Issue - meetings

To receive a report advising of necessary changes to the Lettings Policy in light of changes made to legislation and statutory guidance by the Secretary of State.

The Cabinet has

(1)  approved the amendments to the Lettings Policy, as shown in Appendix 1 in the submitted report; and

(2)  delegated authority to the Corporate Director (Communities), in consultation with Executive Councillor for Resident Services and Corporate Performance, to make minor amendments and statutory changes to the Lettings Policy.

A report by the Housing Needs & Resources Manager was submitted (a copy of which is appended to the Minute Book) advising of necessary changes to the Lettings Policy in light of changes made to legislation and statutory guidance by the Secretary of State. As these changes were implemented immediately, they were introduced to staff by a management instruction whilst the necessary changes to Lettings Policies were agreed amongst the Home-Link partner councils. The proposed amendments to the Policy were to ensure that the risk of legal challenge was minimised.

The Executive Councillor for Resident Services and Corporate Performance, Councillor Ferguson introduced the report. Reference was made to the Council meeting on 15^th October 2025 where a resident asked whether the Council would recognise being a Care Leaver as a Protected Characteristic. The amendments to the policy provided clarity as to how the Care Leavers funded by Cambridgeshire County Council were prioritised compared with Care Leavers funded by other authorities. This reflected the Council’s corporate parenting responsibilities to those who deserved support, while maintaining fair and lawful access for all eligible applicants and removing barriers for people in crisis when stability mattered most. Reference was also made to the comments of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Environment, Communities and Partnerships) which were unanimously supportive, however he understood the concerns around what ‘minor future changes’ would be and advised any changes would be done in discussion with relevant officers and communicated to the Chair of the Scrutiny Panel.

The Cabinet commended the valuable change to the Policy which was right and proper and was testament to how the team of officers had worked. Whereupon it was

RESOLVED

that

(1)  the amendments to the Lettings Policy, as shown in appendix 1 in the submitted report, be approved; and

(2)  authority be delegated to the Corporate Director (Communities), in consultation with Executive Councillor for Resident Services and Corporate Performance, to make minor amendments and statutory changes to the Lettings Policy