Councils Shun Government Advice on Allocations

A significant proportion of local authorities who responded to a government consultation on housing allocations have indicated they will ignore advice to prioritise applicants who are working.  The government issued revised guidance for local authorities on the allocation of housing which urged authorities to consider how allocation policies can be used to support households that are working or want to work, and suggested preference might be given to people in employment-related training or low-paid jobs. A summary of the 224 responses published alongside the guidance states more than half of local authorities that responded do not currently have an allocations policy that favours people in work. Less than a third of these said they had definite plans to change their policy in light of the guidance, and more than a third said they had no intention of doing so.  Download a copy of the consultation response from the CLG website.