A shake-up is in the pipeline for how council houses are allocated in Southampton – including kicking people off the waiting list if they repeatedly refuse offers.

The city council is proposing to replace its points-based system with a banding scheme.

It is suggested this approach of grouping applicants into four bands in order of priority will be easier to understand and simpler to administer.

A council briefing paper said: “The banding scheme is designed to give the greatest priority to those applicants who are in the highest need.

“Under the current scheme, applicants receive one point per month for waiting, in addition to the other points which relate to their circumstances. Therefore, applicants can accrue many points by waiting a long time.

“They are often successful in bidding on properties to the detriment of those who applied later but are in more acute need.”

In 2022/23, there were more than 8,000 on the waiting list for social housing but only 768 lets were made.

Officers currently seek exceptions to the policy to ensure residents with acute need are housed quickly. The paper says this undermines confidence.

Several other changes are proposed including setting a limit on the number of refusals applicants make.

At present, if an applicant is offered a home, they can refuse as many offers as they like without penalty.

Under the new plans, if an applicant refuses three suitable offers, they will be placed into the lowest priority band for a total of six months.

If they refuse a fourth time, they will be removed from the housing needs register, although there would be exceptional circumstances in some cases.

“This change is proposed because refusal of properties is time-consuming for the council and can result in a potential rent loss,” the paper says.

“Applying this penalty will be done where the council is satisfied the offer was reasonable and the reason for refusal unreasonable.”

The proposed new policy would require applicants to re-register on an annual basis.

The local connection to be placed on the register would change from having had to live in Southampton for three continuous years to a relaxation of three out of the past five years.

A seven-week public consultation took place in recent months. It was shared with everyone on the register and attracted 426 completed responses.

If approved, the rollout should be completed by March next year.