New assessment method for medical housing points

Changes are to be made to the way Moray Council awards additional points to housing applicants who think their current home is not suitable because of their clinical health condition and/or disability.

From next month the existing medical assessment process will be replaced by a housing functional assessment model.

The new model is not an assessment of a person’s condition or disability but an assessment of the need for another home that would either help stabilise a clinical condition or disability or allow a person to function more independently.

It is about the way a condition affects how the person manages at home and focuses on the person’s ability, or lack of ability, to carry out essential day-to-day tasks within their home.

The criteria used to award additional points will also change. People who already have an application under the previous scheme will retain the points that they have been awarded until there is a change in their circumstances.

A housing occupational therapist will carry out the assessment by reviewing the information the applicant has given in the new functional assessment form. If an applicant is not happy with the assessment decision, they will have the right to appeal.

The new process will be monitored and councillors will be presented with a progress report at the end of the first year.

Moray Council area stretches from Tomintoul in the south to the shores of the Moray Firth, from Keith in the east to Forres in the west. The council and its 4,500 employees respond to the needs of 95,510 residents in this beautiful part of Scotland, which nestles between Aberdeenshire and the Highlands.

Famous for its colony of dolphins, fabulous beaches and more malt whisky distilleries than any where else in Scotland, Moray is a thriving area and a great place to live.

Headquartered in  Elgin, the administrative capital of Moray.