Thirteen’s experiences since the roll out of Universal Credit

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Susan Borrow, Care and Support Manager (contracts) at Thirteen, reflects on Thirteen’s experiences since the roll out of Universal Credit, the measures we’ve put in place and investments we’ve made to ensure tenants have been able to manage their claims and maintain their tenancies.

Universal Credit (UC) has been with us in the Tees Valley for a few years now. Hartlepool was the first of our local authority areas to move onto the new benefit, and we’ve since helped thousands of our customers through the process of claiming UC for the first time.

A key element of the move from legacy benefits to UC was that housing costs would be paid direct to customers as part of one monthly payment, rather than direct to landlords – which posed a financial risk to social landlords. 

 Our data tells us that 10,332 of our current customers have transitioned to UC; 2,926 in Hartlepool, 3,358 in Middlesbrough, 3,372 in Stockton and 676 in other areas.

 To start with, the average rent arrears increase being incurred by each of our customers transitioning to UC was £200. Since we’ve had a team in place, customers average rent arrears confirmed on the UC claim date decrease by approximately £53 by the UC payment date.

Since April 2019, our UC Team has:

  • Supported 6516 customers with new and existing UC claims
  • Helped customers access over £2.8million in UC and £1.1 million in other benefits
  • Secured £57,000 in grants for customers

 

So how have we achieved this?

Along with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), councils and housing providers across the North East, we went straight into learning mode, forming working groups to share information and experiences, all working together and giving our customers the best support we could.

We also organised the region’s first UC conferences in 2018 for other housing associations, local authorities and other agencies to share our learnings. These were attended by more than 300 staff from 80 organisations.

We found that providing the right support for people claiming UC was essential to make sure things worked for customers, with some really positive outcomes. We did come across issues in the early days; claiming was complicated, many people found the online application hard to fill in, it was taking longer than expected for customers to get their payments and, since everyone’s personal situations are different, claims would bring up issues we hadn’t seen before. Customers were also naturally worried about how they would manage with the wait for the first payment.

We learned from the roll-out in Hartlepool that having the right support was the biggest factor in making UC work for people. So, in advance of Stockton and Middlesbrough moving to the full digital UC service in 2018, we recruited a team of 16 colleagues dedicated to working with customers from the time they made their claim to the time their first payment came in.

With backgrounds in benefits, rents and money advice and expertise in Universal Credit, the team helped nearly 3,000 customers in their first year. The team provides a one-to-one support package to customers as they newly transition onto UC, and also helps existing claimants if they have a change in circumstances.

A key element of this is managing and responding to rent verifications via the Government portal and making sure we contact customers to offer support as a preventative measure. The support we offer is tailored to the individual because we know one size doesn’t fit all.

We help customers get their claim right so that they’re getting everything they’re entitled to, and empower them so that they fully understand the UC process and payment arrangements. As well as supporting customers from their initial claim date through to payment date, the team also offers advice with issues around historical benefits, helping make sure they’re getting all of the other benefits they might be entitled to, as well as any grant funding they might be eligible for. Any customers needing UC support after their first payment date can access further help through our Money Advice Team. 

 We also look at options to help customers get by during the wait for their first payment, and work with lots of other agencies and charities to make sure people can eat, heat their homes and support them to manage on an often really limited budget.

Pre-pandemic, the team was co-located in every Jobcentre Plus in the Tees Valley, working directly with the DWP to make sure claims were processed correctly. When the first Covid-19 lockdown was announced in March 2020, colleagues began working from home. We had the technology, the right kit and lots of wellbeing support in place to allow them to do this safely while maintaining a continuity of service for customers. We’re so very proud of the way the whole team embraced this when going into completely unknown territory.

Help doesn’t just stop once the first payment is made, either. Thirteen invests heavily in all kinds of support to provide a comprehensive, wrap around service. Once the UC team has done its part, customers can still get help from our money advice officers, more intensive, floating support is available if they need it, and all of our customers have access to support with jobs and training from our employability service.

In recent months, we’ve really focused on improving the overall experience for customers by introducing an online appointment booking system, along with extended availability and operating hours. We’ve utilised Voicescape to contact customers and the appointment booking is managed by our touchpoint call centre colleagues. This has given us a 92% success rate in customer contact and brought efficiencies in the UC team, giving them more time to spend speaking to customers, rather than making repeat calls to try and make appointments.

 

Community resilience

Looking forward, the next stage in the roll-out of UC is managed migration, when other customers will receive their notice of legacy benefits ending and the need to claim UC instead. While this has been suspended due to the pandemic, we will absolutely make sure that the customers who need support receive it from us when the time comes.

We’re also developing a toolkit of resources that will be available to empower our communities. The aim is that as well as providing our one-to-one support, the toolkit will help local people become more confident and skilled at managing their finances.

People are very resilient in lots of ways, and let’s face it, we’ve all had to be especially so over the last ten months, but we’ve found that this doesn’t always translate into financial resilience. We really want this toolkit to work for customers to help them feel more in control and feel empowered to manage not just their tenancies more confidently, but other areas of their finances too.

Universal Credit – Your Homes Newcastle Perspective

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Newcastle upon Tyne was one of the first areas where Universal Credit was introduced, and Your Homes Newcastle have been managing its impact for 6 years. We have seen the progress of roll-out, from minor tweaks around the edges, to significant overhauls in IT systems and legislation. We are now in a position to reflect on how much Universal Credit has changed the way we approach rent collection, and the need to provide support to enable customers to manage their household finances and sustain their tenancies.

In advance of Universal Credit roll out, we had already established the impact Welfare Reform was likely to have on our customers and our ability to recover rent. Moving away from a generic housing officer role, we created Income Officers to work exclusively with current tenants. This allowed us to effectively manage the impact of changes such as the Bedroom Tax and Benefit Cap and proved vital to allowing us to effectively deal with Universal Credit when it did (eventually!) come around.

Initially we created a new project team of a select number of officers to manage Universal Credit roll out. This approach was beneficial to us in the long term. By having a team who were solely dedicated to UC, we were able to identify the challenges posed by the benefit and what changes would need to be made to systems and processes once numbers really ramped up. We also developed great local connections with the DWP and were able to co-locate staff in Jobcentres. This specialist project ran for over 3 years at an additional cost to the business but was essential to influencing how we needed to approach UC.

Our team recognise the importance of early intervention when customers move onto UC or experience a change of circumstances whilst in receipt of the benefit. Whilst labour intensive, it has always felt the right level of support to offer. Although we’ve been getting to grips with it for years, we always have to remember that very often it is a customer’s first experience of claiming benefit and as a landlord we can support them through the process. From September 2019 we rolled out a new Financial Inclusion Team to work within our Income service. This has ensured we have a resource to support customers where issues may have arisen with their claim or they’ve seen a drop in income. It also builds on the early work we did around getting to grips legislation. Having a resource which can quickly respond to key changes to Universal Credit means we are on the front foot and able to identify customers affected. Our Income Officer role has also changed, making the most of technology to ensure we are targeting the right customer groups, freeing up officer time to focus on maximising engagement with hard to reach customers. Our current annual expenditure on staffing and resources to manage Universal Credit is just over £120,000.

Although Covid-19 has been challenging for our customers, we are confident that the changes we made as UC rolled out, with a greater emphasis on maximising engagement and providing support, have put us in the strongest position to manage it’s impact. We have moved less cases through the escalation process towards eviction, and seen improved levels of rent collection and sustainment.

Changes to the New Homes Bonus – we want your views

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The Government is consulting on potential changes to the New Homes Bonus.  The NHC will be responding to the consultation as part of our efforts to make housing policy work for the North, and we’d like to hear member views.

The New Homes Bonus was introduced in 2011 as part of the Coalition government’s localism initiatives, and was intended to reward and incentivise housing growth.  It has been subject to change since it was introduced, and now Government has launched a consultation proposing a number of options for further change, these are around:

  • How housing growth is measured and rewarded by the Bonus
  • The potential for the Bonus to be utilised to support infrastructure in areas with low land values
  • Using the Bonus to incentivise use of modern methods of construction
  • Potential to require an up-to-date local plan in order to receive the Bonus.

The consultation can be accessed here, and a summary list of questions being posed by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government is also available.

The NHC would welcome member views on the proposals in the consultation. Whilst our local authority members would be most directly affected by changes to the Bonus, we recognise that housing associations, ALMOs and combined authorities may also have views they wish to contribute.  Karen Brown (Senior Policy Advisor) is coordinating our response. She can be contacted at karen.brown@northern-consortium.org.uk or on 0191 566 1021.   Please ensure comments reach Karen by 26th March so that they can be considered as part of our response.

Decent Homes Review – update

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The NHC is a core participant in the Sounding Board for Government’s Review of the Decent Homes Standard. The Review is now underway, and the Sounding Board met for the first time in February.

MHCLG are running the Review in two phases – the first phase, running over Spring and Summer, is considering the case for change to the existing criteria.  Subject to the outcomes of the first phase, a second phase will then seek to redefine decency.

In January, the NHC launched a survey of members asking for views on the current standard. Many thanks to members from councils, housing associations and ALMOs across the North who completed our survey.

The first meeting of the Sounding Board considered the current statutory minimum standard for housing. In our contributions at the meeting and in writing, the NHC has been keen to make the following points on the statutory minimum:

  • That the Decent Homes Standard should maintain a read-across to the private rented sector: while the focus of the Review is the social housing sector, it is important that the aspiration for private rented homes to reach the standard is not abandoned, particularly where the PRS is home to households with vulnerabilities 
  • The importance of aligning the Standard with other aspects of legislation and regulation: for example, the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act; and the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards set by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy 
  • The challenges in using a rating system to set a minimum standard : members responding to our survey felt that the use of the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) resulted in a standard which manages to be both technical and subjective, and is therefore particularly difficult for tenants to interpret. It should be noted the HHSRS is itself subject to a separate review process at present, and the outcomes of this review will need to be considered carefully as part of the Decent Homes Review.

The next meeting of the Sounding Board Group, in April, will consider the ‘Reasonable State of Repair’ Criterion, with further meetings planned in June on the Modern Facilities and Services Criterion ; and in August on the Thermal Comfort Criterion.

We still welcome views and comments from NHC members on the Review – please contact Executive Director (Policy and Public Affairs) Brian Robson – brian.robson@northern-consortium.org.uk

Members can also register with MHCLG to receive papers and updates related to the Review. Details of how to do this can be found on the MHCLG website.

Northern Housing Consortium Universal Credit – Resources Report Published

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The current health crisis has had a significant impact on employment levels across the north. This has had a knock-on effect on the welfare system with one-third of claims to Universal Credit since it’s roll out being made during the pandemic. The Government has offered low-income families the lifeline of the £20 uplift in Universal Credit which has made a real difference to those struggling with the effects of Covid-19 but there are still issues that impact claimants and are of concern to our members. Other agencies that may usually provide support through the claim process and financial hardship such as Citizens Advice Bureaux can no longer offer face to face support and housing provider and local authority caseloads are increasing.

Northern Housing Consortium’s investigation into the impact of Universal Credit has hitherto been concentrated on collecting insights into how our members’ tenants and residents have been affected by the implementation of the new benefit system. However, the ramifications of UC are not limited to claimants and anecdotal evidence collected through our regular roundtable events which bring together our members and Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) colleagues, suggested that landlords and those organisations that provide support to claimants were facing increased demands for their services and therefore suffering financial stress.

In summer 2019 NHC surveyed members on how UC was impacting them both financially and structurally. While this report is mainly the result of a survey of NHC’s full members carried out prior to the current pandemic on the pressures on their resources directly because of the implementation of UC, it highlights issues still current for our members and in light of the Coronavirus outbreak, we re-surveyed members to collect information on the impact the outbreak has had on their resources. This report comes at a time when housing providers are having to review their spending over the coming months due to severe pressure on budgets because of the Coronavirus pandemic and builds on the previous research on the impact of UC on tenants.

Read the full report.

Thirteen’s experiences since the roll out of Universal Credit

Universal Credit – Your Homes Newcastle Perspective

Select committee recovery report cites NHC evidence

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An influential House of Commons committee has cited the NHC’s evidence on net zero and levelling up three times in their latest report on ‘greening the recovery’.

The House of Commons Environmental Audit Select Committee, chaired by Conservative MP Phillip Dunne, published their latest report Growing back better: putting nature and net zero at the heart of the economic recovery on 17th February. It sets out how the Government can ‘grow back better’ after Covid-19.

The Committee cites the NHC’s evidence on how making a long-term investment in housing retrofit could help the Government to deliver on net zero and levelling-up, and our recommendations around creating a long-term retrofit funding programme that would enable social housing providers to invest at scale.

The report notes that “Some submissions identified specific opportunities where green measures could help to rebalance the UK; both between north and south and between urban and rural communities. The Northern Housing Consortium said that a programme of improving existing homes in the North to increase their energy efficiency ‘would not only reduce carbon emissions and improve living standards, but also create new skills and employment opportunities in the region.’ It pointed out that the North’s existing homes ‘are older and colder than the English average’ with 833,000 households across the North living in fuel poverty. It said that the ‘labour-intensive nature of improving the energy performance’ of housing stock could be used to contribute to the economic recovery of the North”

The report also notes the NHC’s evidence in relation to the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund : “[The NHC] said the Green Homes Grant scheme was a welcome development but urged the ‘Government to open up the full £3.8bn Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund outlined in the Conservative Manifesto to enable social housing providers to invest at scale.”

The report recommends to Government “that the Green Homes Grant is urgently overhauled and extended to provide a long-term stimulus to the domestic energy efficiency sector.”.  The Committee have also called for a reduction in the rate of VAT applied to home renovations.  The Government has until

Commenting, NHC Executive Director (Policy and Public Affairs) Brian Robson said “It’s great to see our evidence cited by the Committee, and particularly in a way that reflects the potential of domestic retrofit to deliver on the Government’s commitments around net zero and levelling-up. We agree with the Committee that a long-term stimulus is required : we think that’s exactly what the social housing decarbonisation fund can provide.”

The Committee’s report and recommendations can be read in full here. Government has until April 17th to respond to the Committtee’s report.  The NHC have also submitted written and oral evidence to the Committee’s Inquiry on Energy Efficiency of Existing Homes, which is ongoing.

Ward Hadaway appoints new director to head up social housing offering in Manchester

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Law firm Ward Hadaway has extended its social housing offering with the appointment of an experienced new lawyer in its Manchester office.

Melanie Dirom has joined as a director in Ward Hadaway’s Built Environment Team in Manchester.

Melanie Dirom has joined as director, responsible for advising and providing legal advice and litigation services to many of the firm’s social housing clients and local authorities. Melanie is recognised in both Legal 500 and Chambers Directories for social housing.

Based at the firm’s Manchester office, Melanie is a solicitor and brings with her over 19 years’ experience working as a housing lawyer. She joins from her previous firm, where she was a Partner in the housing team specialising in civil and contentious property litigation for landlords and local authorities in the housing and regeneration sectors.

She started her new role as director in Ward Hadaway’s Built Environment Team this week and is looking forward to working within a well-established team. She said: “It feels great to be back in a firm that specialises and focuses on social housing and where sector specialisms are valued. This is a great career move for me and I am looking forward to working with the firms’ existing housing providers, construction companies and local authorities and growing this offer across the North West region.

“I will bring my experience of being a busy housing practitioner to Ward Hadaway. I have a very broad working knowledge and experience of all things housing but also have a strong interest and practice in leasehold disputes”.

Welcoming her appointment is John Murray, Partner and head of social housing at the firm’s Leeds office. He said: “I am delighted to welcome Melanie to the social housing team. She brings with her a wealth of experience and knowledge that will further strengthen our offer to new and existing clients, particularly in the Manchester area.

“She is a very highly regarded professional within the sector across the Northern region. I’m looking forward to working with her.”

Melanie graduated from Sheffield University with an LLB Law Degree and achieved her Legal Practice Court (LPC) at Northumbria University. In her spare time, she likes to keep active. She has also recently converted a campervan and is looking forward to exploring the UK.

 

About Ward Hadaway

  • Ward Hadaway operates from three offices in Newcastle, Leeds and Manchester
  • More than 450 members of staff and 93 partners
  • UK Top 100 law firm
  • Rated as one of the leading law firms in the country by independent legal guides Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners
  • Ward Hadaway is a full service law firm, meeting all the legal needs of its wide-ranging client base from across the private and public sectors
  • For more information, please visit www.wardhadaway.com

 

 Media Contacts:

For Ward Hadaway’s built environment sector including property, construction and social housing, please contact Craig Downs at Up North Communications on 07811 287 922 or email craig@upnorthcommunications.co.uk

For all other media enquiries regarding Ward Hadaway, please contact Rachel McBryde at McBryde & Co on 07884 342 193 or email rachel@mcbrydeandco.com

The Social Housing White Paper – Cautious Optimism for Race Equality

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Blog by Positive about Inclusion – consultants.

Released in November 2020 the Social Housing White Paper was the long awaited Government response to the Grenfell tragedy. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said that the Paper had been prepared with the ‘views of those devastated by Grenfell in mind’ and set in this context there were valid reasons to expect that equality, diversity and inclusion would be at the very heart of the document.

After all, one of the fundamental issues surrounding the tragedy at Grenfell is race equality. As the lawyer representing the bereaved families, Leslie Thomas QC said in July 2020, the fire “did not happen in a vacuum, a majority of the Grenfell residents who died were people of colour. Grenfell is inextricably linked with race. It is the elephant in the room.” Furthermore the Equality and Human Rights Commission in launching its own enquiry into the disaster said that the events surrounding the fire raised serious human rights and equality issues.

Despite all of the evidence that race and inequality played a huge part in the disaster and despite the fact that they continue to be subject of much of the debate during the ongoing inquiry, neither the word ‘race’ or ‘equality’ actually appear in the White Paper.

So, what can we expect in 2021 for race equality in the sector? Should we bemoan the Social Housing White Paper omissions or take heart from what we have learnt during 2020 and how we have moved on since its launch? Whilst it would be too dramatic to say there are reasons to be cheerful, there certainly are three reasons to be cautiously optimistic….

 

Reason 1 – Growing Commitment

Since the White Paper the world has moved on at pace, 2020 saw a step change for equality with the tragic murder of George Floyd prompting the resurgence of the international Black Lives Matter movement. For the first time society witnessed the power of consumer consciousness as the public challenged organisations to prove their credentials as a force for good. Not just wanting organisations to say that they were inclusive but to visibly and actively demonstrate it. And many in the sector did just that, responding with very clear statements about their organisations commitment to race and equality.

Reason 2 – Increased Awareness

In December the National Housing Federation published its report on equality, diversity and inclusion. Unsurprisingly identifying a lack of diversity in leadership, the report calls for real and sustained change starting with open and honest conversations. The report is the first step in a commitment the National Housing Federation have made to champion the agenda, pledging to deliver in 2021 a sector-wide picture of the diversity of workplaces compared to the demographics of the areas in which housing associations operate. For many this will undoubtedly make for uncomfortable, but very necessary, reading.

Reason 3 – Determined Regulation

And so far 2021 is maintaining the pace of change we witnessed last year. In appointing Kate Dodsworth as its first Director of Consumer Regulation, the Regulator has nailed its equality commitment firmly to the mast. Kate is current Chief Executive of Gateway Housing and set to start in her new role in the summer, she is one of the founding members of Leadership 2025 and a trustee of the charity that is taking this work forward. Leadership 2025 was set up to address diversity gaps in housing leadership and has a long-term ambition of supporting the creation of a housing sector that is vibrant and diverse at all levels. And, if more evidence of Kate’s commitment to equality were required, then you’ve only got to look at Gateway’s website to see such a clear demonstration of the organisation’s commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. This appointment, coupled with recent comments from the Lead Regulator Fiona McGregor urging the sector “not to lose sight” of its focus on equality, diversity and inclusion sends a clear message and a very positive sign that the regulator means business when it comes to equality.

So, yes, I believe there are reasons to be cautiously optimistic that in 2021 we can eliminate racism in our sector and that we can make it more diverse. The external backdrop and the environment is right – what is now required is action.

What we learnt in 2020 is that it is no longer enough to simply not be racist. We need to be anti-racist. Neutrality has not worked and proclaiming that we are “not racist” doesn’t require consideration of how to fight racism. To be anti-racist, on the other hand, means developing a philosophy that directly confronts that of a racist. The first week in February saw the inaugural Race Equality Week, established by Race Equality Matters, the week was created for organisations from across the country to unite to ‘seriously’ address race in the workplace. With the strap line of ‘let’s not go back to normal’, Race Equality Matters work to turn declarations of commitment and support into meaningful change. There are resources out there to help.

We all have an individual responsibility – we can’t rely on an optimistic external environment to afford real change. Change, as we all know, requires effort and the change we all need to make is about moving from being non-racist and passive to being active allies and anti-racist.

Because, as the philosopher Edmund Burke (1729-1797) quite rightly said, “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”. So, what then are you going to do?

 

National Energy Action (NEA) and Energy Action Scotland (EAS) survey

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Fuel poverty charities National Energy Action (NEA) and Energy Action Scotland (EAS) are undertaking research to investigate pre-payment meters (PPM) and the rollout of smart meters for pre-payment customers. We would like to hear your views through this call for evidence, which aims to collect information to inform this research.

In particular, NEA and EAS are collecting views to examine the issues traditional PPM customers still face; potential benefits of smart PPM; understand the barriers preventing uptake of smart PPM; and the range of potential interventions to maximise the adoption of smart PPM in the remaining years of the rollout. Parallel to this call for evidence, the research will also collect PPM customers’ own views on smart metering, particularly in the context of the current pandemic, but also to capture other key benefits to ensure the research continues to be impactful irrespective of Covid-19. They will also be undertaking interviews with key stakeholders and they will ask you to indicate in your response whether you would be happy for us to contact you to follow up on the feedback you provide. They will be working with Smart Energy GB to use the findings to inform a report that will be released later in the year.

The survey can be accessed here and will take approximately 30 minutes to complete depending on the detail you provide. The survey will remain open until the end of February.

They look forward to receiving your valuable response. In the meantime if you have any queries about the project please contact matt.copeland@nea.org.uk

Disrepair Claims: Reconvened Network and Full-Day Conference for NHC Members

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The Dealing with Disrepair Network for NHC members reconvened this week after a short hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The group, organised by the NHC and Ward Hadaway, was originally formed in response to the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act. Since March 2020 the Act has imposed upon landlords an implied contractual obligation that all properties must be ‘fit for human habitation’ at the start of a new tenancy and will remain so for the duration.

Providing decent quality housing is of course a core priority for the social housing sector, but there is a persisting worry that ‘no win, no fee’ lawyers will exploit the Act, targeting tenants to issue disrepair claims against social landlords seen as a ‘soft touch’.

To counteract this, the Dealing with Disrepair Network was set up to offer a forum for NHC members to share good practice around preventing, mitigating, and challenging unjustified claims. With colleagues from Ward Hadaway guiding and inputting into conversations, attendees have discussed market intelligence and shared technical information pertaining to disrepair, as well network on organisational strategies to deal with disrepair.

Following a meeting in July of last year it was decided that the group would go on a short hiatus, the feeling being that the most pressing concern for organisations was ensuring a continuity of service for repairs and maintenance works during lockdown and to prepare to address a backlog of repairs once lockdown had lifted. With disrepair claims back on the rise, the time felt right to reconvene the group. With around 50 NHC members in attendance, the meeting saw group discussion centre on recent and regional trends to disrepair claims, the continued effects of lockdown on planned maintenance, arranging disrepair inspections, and issues around access and tenant shielding.

The Dealing with Disrepair Network were also the first to hear of the Disrepair Conference being arranged by the NHC and Ward Hadaway.  Taking place online on the 7th April, Handling Disrepair Claims: A Journey from Complaints to Costs will see leading practitioners and legal experts share good practice and aim to equip attendees with the confidence and knowledge to challenge spurious claims through asset management and legal approaches. With Disrepair Claims happening and on the rise, the NHC and Ward Hadaway hope the full-day agenda will provide attendees with the advice and tips help move challenging claims ‘in-house’ – upskilling staff, saving time, and offering value for money.

Handling Disrepair Claims: A Journey from Complaints to Costs takes place 7th April 2021, 10.00 – 16.15. Tickets are priced at £99 for NHC members and £129 for non-members. For more information on confirmed topics and speakers, and to book your place, click here:

 The Dealing with Disrepair Network is an NHC member only group that meets quarterly. To add your name to the mailing list to be notified of future meetings, email events@northern-consortium.org.uk