Kent Agency Assessment

About the Kent Agency Assessment

This online service for the Kent Agency Assessment is provided by Dover District Council, on behalf of Kent Local Housing Authorities (this does not include Medway).

If you have a client who needs to move home due to a health or support related need that cannot be met in, or is being impaired by, their current accommodation, you can use the Kent Agency Assessment (KAA) process to provide all the supporting information required for the Local Housing Authority (LHA) to assess and prioritise your client’s housing need. Using this form will not automatically result in an offer of accommodation.

Kent Housing Group is a partnership of the Local Housing Authorities and Registered Providers of Housing in Kent and Medway. Each of the partner organisations is a Data Controller for the purposes of the Data Protection Legislation. Before you continue please ensure that your client consents to the Data Protection Statement. If the client does not consent to his/her details being held in this way please contact your Local Council directly to discuss this.

Data Protection Statement

Each Local Housing Authority needs to process personal data in order to deliver their services to you:

• To assess whether you are eligible and qualify for the housing register
• To determine your level of housing need
• To determine what type and size of property you are eligible to bid for

They are committed to treating your information securely, with respect and in line with data protection law.

This privacy notice tells you what to expect when your personal information is processed.  It is important for you to read this in full to understand what information is held about you, how it may be used and your rights in relation to your data.

Personal information is held in accordance with each District and borough council’s document retention scheme.

For independent advice about data protection, privacy, e-privacy and data sharing issues, you can contact the Information Commissioner:

We will collect personal information when we need this with most information being collected when you submit your housing application as this enables us to make a full assessment of your housing needs and determine whether you qualify and are eligible and what size and type of property you would be best suited to. The additional information collected on the Kent Agency Assessment is to enable housing to assess and determine any additional health/support needs for your housing application..

Most information we hold will be collected from you but we may also obtain this from third parties such as your doctor (or other health professional/key worker) or a previous landlord.

To prioritise and assess the Kent Agency Assessment we may ask you some or all of the following question types:

The right of access

You have a right to ask what personal information is held about you and to request a copy of your information. This is known as a ‘subject access request’ (SAR).

SARs need to be made in writing and we ask that your written request is accompanied by proof of your address and identify.

If you are seeking to obtain specific information (e.g. about a particular matter or from a particular time period), it helps if you clarify the details of what you would like to receive in your written request.

If someone is requesting information on your behalf they will need written confirmation from you to evidence your consent for us to release this and proof of ID (both yours and theirs).

We have 30 days within which to provide you with the information you’ve asked for (although we will try to provide this to you as promptly as possible).In response to SARs, we will provide you with a copy of the information we hold that relates to you.

For a SARs request or to access the relevant privacy policy, contact your Local Authority.

Before you start

• You must ensure that your client has completed a housing register application form for Kent Homechoice.
• Before you submit this form, please ensure that your client has seen all of the information entered as they will need to give their approval by signature at the end of the form.
• If your client is eligible to bid, they must continue to bid for appropriate properties on the Kent Homechoice website http://www.kenthomechoice.org.uk and continue to seek appropriate accommodation in the private sector. 
• The KAA should not be used instead of a homeless application but may be used to provide any supporting information. If you need clarification please check with the local LHA for guidance.
• The KAA is designed to be used in Kent by statutory partner agencies and their agents, which for the purposes of the KAA are agreed as:

  • Community Mental Health Team (managers or team leaders)

  • Early Intervention Teams (managers or social workers)

  • General Practitioners (GPs)

  • Health Visitors

  • Hospitals (not Mental Health)

  • Substance Misuse support services (managers or team leaders)

  • Kent Association for the Blind

  • Mental Health in Patient Services

  • Mental Health Older People Service

  • Occupational Therapists

  • Probation /Community Rehabilitation Company (Offender Managers)

  • Social Care Professional

• The 12 Kent Local Housing Authorities have made a commitment to trust and respect the professional assessment you make of your client’s housing need. There are occasions where individual cases need to be discussed in more detail. As part of this, they are willing to provide guidance and training on the types of case that should be referred this way and how to go about it. Contact your LHA for details.

• The KAA should only be signed by the relevant person(s) as shown above.

• Examples of situations where you could use Kent Agency Assessment

  • The client has a critical need to move due to extreme health and support needs that can only be relieved or improved by a move to alternative accommodation.

  • For example: Where adaptations are required to enable a person to live independently and their current accommodation is not suitable for those adaptations.

  • For example: Where a client with severe mental health problems is receiving treatment and support from mental health services but is deemed to be at risk of harm in their current accommodation.

• This form must not be used if the only need for housing is overcrowding as this will already have been assessed.

• The form must only be completed after a relevant agency has visited the client’s home to assess their circumstances.

• The receipt of all KAAs will be acknowledged and the receiving LHA will assess each KAA; any that do not meet the criteria will not be accepted and the notifying agency will be advised.  All accepted KAAs will be given the relevant priority under the receiving LHA’s Lettings/Allocations policy.

• Note: If an inappropriate KAA is received the LHA will contact the referrer to explain why it is not appropriate and advise how the application will be dealt with.

• The LHA will endeavour to contact the referrer when the applicant is offered accommodation.

Using this form

Please note: You have 60 minutes to fill out each page of this form.

Do not use your web browser's 'back' button - if you need to go to a previous page click on the 'Previous' button at the bottom of each page.