Slough Borough Council’s Cabinet will decide on a new Housing Allocations Policy on Monday 20 July, tightening the rules for who can join the housing register. The council proposes cutting the household income cap from £55,000 to £39,059 a year and lowering the savings and assets limit from £20,000 to £16,000. People who are already adequately housed would be stopped from joining the register altogether.
The meeting at Observatory House comes after a public consultation that ran from 10 March to 12 May and drew 1,002 responses. If approved, the new policy takes effect on 30 November, with a temporary suspension of the register for up to two weeks in November to move everyone over. Every existing applicant will have to re-register and be assessed against the new criteria, with the most urgent cases contacted first from the end of July.
The existing Housing Allocations Scheme has not been updated since 2018. Councillor Iftakhar Ahmed, lead member for housing, homelessness and communities, said the review brought Slough’s requirements in line with other boroughs. “The updated policy brings our requirements in line with many other boroughs, with our focus on improving fairness and transparency, while continuing to prioritise those in most housing need,” he said. The new policy would last five years before another review.
Alongside the financial thresholds, the proposals include raising the age at which children of the same sex must share a bedroom from 16 to 18. Young carers would get their own bedroom for as long as they provide care at home. The Cabinet meeting starts at 6:30pm and members of the public can attend.
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