Northumberland Homefinder - Prioritising Applications

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Prioritising Applications

Common Allocation Policy

The council and its partners have agreed a Common Allocation Policy which means that the way houses are allocated will be the same throughout Northumberland. All partners in the scheme will use the policy guidelines to assess housing need. You can view Northumberland's Common Allocation Policy here.

Priority Bands

Northumberland Homefinder uses a banding scheme to prioritise applications. We must give priority to people who are in most housing need as we cannot let our homes on a first-come, first-served basis.

We will assess your application and place it into one of 5 bands, the table below sets out the banding scheme and gives examples of those applicants who may be eligible to be placed in each band.

Band P is awarded to applicants who are in urgent housing need.

Band 1 is awarded to applicants who are in high housing need.

Band 2 is awarded to applicants who are in medium housing need.

Band 2R is awarded to applicants who would otherwise be in Bands P,1 or 2 but whose priority has been reduced.

Band 3 is awarded to applicants who are currently adequately housed.

The Common Allocation Policy further defines the various categories of need.

Our homes are in high demand, so we may place your application in a lower band (2R) if you:

do not have a local connection with Northumberland

or

you can afford to buy a home.

Band P applicants will only keep their priority status for 3 months and if you haven't bid for a home during this time, then you could lose this priority. However if you are in band P and we agree that you are homeless, you will have only one month to bid for a home. In either case, we will write to tell you when your priority time limit is coming to an end.

Additional Preference for Armed Forces Personnel in Urgent Housing Need

With effect from 30 November 2012, applicants who fall into any of the categories below and who have been assessed as being in Band P (urgent housing need) will be awarded additional preference by means of backdating the effective date by one calendar month. For example, a qualifying applicant who is awarded Band P on 1^st December 2012 will have their effective date backdated to 1^st November 2012.

Applicant who will be awarded this additional preference will meet the following criteria:

Be assessed as being in Band P

AND meet any of the following criteria:

Is serving in the regular forces and suffering from a serious injury, illness or disability which is attributable (wholly or partly) to the person's service
Has formerly served in the regular forces (Veterans)
Has recently[i] ceased, or will cease to be entitled, to reside in accommodation provided by the Ministry of Defence following the death of that person's spouse or civil partner who has served in the regular forces and whose death was attributable (wholly or partly) to that person's service
Is serving or has served in the reserve forces and is suffering from a serious injury, illness or disability which is attributable (wholly or partly) to the person's service.

Definition of Terms

Regular Personnel/Regular Forces – Individuals currently serving as members of the Naval Service (including the Royal Navy and Royal Marines), Army or Royal Air Force.

Reservists/Reserve Forces – Volunteer Reservists, who form the Royal Naval Reserve, Royal Marine Reserve, Territorial Army and the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, and Regular Reservists, who comprise the Royal Fleet Reserve, Army Reserve and Royal Air Force Reserve.

Veterans – Those who have served for at least a day in HM Armed Forces, whether as a Regular or as a Reservist.

[i] For the purposes of this addendum "recently" will usually mean within 6 months of ceasing to be entitled to forces accommodation. Relevant Senior Officers with responsibility for applying this policy may consider awarding additional preference outside of this time in exceptional circumstances which includes but is not limited to applicants with health issues which prevented them from applying sooner. Applicants will have the usual right of review detailed within the Common Allocation Policy.