Agenda and minutes

(Assistant to the Chief Executive)  To report the appointment of any substitute members for the meeting.

There were no substitutions made at the meeting.

To agree the notes of the last Panel meeting, held on 23 October 2012 (attached).

RESOLVED:

That the notes of the last meeting of the Panel, held on 23 October 2012, be agreed subject to the following amendment:

That “Marshall” under “Members Present” be amended to W Marshall, Tenants and Leaseholders Federation.

(Assistant to the Chief Executive). To declare interests in any items on the agenda.

In considering whether to declare a personal or a prejudicial interest under the Code of Conduct, Overview & Scrutiny members are asked pay particular attention to paragraph 11 of the Code in addition to the more familiar requirements.

This requires the declaration of a personal and prejudicial interest in any matter before an OS Committee which relates to a decision of or action by another Committee or Sub Committee of the Council, a Joint Committee or Joint Sub Committee in which the Council is involved and of which the Councillor is also a member.

Paragraph 11 does not refer to Cabinet decisions or attendance at an OS meeting purely for the purpose of answering questions or providing information on such a matter.

Pursuant to the Council’s Code of Officer Conduct, the Assistant Director of Housing, R Wilson declared the following interest:

• Item 6 Review of the Housing Allocations Scheme, the officer’s son and daughter were both on the Housing Register and changes in policy may result in their priority category changing to their advantage. Therefore the officer advised that he would leave the meeting for consideration of the sections of the report dealing with priority categories (pages 44 - 46 and 61 - 63 of the agenda document), these would be presented by the Director of Housing.

The officer indicated that he would present the rest of the report as the other changes proposed would affect all waiting list applicants equally and were not specific to his own children. He added that he would not be involved in his children’s cases in any way after the policy changes and he had already declared this interest on his own registration form.

(Chairman/Lead Officer) The Overview and Scrutiny Committee has agreed the Terms of Reference of this Panel and associated Work Programme. This is attached. The Panel are asked at each meeting to review both documents.

The Panel’s Terms of Reference and Work Programme were noted.

(Director of Housing) To consider the attached report.

The Panel received a report from the Assistant Director of Housing (Operations) regarding the Tenancy Policy.

Under the Localism Act 2011, housing providers were granted additional powers enabling them to make decisions locally about the management of social housing. Providers had the options of using Flexible Tenancies, which in most cases must be for a minimum period of 5 years or a minimum of between 2 and 5 years in exceptional circumstances. Flexible tenants had the same rights generally as secure tenants, with some exceptions.

On expiry of the fixed term, the tenant would be assessed against an agreed Assessment Criteria determining whether a further tenancy would be granted. On a tenancy not being offered, there was a requirement to provide the tenant with housing advice and assistance.

The Localism Act 2011 required local authorities to publish a Tenancy Strategy which must set out the matters to which registered providers were to have regard in formulating their polices. The Cabinet had adopted the Council’s Tenancy Strategy in October 2012. Additionally, all registered providers were required to publish and be responsible for their own individual Tenancy Policy, which set out:

(a)        The kinds of tenancies granted

(b)        Circumstances where a tenancy of a particular type would be granted and the length of the term

(c)        Circumstances where a term of less than 5 years would be granted

(d)        Circumstances where another tenancy would be granted on expiry on the same or another property

(e)        How applicants/tenants could appeal against the length of the Flexible Tenancy or the decision not to grant a further tenancy

(f)         Taking account of the needs of vulnerable people

(g)        Provision of housing advice and assistant if another tenancy was not granted at the end of the term

(h)        Discretionary succession rights

It was advised that the Housing Portfolio Holder recently held informal discussions with Cabinet Members about the way forward on Tenure Reform. This was considered essential as it gave guidance on how Cabinet Members felt the scheme should be drafted potentially saving a great deal of officer time. As a result the Portfolio Holder made a formal decision based on the Cabinet’s initial views on the general approach to be adopted, and that the tenancy policy should be drafted on the basis of the following principle subject to the views of the Panel:

(i)         That a Pilot Scheme for Flexible Tenancies be introduced as soon as possible, with these being granted to all new tenants who signed up to a tenancy of a property of three bedrooms or more for a fixed term of 9 years.

(ii)        Flexible Tenancies should include in their term on introductory period of 12 months.

(iii)       The Localism Act removed the “Right to Improve” for flexible tenants, but gave councils powers to continue granting this right if it wished, it was felt this right should be granted through the Tenancy Agreement, but the “Right to Compensation for Improvements” should not be considered after the 12 month review.

(iv)  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44.

(Director of Housing) To consider the attached report.

The Panel received a report from the Assistant Director of Housing (Operations) regarding the Review of the Housing Allocations Scheme.

The Council was legally required to have a Housing Allocations Scheme for determining priorities and the procedure followed in selecting a person for accommodation, or nominating a person to be a tenant for accommodation held by another Registered Provider of social housing. In the past, the Cabinet had considered the Council’s Housing Allocations Scheme annually and reviewed any changes. However, the current Scheme had not been reviewed since its introduction in December 2010, this was because the Government guidance “The Allocation of Accommodation: Guidance for local housing authorities in England” was not received until July 2012.

Under the guidance, authorities were given powers to decide locally how accommodation should be allocated based upon local priorities. Authorities were therefore empowered to allocate their accommodation in any way they saw fit, provided schemes were legal and rational.

Due to these additional powers resulting in potentially the most comprehensive review ever undertaken of the scheme, the Portfolio Holder had informal discussions with Cabinet colleagues seeking initial views which gave guidance on how Cabinet members felt the scheme should be drafted officer time. As a result, the Portfolio Holder made a formal decision based on the Cabinet’s initial view that, and subject to the views of the Panel for the next review of the Housing Allocations Scheme, officers draft a scheme on the basis of the proposed principles:

Property Sizes

The Assistant Director drew attention to property sizes. The current property sizes allocated to households under the Council’s current Housing Allocations Scheme were as follows:

(1)   Studio – Single persons

(2)   1 Bedroom – single persons or 2 people without children

(3)   2 Bedrooms – homeseekers with 1 child or homeseekers with 2 children of the same sex

(4)   3 Bedrooms – homeseekers with 2 children of opposite sex or homeseekers with 3 or 4 children

(5)   4 Bedrooms – homeseekers with 4 or more children

(6)   5 Bedrooms – homeseekers with 5 or more children

The changes to Housing Benefit under the Welfare Reform Act 2012 for persons under occupying accommodation in the social rented sector was explained in a leaflet produced by the National Housing Federation which was sent to the Panel and accorded with the LHA criteria for under occupation. Under the changes if a person had more bedrooms than the Government said it needed housing benefit would be reduced. The Welfare Reform Act 2012 specified the criteria, which was that a separate bedroom should be occupied by:

(a)   Each adult couple

(b)   Any other person aged 16 or over

(c)   Two children of the same sex under the age of 16

(d)   Two children under the age of 10 regardless of their sex

(e)   Any other child

(f)     A carer (who did not normally live with the person) if the person or their partner needed overnight care

Under this standard and the bedrooms standard under the overcrowding provisions of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

To consider which reports are ready to be submitted to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its next meeting.

The Chairman advised that he would provide a verbal report to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the two reports discussed this evening.

The next meeting of the Panel had been scheduled for Tuesday 22 January 2013 at 5.30p.m., however it has been found that this meeting clashes with a Pre-Cabinet meeting the same evening. Members will need to consider a suitable date for January.

There will be a further Panel meeting on Tuesday 19 March 2013 at 5.30p.m. in Committee Room 1.

A new date for the next meeting of the Panel was agreed, it was 28 January 2013 at 6.00p.m.