Purpose

Applicants are awarded a banding on the housing register
that reflects their level of housing need. Band A+ is for emergency
and very urgent priority cases (such as threat to an applicant's
life, or where there is an immediate need to move on medical or
exceptional grounds). It was established as a mechanism to give
overall priority to those on the housing register in the most
urgent housing need.

Banding category A+4 was created to prioritise and move homeless
households on the housing register from banding A owed the main
duty residing in nightly paid/hostel temporary accommodation for 12
months or more out of temporary accommodation. At the time it was
introduced, the number of households in temporary accommodation was
significantly lower, therefore it was far less common for a
household to remain in those types of TA for more than 12 months
and very few cases were placed into this category.

Banding category A+7 was introduced as a prevention tool to prevent
households at significant risk of homelessness from needing to be
placed into temporary accommodation. It is available where a
household (owed a homeless duty and in priority need) on the
housing register in banding A (for having received a section 21
notice for no fault of their own) then receives a court order to
leave their current accommodation.

Increased homelessness demand has resulted in an increased volume
of applicants in Band A+. An alternative method of achieving the
same pace of throughput is being introduced.

Content

Introduce a minor operational change by keeping temporary
accommodation and court order cases in band A and backdating their
priority housing date. Also apply this retrospectively to existing
temporary accommodation and court order cases in band A+. 
This decision was taken using delegation 7.e of the Divisions
Sub-Delegation Scheme and was taken in consultation with the
Cabinet Member for Housing.  The
amendments shall take effect from 2 May 2025.