Hartlepool Homesearch Scandal: Disabled Applicants 'Regularly Sidelined' as Government is Asked To Step In..
- teessidetoday
- 9 hours ago
- 4 min read
Punished for Complaining? Claims of ‘Revenge Disqualifications’ in Hartlepool Homesearch & Admin Failures Prompts Government Regulators to Investigate Hartlepool's Controversial Choice Based Lettings Scheme.
11th Jan 2026
A Teesside Councils choice-based lettings system has been referred to central government for investigation, following allegations the scheme is deliberately failing those it is meant to protect.
An in-depth investigation report published in the autumn of 2025 by the Teesside & Durham Post examined widespread concerns about the operation of the 'Hartlepool Homesearch' scheme, which is administered by Hartlepool Borough Council. The report unearthed damming findings, leading to questions being raised over the schemes fairness, legality, and governance within the council’s housing allocations process.
Disabled Applicants Consistently Overlooked By a System Where the Goalposts Repeatedly Shift...
According to The Teesside & Durham Post’s 2025 investigation, properties specifically identified as suitable or necessary for disabled applicants were, in multiple cases, being found to have been allocated to individuals with no comparable priority need. Sources cited within the report alleged that scores of applicants with mobility issues or long-term health conditions were being repeatedly bypassed, despite meeting the criteria for higher priority under the scheme.
Equally concerning were claims that some partner housing providers, such as Home Group Ltd were using Hartlepool Homesearch as their exclusive allocation route, while simultaneously giving preferential treatment to lower-band applicants over those already registered on their own external waiting lists with demonstrably greater need.
Administration Failures and “Revenge Disqualifications”
The report went even further, identifying what it described as significant administrative failings within the council’s housing department. These included delays, unexplained bidding exclusions, and inconsistent application of eligibility rules, primarily against those who were 'vulnerable' or had greater medical needs.
Most troubling, however, were allegations of a culture at Hartlepool Borough Council of so-called “revenge disqualifications”, where vulnerable applicants who'd repeatedly challenged decisions by the council on their housing application, or made complaints allegedly found themselves suspended from the housing register or removed from the system altogether. Campaigners and sources interviewed by The Teesside & Durham Post characterised this as punitive behaviour incompatible with a supposedly 'fair' and transparent public service.
Findings Put Before Hartlepool’s MP
The Teesside & Durham Posts findings were formally put before the towns Labour MP, Jonathan Brash. Despite the seriousness of the allegations, no substantive intervention followed.
Hartlepool Borough Council, for its part is said to have quickly moved to sideline the report, issuing a statement insisting that its Homesearch scheme “operates within the law”.
Critics argue that "carefully tailored" response simply failed to engage with the substance of the claims and did little to reassure applicants who've been unfairly treated.
Serious Allegations of a Cover-Up
With no further action forthcoming from the town’s MP, and amid claims from sources that senior Hartlepool Borough Council officials were attempting to 'bury' the report’s conclusions, The Teesside & Durham Post then escalated the matter directly to central government in December 2025, with the investigation report & its findings formally referred to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, which has responsibility for housing regulation and local council oversight.
Reporters for the Teesside & Durham Post were recently informed that the department is now considering the information as part of its regulatory work, where in correspondence seen recently, officials stated:
“We will also consider what you have told us as part of our regulation work. Over time we will look to see if the information you have shared with us is similar to other things we have heard. This will be helpful to us when planning what the focus of our inspection might be and also when our inspections will take place.”
What Happens Next?
While no formal action has yet been announced, the confirmation that the department is actively assessing the allegations represents a significant escalation. If similar complaints are identified elsewhere, Hartlepool Borough Council could face much closer regulatory scrutiny, including targeted inspections of its housing allocation practices.
For applicants currently trapped in what critics describe as a broken system, this referral may be the first indication that their concerns are finally being taken seriously beyond the town hall.
Whether this leads to any meaningful reform of the Hartlepool Homesearch scheme however remains to be seen. What's now clear, however, is that allegations once dismissed by local leaders are now firmly on the radar of central government — and that the handling of social housing in Hartlepool is no longer solely a local matter.
You can read our report into Hartlepool Homesearch from the following link
