Campaign Partner sample release

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<ORGANISATION> PLEDGES SUPPORT TO NET ZERO NORTH

<ORGANISATION> have pledged their commitment to decarbonisation and a greener, healthier future by becoming Campaign Partners of the Northern Housing Consortium’s #OurNorth Net Zero campaign.

The Northern Housing Consortium (NHC) is a membership body representing the views of over 90% of housing providers across the North of England, including councils and housing associations.

#OurNorth Net Zero will help NHC members tackle the climate crisis through a mix of groundbreaking research and education, alongside influencing work with key politicians and policy makers.

NHC’s #OurNorth Net Zero events will help members build connections and knowledge so that they can confidently and efficiently upgrade their homes.

Two pieces of research will further support these events: a project alongside IPPR North that will demonstrate the jobs and skills potential of retrofit in the North of England; and an evidence tool which will demonstrate the relative costs and benefits of interventions in different types of homes in the North, including fuel bill savings for tenants and savings to the NHS from improved health.

The Consortium’s influencing activity will help the North secure the policy and resources needed to renew existing homes. This decarbonisation of social housing stock in the North of England will improve the lives and health of millions of people, creating tens of thousands of jobs and make a significant contribution to Government priorities on levelling-up and reaching Net Zero.

Speaking about the partnership, Northern Housing Consortium Chief Executive Tracy Harrison said:

“The climate crisis is very real and with a quarter of the North’s carbon emissions coming from homes housing definitely has a role to play in making a better future for everyone. Thanks to our Campaign Partners <organisation> who support our vision for a Net Zero North we are able to run a comprehensive programme for our members that will help councils and housing associations in our communities undertake vital action with confidence.”

<comment from Campaign Partner organisation> For further information about #OurNorth Net Zero visit www.northern-consortium.org.uk

#OurNorth Net Zero is supported by Campaign Partners Halton Housing, Liverpool City Region Housing Associations, Thirteen, and Together Group.

#OurNorth Net Zero sample social posts

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Twitter 

Suggested sample tweets to be used with the Campaign Partner image: 

  • We are backing a Net Zero North with @NHC #OurNorth Net Zero 
  • Councils across the North have declared climate emergencies. Housing can create jobs and cut emissions – that’s why we’re backing #OurNorth Net Zero with @NHC 
  • Housing associations and ALMOs have made ambitious commitments to decarbonise their homes. We are supporting this through #OurNorth Net Zero with @NHC 
  • Housing accounts for a quarter of the North’s carbon emissions. We want to lower that. #OurNorth Net Zero 
  • Decarbonisation of the North’s housing stock can create 1,000s of jobs. Just one of the reasons we’re supporting #OurNorth Net Zero 

You could also use a quote about #OurNorth Net Zero and why your organisation is backing it from a senior staff member and there will be plenty of content for you to retweet and comment on from the Northern Housing Consortium Twitter account. 

 

LinkedIn 

Suggested LinkedIn posts to be used alongside the Campaign Partner image: 

Decarbonisation of the North’s Housing Stock could create 20,000 jobs at pace. Just one of the reasons we’re backing the #OurNorth Net Zero campaign with the Northern Housing Consortium 

#Housing #Decarbonisation #NetZero #Jobs #Employment 

 25% of the North’s carbon emissions come from housing. Councils have declared a climate emergency and Housing Associations and ALMOs have made ambitious plans to decarbonise their homes. We are supporting the NHC’s research and engagement to make this a reality through the #OurNorth Net Zero campaign. 

#climateemergency #climatechange #climateemergency #decarbonisation #netzero #housing 

 We’re very proud to be Campaign Partners of #OurNorth Net Zero which will help the North’s housing providers tackle the climate crisis through a mix of research and engagement, alongside influencing work with key politicians and policy makers. 

#climateemergency #climatechange #climateemergency #decarbonisation #netzero #housing 

Download the #OurNorth Net Zero logo

Green Home Grants: News on launch of £2bn scheme

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Yesterday Government provided detail on how to access the Green Home Grant scheme, which was announced as part of the Chancellor’s Summer Economic Statement last month. The Government confirmed the grant programme is scheduled to go live towards the end of September, and also opened bidding for a £500m local authority-led component.

The £2bn scheme has been split into a £1.5bn Voucher Scheme and a £500m Local Authority Delivery (LAD) scheme for low-income, and low EPC households.  Social landlords will be eligible for both schemes within the application rules.

Home-owners, including landlords will be able to apply for two thirds of the cost of home improvements with grants capped at £5,000. Meanwhile, low income households will qualify for grants worth up to £10,000 to support energy efficiency upgrades.

Government has stated it expects the scheme to deliver improvements for over 600,000 households, while creating an estimated 100,000 jobs in green construction.

Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme

The voucher scheme aims to stimulate demand for energy efficiency upgrades in existing private homes.

The scheme can be used for primary measures (such as insulation or low carbon heat) and secondary measures (e.g. draught proofing and windows). Households must install at least one of the primary measures to qualify for funding.

Full eligibility details can be found in the information from Government, but councils, housing associations, shared owners and private rented sector landlords are all eligible for the main voucher scheme. A low-income element is only open to owner-occupiers and park homes.

Tradespeople are required to sign up to the TrustMark accreditation scheme ahead of the launch next month – this is intended to prevent poor quality/unnecessary installations.

The Simple Energy Advice (SEA) service, set up following the Each Home Counts review, will provide advice to home owners on appropriate improvements and whether they qualify for funding.

Local Authority Delivery (LAD) Competition

Under the LAD scheme councils have until 1st September to bid for funding to improve the energy efficiency of low-income households in their areas. The LAD scheme targets low-income and low EPC rated homes (those in band E, F or G) including those living in the worst quality off-gas grid homes.

Funding must be targeted at households with a combined household annual low-income of no more than £30,000.  Funding is available for all tenure types (including landlords and social landlords) but must support the retrofit of existing domestic properties only.  Local authority applications are subject to a minimum bid of £500,000.  Consortium bids are allowed, and a lead LA should submit the proposal on behalf of the consortium.

£500m has been allocated to the LAD scheme, in two phases. This first phase consists of £200m to support low income households. £300m of funding will be included in a second phase to be allocated through Local Energy Hubs within 2020/21, to be released in due course for delivery by March 2022.

Local Authorities may use up to 15% of grant funding to administer and deliver the scheme including preparation of properties to facilitate energy efficiency upgrades.  As part of the monitoring and evaluation, LAs will be required to keep records of housing stock EPC ratings prior to and post-installation.

LAD cannot be combined with Green Homes Grant vouchers or blended with other government schemes such as RHI or ECO for the same individual measure.

For the LAD scheme it is a requirement for low carbon heat installers to be certified under Trustmark/Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) or equivalent, but it is not yet a requirement for contractors installing other measures to be Trustmark registered. However, bids using registered installers will score higher in the ‘Delivery Assurance’ assessment.

Projects under the next LAD delivery phase (£300m) for 2021/22 will be required to have Trustmark registered status.

How to apply

BEIS is inviting LAs to apply for funding from the 4th August to 12 noon on the 1st September 2020.  Funding will be allocated by the 28th September 2020 through grants.

The LAD application form can be accessed here.

On 6th August 2020 BEIS will host a webinar to launch the commissioning process. It is recommended that LAs attend this webinar which will outline the details of the competition, including recommended next steps for bidding LAs. This webinar will be repeated on the 10th August.

Private and Social Landlords

LAD Scheme – landlords eligible for funding (private and social) would provide at least 33% contribution towards the cost of the upgrades and the subsidy should not exceed £5,000 on average per household. This will form part of the ‘Value for Money’ assessment.

Voucher Scheme – Landlords of private rented sector domestic properties and landlords of social sector domestic properties (including LA owned homes) are eligible for the scheme except for the low-income voucher scheme which applies only to owner-occupied properties.

Conclusion

This grant funding is very welcome news and will help upgrade of a significant number of homes.

The North is home to a large number of older, colder homes – with 64% of existing housing in the North below Band C. This £2bn scheme must not be the limit of Government’s ambitions.

In particular, the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund promised in the Conservative Manifesto amounted to £3.8bn over 10 years. While the Summer Economic Statement made an initial allocation of £50m from that fund for a demonstrator project, we await further detail on this fund. The NHC is urging Government to open this fund at the earliest opportunity, enabling the North’s housing sector to create jobs and deliver on our shared net zero and levelling up ambitions.

NHC Contact: Karen Brown, Senior Policy Advisor

Karen.brown@northern-consortium.org.uk

0191 566 1000

 

 

Ward Hadaway Speed Read: The risk behind flexible tenancies 

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Croydon LBC v Kalonga [2020] EWHC 1353 (QB)Tipples J

A flexible tenancy is a type secure tenancy that can be granted by a local authority to its tenants. They must be granted for a minimum fixed term of two years however, at the end of this term, a mandatory ground for possession arises.

Mrs Kalonga was a flexible tenant of Croydon London Borough Council. Her tenancy began in May 2015 and was granted for a fixed term of 5 years. During her tenancy, Croydon LBC became aware of a number of instances of anti-social behaviour committed by Mrs Kalonga and so sought to regain possession of the property prior to the end of the fixed term. The ground relied on was Ground 2 (Sch 2) of the Housing Act 1985, thus relating to her seemingly poor behaviour and the resultant nuisance caused to others.

This action taken by the landlord was contested by Mrs Kalonga on the basis that a flexible tenancy could only be terminated by forfeiture and that there was no forfeiture clause in her lease.

The claim had been issued in the County Court however, due to the high number of properties in the UK let on a flexible tenancy (around 30,000) and the fact that the majority of council’s did not include a forfeiture clause in such leases, the matter was elevated to the High Court.

The High Court found in Mrs Kalonga’s favour and dismissed the possession claim. It agreed that her tenancy could not be terminated in the absence of a forfeiture clause and so possession could not be sought before the end of the fixed term.

The case tells us that any landlord wanting to regain possession of a flexible tenancy before the end of the fixed term must be in a position to rely on forfeiture clause contained within the terms of the relevant tenancy – even if a tenant demonstrates anti-social behaviour. The absence of such a provision therefore awards a tenant with an exceptionally strong security of tenure during their fixed term. This decision will undoubtedly have negative repercussions for many tenancies in the UK.

In light of the above, local authorities should be fastidious in their inclusion of a forfeiture clause in all new flexible tenancies going forward. In some cases, it may be worthwhile exploring the options surrounding the variation of leases to mitigate future risk and look to regain vital control.

Mediaworks Unveils New Digital Experience for Home Group

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Award-winning digital marketing agency, Mediaworks, has completed a year-long project with Home Group, the UK’s leading provider of high-quality housing, health, and social care to deliver a new digital experience.

The project set out to deliver accessible and personalised online content to Home Group’s customer groups, enabling them to quickly find the information they are looking for through online search and complete their transactions online.

At the heart of the project was the redesign and optimisation of their website,  www.homegroup.org.uk. It was developed in close consultation with the housing association’s customer groups to create an improved online experience.

Jo Hamilton, Head of Digital at Home Group, said: “This was a strategically-significant investment for Home Group. The project set out to relaunch our online experience to encourage our stakeholders to adopt our digital channels and prioritise high-volume enquiries so they could easily be found through online search and answered through an intuitive experience.

“Home Group works with various customer types, from tenants, to suppliers, to NHS commissioners. Core to this was reducing the workload of repetitive queries to our support teams so we could allow our people to focus more time on customers who are in greater need of help and support. Mediaworks is a fantastic partner to consult with. Their breadth of expertise and design with data approach allowed us to better guide our customers towards self-serve methods.”

Mediaworks was appointed by Home Group after a competitive tender process early last year. The project started with extensive user research to understand the website’s users, with focus groups conducted with key customer groups across the United Kingdom.

Brett Jacobson, Chief Executive Officer at Mediaworks, said: “It has been fantastic to work with Home Group on this project. They are a progressive organisation that has placed their customers at the heart of everything they do.

“One of the greatest hidden costs faced by many organisations is managing recurring queries. Helping your customers to quickly answer a question by simply typing it into their phone can save an organisation thousands of hours of support time and deliver a fantastic customer experience. When you’re a not-for-profit organisation, freeing up your people’s resource to give them a more dedicated focus to support vulnerable groups is more important than it ever has been.”

Other key features include personalisation tools which deliver user-specific content for visitors to the website dependent on where in the UK they logged on from. Improved navigation was also implemented to provide a more efficient service for both stakeholders and customers.

Mediaworks has continued to deliver digital solutions for the housing sector throughout 2020, partnering with Northern Housing Consortium and acquiring housing clients across the country, including Home Group and Believe Housing.

 

Northern Housing Consortium – 2020 Election of Directors

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The Northern Housing Consortium represents the views of housing organisations in the North of England, with our membership of local and combined authorities, ALMOs and housing associations representing 96% of social housing in the North.  Our vision is to use our collective voice to have unrivalled influence in achieving housing policy that works for the North and provide outstanding services that support our members to create great places to live.

The overall management and strategic direction of the Northern Housing Consortium is entrusted to the Board of Directors who are subject to election each year from Full Member organisations.  Membership of the board is balanced between the three Northern regions and consideration is made of sectoral representation across different organisation types.

Under the Consortium’s governance arrangements, all nominations for the position of Director will be reviewed by the Board (or their nominated representatives), against a Skills Set for Directors to ensure that they meet the Board’s requirement to fill any vacancies – the Skills Set and Board Director Role Profile are enclosed in the Board Director Nomination Pack.

In accordance with a procedure agreed by the Board, we are seeking nominations for a total of two new Director places to be filled for the three-year period 2020-2023.

In addition, there are also four Directors who are retiring this year but who wish to stand for re-election as follows:

  1. Paul Fiddaman, Group Chief Executive, Karbon Homes
  2. Sarah Robson, Newcastle City Council
  3. Karen Lythe, Assistant Director Strategic Housing, Doncaster Council
  4. Tony Reeves, Chief Executive, Liverpool City Council (previously co-opted to fill a casual vacancy on 24th April 2020)

NB The Board have confirmed their support for the re-election of the above candidates.

Should the number of successful nominations exceed the vacancies available, a ballot will be arranged and the results announced for formal approval by the Full Members at the Consortium’s Annual General Meeting on 19th November 2020.

A nomination form is included in the Nomination Pack, and I invite you to consider and make nominations of candidates no later than 1st September 2020.  Please note that you can nominate more than one candidate but in doing so, you should note the conditions for nominating candidates included in the Nomination Pack.

An application form can be obtained from kay.wiseman@northern-consortium.org.uk This must be completed by the nominee and returned with the nomination form no later than 1st September 2020.

If you would like to discuss your nomination for the position of Director, please contact:-

Tracy Harrison

Chief Executive

T: 07809659492

E: tracy.harrison@northern-consortium.org.uk

New for 2020 : Action Learning Sets for Strategic Leaders

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Develop your leadership skills, think differently about organisational challenges and come together with strategic leaders from across the sector through action learning.

The Northern Housing Consortium is delighted to be working with Action Learning Associates to run a series of Action Learning Sets for strategic leaders in the sector from September 2020.

Action Learning Sets are a great opportunity for strategic leaders to:

  • talk to peers from other housing organisations in the North and hear different experiences and points of view
  • connect with others at a time when collaboration is geographically difficult
  • explore solutions and plan for the future
  • develop leadership skills

What is action learning?

The Action Learning process, rooted in listening and question making, drives effective decision making and supports you to take new action. You will be kept to the discipline of asking questions to probe and explore challenges in-depth, rather than move into the familiar responses of discussion, advocacy or offering your own solutions. https://youtu.be/-LnC53At97Q

Leaders across the private and public sector have found action learning to be a vital tool.

“Learning from others and their insights has been invaluable.” – A2Dominion Group

The professionally facilitated action learning sets will run from September 2020. Priced at just £600, the sets will comprise of four 2.5hour sessions, delivered virtually over 9 months to small groups of no more than eight participants.

To find out more, or to book a place, contact Susanne Martin at Susanne.Martin@northern-consortium.org.uk

 

 

MPs call for social housing to be ‘top of agenda’ for recovery

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The influential Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee have called for social housing to be ‘top of the agenda’ for recovery. Their new report Building More Social Housing is the culmination of a year-long Inquiry, which included the NHC appearing before the Committee in October 2019.

The report’s conclusions include that:

  • At least 90,000 net additional social rent homes a year are needed in England and that it is time for Government to invest
  • Government can significantly reduce the expenditure required for these homes by reforming land value capture and use of public land
  • Local authorities should receive 100% of Right to Buy receipts and have longer to spend them

As well as considering the resources required to build the social homes we need, the Committee also considers local government capacity, and concludes that “It is imperative that local planning authorities have the right resources to deliver the social housing this country needs, and to ensure private developers deliver sufficient social housing on new developments.”

Commenting on the report, the NHC’s Brian Robson said:

“It is good to see the Committee recognise the role that new homes can play in social and economic recovery. The report sets out clearly the need for a truly national programme of affordable housing delivery, and also recognises some of the differences in delivery in the North of England, such as the lower value of planning obligations in our regions.”

The NHC continues to ensure that the collective voice of housing in the North reaches and connects with policy shapers by submitting evidence to Select Committee Inquiries, including the BEIS Select Committee’s Inquiry into post-pandemic growth

Brownfield boost for the North’s city regions

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The £400m Brownfield Housing Fund has now been largely allocated – and the North’s city regions are big winners.

The Brownfield Housing Fund was announced at the March Budget – with Chancellor Rishi Sunak commenting it would help “ambitious Mayoral Combined Authorities and local areas to establish housing on brownfield land across the country”.

On 30th June, the Government announced that £360m of the fund would be allocated directly to seven city regions. Six of the seven city regions concerned are in the North – the remaining one is the West Midlands CA, which already benefited from similar funding as part of its devolution deal. The remaining £40m from the Fund is being held over for a competitive element, open to the same city regions and expected to be concluded quickly.

The NHC hosted MHCLG Housing Delivery Director Cathy Francis and officials from her team on the day after the March budget, touring opportunity sites in the Tees Valley. We submitted a paper to Cathy and her team, urging them to allocate the Brownfield Housing Fund directly to the North, rather than engage in complex and time-consuming bidding processes. 90% of the fund has been allocated in this way – with Combined Authorities able to determine how the investment is used locally, prioritising the housing needs of their local communities.

The NHC understands that allocations to individual CAs are as follows:

Combined Authority Brownfield Housing Fund Allocation
Greater Manchester CA £80m
Liverpool City Region £45m
North of Tyne CA £24m
Sheffield City Region £40m
Tees Valley CA £19m
West Yorkshire CA £67m
Total North of England £276m*
West Midlands CA £84m
Further competitive Fund £40m
Total Brownfield Housing Fund £400m*

*figures don’t total due to rounding

Commenting on the allocations, NHC CEO Tracy Harrison said,

“This is really significant news for the North – both in terms of the Fund’s focus on brownfield land challenges, and the way the Fund has been allocated directly to localities.  We will be exploring with members the potential for further funding of this type, including in parts of the North which don’t currently benefit from Combined Authority arrangements.”

North of Tyne Mayor Jamie Driscoll has welcomed the allocation to his area:

“The North of Tyne has a wealth of under-utilised, brownfield land that is ripe for development.  This land is often close to existing public transport and other amenities so it makes sense that these sites play a major role in our housing ambitions.

 “These sites will allow us to meet the broad range of housing needs that exist across the North of Tyne and help us to revitalise and sustain our construction sector ensuring that good skilled jobs remain in our area. This funding, and the local decision making powers to ensure the interests of local people are met, is what devolution is all about and I welcome it.”

West Yorkshire Combined Authority secured funding from the fund in advance of their first Metro Mayor Election in 2021.  Calderdale Council Leader, and Deputy Chair of the CA, Cllr Tim Swift, commented:

“The £67 million we have secured to help deliver thousands of homes on brownfield land shows how the West Yorkshire devolution deal we struck in March is already delivering for our communities. 

 “Thanks to the devolution deal and our track record of delivery we did not have to bid for this funding. We have been allocated funding on the same basis as areas which already have elected mayors, ensuring we can put this money to work as quickly as possible to unlock development sites.  

“Creating well-connected neighbourhoods delivering urgently needed affordable homes is central to our drive to create an economy that works for all our communities.” 

For more information on the NHC’s policy and public affairs work, contact Brian Robson at brian.robson@northern-consortium.org.uk