Early Engagement - Expression of Interest for Options Appraisal for Housing Allocation Function

West Northants Council would like expressions of interest to complete a review and options appraisal for future service delivery of the Council Housing Allocation scheme/ Housing register function. The options appraisal will need to:

• assess the key benefits, costs and risks for each of the options identified *provide a professional and evidenced based view on whether a new Allocations scheme should operate a 100% choice based letting scheme (CBL), a 100% Direct letting scheme, or a hybrid approach and what these options may look like.

The overarching considerations should be the achievement of key objectives. We consider these to be:

The creation of WNC in 2021, alongside the introduction of the new Integrated Care System, provides new opportunities for joined-up working at both strategic and operational levels across health, public health, adult social care and housing. Current situation regarding the Housing Allocation function.

The Council currently have three separate housing allocation schemes and associated housing registers. There are just under 4000 households on the housing registers across the areas.

There are 3 ICT platforms being used to operate the 3 housing registers to implement the allocation schemes. The housing options and homelessness service is carried out by the Council's in-house, housing solutions and homelessness teams. There is 1 ICT platform used for this purpose.

Section 166a of the Housing Act 1996 requires all local authorities to have a published allocation scheme. This is the case regardless of if the local authority owns stock or not. Work has started on the development of a new West Northants Allocations policy, with a timetable for implementation and operation by April 2024 at the latest. A health check and comparison of the current schemes is currently being undertaken. This will provide evidence to support the understanding of how schemes are currently functioning, areas for improvement, if they are legally compliant and if they sufficiently meet the allocation of homes for those in housing need.

We would like to invite expression of interest for undertaking this work on behalf of West Northamptonshire Council. Please limit the EOI to 2 sides of A4.

You will need to set out your experience, the methodology used to meet the requirements of the appraisal, availability and approximate costs. EOI's will only be accepted until close of business on Friday 21st October 2022 by email to procurement@westnorthants.gov.uk

We will note your interest within our records, although we will not be able to provide any further information or acknowledgement of the procurement at this time. Please be aware that submitting an EOI does not guarantee any work or invitation of work with WNC.