Medical Banding?

Xx_Luchia_xX

Hi everyone!

Recently had a medical assessment from Gateway 2 Care(Accessible Homes) as I have a disability and struggling to manage with the bath and stairs in my home.
The lady that came out explained that due to the design of the building they unfortunately couldn't do any adaptions and suggested we register on the Choose N Move website, She said she was going to write a report for this and she was 99% certain we would be placed in Band B.
Luckily the other day the account was approved on the Choose n move thing but it showed Band D, I contacted them immediately and was told this is just the default Band and that the case was now with accessible homes who would update the banding with the medical information from the assessment.

I've never used this system before and wanted to ask what this banding thing actually means?
Is Band B a good thing?
I did explain to the lady who came out that I couldn't live in a flat with a communal area and she told me not to worry about that as my medical report would waiver the age restrictions for a Bungalow.

Has anyone gone through this before? Curious how long roughly it takes for the banding to be changed from the default to the new one and what the banding thing is?

Many thanks 

poppy12345

You've posted in the welfare benefits section of the forum. Try posting in the house renting/buying section here. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/house-buying-renting-selling

Xx_Luchia_xX

poppy12345 said:

You've posted in the welfare benefits section of the forum. Try posting in the house renting/buying section here. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/house-buying-renting-selling

Hi, I did and someone told me to post here instead

Perfumeflower57

Being in Band B means you have been placed in the 'High Housing Need' category as you have high medical needs and just means you have been placed in a priority group on the waiting list where you will be given reasonable preference for a property if you need to move home due to health/disability reasons.

The default Band D means reduced priority or having a low housing need.

Band A is 'Urgent Housing' category..

Perfumeflower57

Perfumeflower57 said:

Being in Band B means you have been placed in the 'High Housing Need' category as you have high medical needs and just means you have been placed in a priority group on the waiting list where you will be given reasonable preference for a property if you need to move home due to health/disability reasons.

The default Band D means reduced priority or having a low housing need.

Band A is 'Urgent Housing' category..

Just to elaborate a bit further on my above post on how the banding system works as it was nearly 2 in the morning when I posted.

As you can imagine the council/housing association housing waiting lists are very long. 

The term 'medical band' is not really used as such, these bands are 'allocation bands' and the banding system is more of a fair way to determine which group you belong to. The higher the band you are in means you will be placed on the short list and you can bid for a property. Once all bids have been received, they will allocate the property to the applicant with the highest band.

Some Council's also have a points system which work the same way. So bands and points are based on housing needs. Your also likely to be offered housing first if you are homeless, living in cramped conditions or have medical conditions.

If you go on the Gov website and type in 'council housing' there is more information on there to help further explain on how the banding system works. Unfortunately, I cannot attach a link as I'm new to this site.