B-with-us

B-with-us operates in five Local Authorities in Pennine Lancashire: Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle, and Rossendale.

Everyone applying to B-with-us is required to have a local connection to one of these Local Authorities in order to qualify for an active application (we also have a list of situations in whcih applicants are exempt from requiring a local connection).

What counts as a local connection?
Applicants will have a local connection if they:

• Have been continuously resident in Pennine Lancashire for six of the last twelve months, or
• Have been resident in Pennine Lancashire for three of the last five years
• Have a family member who is resident in Pennine Lancashire and has been for a minimum of five years (family members includes parents, siblings, children adult children, grandparents, other special persons, with whom the applicant has an ongoing relationship with and is in contact with)
• Have been employed in Pennine Lancashire for the last six months and the work is not seasonal or temporary

What counts as an exemption to local connection?
Applicants will be exempt from requiring a local connection if they are:

• Statutory homeless applicants and applicants who are victims of domestic abuse, threats of domestic abuse or those escaping domestic abuse
• Applicants who are in a reasonable preference category under section 166A of the Housing Act 1996, and a prevention or relief duty is owed by one of the local authority partners
• Applicants who need to move to take up an offer of permanent employment in any of the five local authority areas - proof of the offer of employment will be required and applicants will need to demonstrate that they are unable to accept the offer of employment without moving into one of the five local authority areas (see appendix one for more information)
• Applicants who have a continuing care responsibility for someone who is resident in the five local authority areas (evidence will be required)
• Applicants who have or are due to undertake training or higher education in any of the five local authority areas with a duration of at least six months (evidence will be required)
• Applicants who are looked after, accommodated or fostered by Lancashire or Blackburn children service authorities in any of the five local authority areas
• Applicants who were looked after, accommodated or fostered by any other children service authority in any of the five local authority areas, providing they were resident in any of the Lancashire County Council district plus Blackburn with Darwen for a continuous period of 16 weeks or more
• Applicants who were accommodated under Section 95 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 and granted leave to remain in any of the five Local Authority areas/Pennine Lancashire
• Applicants who are serving or former members of the UK Armed Forces or the Reserve Armed Forces (or their bereaved spouse or civil partners who are leaving military accommodation, where the death of their spouse can be partially or wholly attributed to the armed forces) - evidence of service will be required
• Applicants who are divorced or separated spouses of members of the UK Armed Forces or the Reserve Armed Forces, where their lack of local connection can be attributed to the armed forces

Evidence
You may have been asked to provide evidence of your local connection before your application can be activated. This is because we need to confirm that you have a local connection (or are exempt) before we can consider activating your application.
The letter/email you will have received explains what documentation you need to provide, and when you need to provide it by.
Your application will be suspended while we await this evidence from you - failure to provide the evidence will result in your application being closed.