Highgate councillor Siân Berry says the Town Hall must take ‘urgent’ action

PROBLEMS with the council’s health points system demand “urgent” action, a councillor has said, after an internal report found many residents with health conditions were being left languishing in unsuitable homes.

Highgate councillor Siân Berry has written to housing chief Cllr Meric Apak saying the system was so broken she had begun advising people to expect an initial rejection when applying for “medical priority” points.

In theory, council residents with health conditions that are being caused or made worse by their housing – such as damp and mould – can gain extra “medical points” that make it easier to move to more suitable properties. But in practice, the system doesn’t always work so smoothly.

Speaking to the New Journal, Cllr Berry said: “All these issues are urgent… Housing conditions that affect your health have become a much more salient issue, because there’s some horrific cases – [such as] the Rochdale case – it’s something that I think the council should have been tackling more proactively.

“If you’ve got a home that’s affecting your health, and you apply for help and you get rejected, that’s going to be an awful experience.

“When people come to see me for advice, I warn them about this and that makes them better prepared, but for a lot of people they must be suffering disappointment, rejection, worry.

“This is going to make everyone’s situation worse – particularly if you’ve got health problems already.”

An internal audit, seen by the New Journal and set to be made public next month, shows that in practice there are a number of problems with the vetting process that can block tenants from accessing “medical priority” points. This is the second council report to look into the issue after an independent report was conducted last year.

The audit also suggests the criteria for awarding medical points is unclear both to applicants and council staff, and suggests questionnaires are being unnecessarily issued and relevant medical records are being overlooked.

The report also suggests housing problems that could impact the health of inhabitants are not always referred to the correct teams.

Additionally, residents often experience delays when applying for medical priority, the report suggests, and the department has to respond to a high number of complaints and requests for reviews.

Cllr Berry is now call­ing for “rapid improve­ments” to be made.

The council said “this is a complex situation”, adding: “Over the last six months we have been working deeply with residents to understand how they experience the allocations process.

“Alongside the recommendations of the Medical Assessment Internal Audit report, this has helped us to identify improvements in the information we provide, how we communicate decisions and the review process.

“We will be testing these improve­ments with residents and community groups over the next few months.”