Support for tenants to sustain their tenancies

Before we grant a tenancy, we will carry out an assessment to check that prospective tenants are working and ask for payslips, or if they’re in receipt of Housing Benefit, Personal Independence Payment or Universal Credit.

Where a tenant requires it, we will provide (where this is possible) support needed to sustain their tenancy and live comfortably in their homes, or we will signpost the tenant to other teams in the council or to other external support agencies.

Vulnerable tenants

We take a holistic view of tenancy sustainment in line with our vulnerable council tenants and leaseholders policy.

There are 4 main ways in which we aim to become aware on a responsive basis that a resident is vulnerable or has a common indicator of vulnerability. These are:

• the resident tells us
• a neighbour, family member or friend of the resident tells us
• a professional such as a GP, social worker, or support worker tells us
• council officers or contractors identify that a resident may be vulnerable and informs us, generally through the Concern Card system

Home visits

We use the home visit for a range of reasons including to:

• carry out a tenancy audit and verify that the person occupying the property is the legal tenant and assess if any structural alterations have been made without permission
• carry out a welfare check to assess all likely safeguarding risks, including abuse, neglect, self-neglect and hoarding, and cuckooing, and if specialist support is needed such as an assessment of mental capacity

Tackling tenancy fraud

We have a zero-tolerance approach to fraud and consider housing related fraud to be a high risk and therefore priority work area. We will take a proactive approach to identifying fraud and investigate all reports of suspected fraud using all the powers available to us.