocations policy;

·         there was disappointment that the council was moving away from an integrated system;

·         there was concern that the timescale for commissioning the software needed was ambitious and a view that the commercial sector did have systems which might be relevant;

·         a unified point of contact seemed sensible but there was recognition that the homepoint system had not worked;

·         procurement of the new IT system was the biggest risk;

·         training and informing the public was very important.

In light of the difficulties in procuring a new IT system it was agreed that the recommendation be amended to remove reference to a specific date for implementation. Instead it was recommended that the new system be implemented at the earliest opportunity.

Resolved that:

(a)  the following new arrangements for allocating social housing be approved for implementation at the earliest opportunity within the existing budget:

·         the closure of the Home Point system and brand

·         the separation of the housing register from the advertising of properties and the management of bidding and the discharge of the council’s duty to nominate people and monitor allocations through multiple arrangements, including automatic data transfer.