Housing Jigsaw Customer Portal user guide

Set up a Housing Register application

• Visit the Horsham Housing Jigsaw website
• Click on the Join the register tile
• Click the log in button and log in using the details you've set up above
• Once you start the housing application, the first screen will automatically pull in the information about yourself you entered when you created your user account. To edit any of that information, click the pencil symbol to the right of the box. To add a joint applicant or other household member, click yes on the relevant section: this will then expand for you to provide the necessary information. Click save and continue when you are finished with this section.
• The next section asks you to provide your current address information. If there is a joint applicant on your application, you will also have to provide their address information. When you’re done, click save.
• When you click save, you will see a summary page, if any of the information on that is incorrect, click the edit button to return to the previous screen and amend the details. Otherwise, click save and continue.

What details we will ask for

The next sections of the application will ask for the following details. Fill each section in and click save and continue to move on to the next section.

• Address history. You need to provide 5 years of address history in order for us to process your application form. If you have not lived at your current address for 5 years, a warning will show and you will need to add further address history to provide a complete 5 year history. Click add address to provide further details.
• Your eligibility to join the housing register. Please answer yes or no to the relevant questions and click save and continue.
• Your current circumstances in more detail, for why you need housing assistance from Horsham District Council. Please fill in the answers and click save and continue.
• Your current living situation in more detail. The questions this section asks depends on what you answered in the first question of the previous section. So, if you answered as in the example private rented sector self-contained, this section will ask for more private rented sector detail.
• Your employment. If there are joint applicants or other household members, you will also need to enter the details of them in this section.
• Other comments. If there is anything you would wish to write in support of your application, please fill in the free text box on the other comments page.
• Pets the household might have. Please be aware that many housing associations have strict no pets policies, and so you may find it harder to be nominated for a property if you have a pet.
• Your health and medical needs. Please answer these questions to give us a better idea of what type of property is suitable for you.
• Your ethnicity and nationality.
• The “where I want to live” section is where you can tell us which parts of the District you would like to in. The more areas you choose means you can be considered for more properties, and you are likely to increase your options of being nominated for a property. However please be aware that some areas, especially rural areas, will require you to have a local connection to that area to be eligible for those properties. Select the areas you’d like to live in and click save and continue.
• Criteria questions that enable us to confirm you are eligible to join the housing register, according to the criteria we have set out in the Housing Nominations Policy
• The Disqualification section builds on the previous section and asks if there is anything in your circumstances that would prevent you from joining the housing register.
• Your local connections. Earlier in the application process we asked you which areas of the District you would like to live (step 14). We explained that some areas, especially rural areas, require you to have a local connection to them. In this section, please tick the areas of the District you have a connection to, and specify the details of these connections in the box. Click save and continue when done.

Declaration and final confirmation

• The Pre-Declaration page is a simple question asking if you are related to anyone at Horsham District Council or to a Registered Provider. Please provide details if necessary, then click save and continue to go to the final page of the application form.
• The Declaration and Consents section. On the navigation menu on the left, everything should now have a green dot next to it which means those sections have been completed. If there is anything you need to change before submitting the application, simply click on the section on the left and amend the details. Please read the information on this page, and sign you name in the box below to confirm that the information you have provided in this form is correct. Click save.
• This should now return you to the main homepage, with a box popping up to acknowledge that your application has been submitted. This does not mean your application is live and you will immediately be considered for properties. Our housing team will now assess your application and we will contact you if we need any further details or to clarify anything. You will be notified in due course when your application is live and to confirm what band you have been awarded. To log out, click on the three lines to top left of the screen and select log out.

Download this guide as a PDF with images

If you would like to view screenshots of the process to help you, you can download a PDF version of the user guide. Please note, the images in the guide do not meet accessibility criteria as there is text on images.

Make changes to your housing application

It’s really important to keep us updated about your circumstances so that we can put your forward for the most suitable property. So if a partner moves in and you want to add them to your application, or your employment situation changes, all you have to do is log in and change the relevant information.

• Once you have logged in, click on Housing Register either from the main menu or the side menu: to access the side menu, click the icon with three lines in the top left corner. You will see a summary screen which tells you at the top the status of your application.
• To check your needs assessment, click on the View need assessment button at the bottom. This will give you a summary of your banding and how many bedrooms you are eligible for.
• To make changes to your application, on the main housing register screen, click on the drop down of the section to which you want to make changes. Then click on the section you wish to edit.
• This will take you to the page on the application form for you to edit. It will be filled with the information you entered when you made the application originally. To edit, simply changes the answers or change the text. Click save and continue. This will automatically move you along to the next page. It’s best to double check all the details on your application, and you can go back to different pages of the application form at any time by click on the relevant section on the left. However many changes you make, you must go to the Declaration and Consents page and click save and continue for the changes to be saved.
• Once you click on save and continue, it will return you to the homepage, with a pop up warning showing you the changes have been saved.

Using the Housing Jigsaw Customer Portal

Menus

There are two main menus in the Housing Jigsaw Customer Portal.

The first is the main menu you see when you log in. This is only accessed from the Portal homepage and lists the following sections:

• Housing register (if you have not yet created a housing application form it will say Join the housing Register) – where you can access your current housing register application, look at the information you have given and make any changes when you need.
• Register as Homeless – This is where you can tell the Council you are in danger of losing your home or you have nowhere safe to live at the moment.
• Notifications – From time to time we might contact you through the Customer Portal, such as requesting documents from you or if we make your application live.
• My Account – This section simply tells you which local authority you are registered with.
• Contact Us – This section has contact details for the Housing and Homelessness Teams.
• Need some more Information? – This section has some more information about our Homeless and Housing Department

The second is accessed by the three lines at the top left hand corner of the screen and is accessible at all times on all pages. It shows

• Housing Register – This is where you can access your housing register application if you have already created one, or where you can apply to join the housing register.
• Homelessness Assistance – This is where you can apply for homelessness assistance and advice.
• Account – If you need to edit your personal information, such as contact information, you can do this here.
• Information – There is information on how to contact our Housing Team in this section.
• The logout button.

Notifications

There are several times when we will need to notify you about a change to your application through the Portal, for example, when we set your application for the housing register live or if we request a document from you.

When this happens, if it has been more than 24 hours since you last logged into the Portal, you will receive an email alerting you. when you log in, you will see an exclamation mark icon on the Notifications tab.  Clicking on the notification section will take you to another screen that explains what the notification is. You can click into each notification that will give even more details.

Supplying supporting documents

The notification may be asking you to send us a document. The number in the bubble shows you how many documents have been requested.

• Click where it says view documents to see what you need to supply.
• The next screen will show what documents are required for each household member. Click on upload document to proceed to the upload screen.
• Click on choose files to select a file from your computer to upload. You can upload more than one document at a time. Click next when you’re done.
• The next screen shows you which document you have uploaded. If you need to upload more documents, repeat the last step and click next.
• When you’ve finished uploading everything you need to, you now need to link the documents to the types that have been requested. So if we’ve asked for a medical letter and some ID documents, you need to link the documents you have uploaded so they are correctly categorized. Similarly, if multiple members of the household have required documents to upload, you need to tell us which person the documents are for.
• Select from the first drop down menu which document you have uploaded. If only one document has been requested, there will only be one option on the list.
• Then from the second drop down menu select which household member this document is for. If there is only one household member for who this document type is required, then again only one option will appear in the list. Click upload when you’re done.
• The next screen will show a green notice confirming the document has been uploaded successfully. If you need to upload another document, click on the back to things you need to supply box to repeat the process, otherwise click the three bars at the top left to select log out.

Download this guide as a PDF with images

If you would like to view screenshots to help you amend an application and supply supporting documents, you can download a PDF version of the user guide. Please note, the images in the guide do not meet accessibility criteria as there is text on images.