The Spring Statement 2018 was announced by the Chancellor today. The Northern Housing Consortium has, as we do for all major policy announcements, written an on-the-day briefing providing insight into what the key policy announcements contained within the Chancellor’s speech mean for the housing sector in the North.
You can view our on-the-day briefing here.
Jo Boaden, Chief Executive of the Northern Housing Consortium (NHC) and Chair of Your Homes Newcastle, has been awarded a CBE in Her Majesty the Queen’s New Years’ Honours 2018. The award was made in recognition of services to housing providers in the North during a long career in housing.
“I was very surprised but I am incredibly proud and honoured to receive this award” said Jo. “I think it underlines the significance of housing and the increasingly influential role of the Northern Housing Consortium.”
Jo became Chief Executive of the NHC in 2010, following a number of senior roles across the North, and recently took up the position of Chair of Your Homes Newcastle.
Tom Miskell, Chair of the NHC, commented, “We are delighted that Jo has been awarded a CBE, reflecting her passion for, and commitment to, improving the lives of people in the North through housing. This award is a great achievement and we are proud of her and the recognition that this gives to housing issues.”
In September the Homes and Communities Agency published a consultation on a revised Value for Money (VfM) Standard. The consultation proposed to revise the VfM Standard and publish a new associated Code of Practice to help registered providers understand how compliance with the new Standard might be achieved.
The proposed Standard aims to move the focus of the regulatory approach away from the primarily narrative self-assessment to more outcome-based reporting from registered providers on targets, including a suite of metrics to be defined, from time to time, by the regulator.
In response to the consultation, and in order to gather the views of its members, the NHC arranged and facilitated three meetings around the North East, North West and Yorkshire and Humber regions. The key points in discussions held at those meetings have informed a response to the consultation.
We look forward to the publication of the final standard. The NHC will reconvene groups of members following the issue of the standard to discuss implementation, timescales and any other regulatory issues.
The NHC response to the consultation which includes member’s views of how the VfM Standard and the associated Code of Practice are developed and implemented can be accessed here.
The 2017 Autumn Statement announced that the Universal Credit live service will cease to take new claims from 1st January 2018. This is part of the transition to a full digital service and continues the Government’s focus on work, independence and reducing reliance on welfare.
The Department for Work and Pensions has published a bulletin filled with important information for claimants and local authorities. You can read it in full below or download it here.
ISSN 2054-2844 (Online)
HB U4/2017
14 December 2017
Closure of the gateway to new Universal Credit live service claims
What LAs need to do before 31 December 2017
Q&A
Q1. Why is Universal Credit closing the live service gateway for new claims?
A1. By the time Universal Credit is fully rolled out, Universal Credit full service will have replaced Universal Credit live service in every Jobcentre/local authority area. It would not represent value for money for taxpayers to continue to invest in a system that is due to be closed and replaced by Universal Credit full service.
This will not affect anyone already in receipt of Universal Credit in a live service postcode area.
Q2. Does this change apply to all Universal Credit claims?
A2. No, if you live in a Universal Credit full service postcode area you will still be able to make a new claim to Universal Credit full service unless you are a family with 3 or more children. Then you may make a claim to one of the following:
Q3. I have been onto the GOV.UK website and it says I cannot claim Universal Credit in my area, why is this?
A3. Universal Credit live service in your postcode area is no longer taking new claims until the full service is rolled out. Details of when the Universal Credit full service will be rolled out in your area can be found on www.gov.uk
If you have not made a Universal Credit live service claim with us before then you may make a claim to one of the following:
Claimants already in receipt of Universal Credit will remain on Universal Credit providing other circumstances relating to their claim are unchanged.
Claimants will remain on Universal Credit live service if they are within the 6 month re-award period on Universal Credit live service. In these circumstances claimants will be able to report a change of circumstances which may result in entitlement to a revised Universal Credit live service award.
Q4. I have just separated from my partner can I continue to claim Universal Credit?
A4. When you report your separation from your partner your joint claim will end. However, you will both remain on Universal Credit (if still appropriate).
Q5. I think I should be entitled to Universal Credit from a date prior to 1 January 2018 and want to ask for my claim to be backdated.
A5. If you have not claimed Universal Credit in a live service area prior to 1 January 2018 you will need to claim one of the following and request backdating:
Q6. If I want to claim Universal Credit how can I appeal your decision?
A6. You cannot appeal against the decision not to accept a new Universal Credit claim in a live service area as from 1 January 2018. This is because of changes in the law for Universal Credit as a result of government policy.
A report released today warns of the difficulties social landlords are still facing from the roll-out of Universal Credit (UC).
In light of recent changes to UC in the Autumn Budget, the Northern Housing Consortium (NHC) today launched its report, Impact of Universal Credit – The Frontline Perspective, which summarises the results of a year-long study of UC, highlighting the experiences of 85 of its member organisations and their tenants across the North.
Key concerns that have emerged include the following:
Of particular concern was the impact UC is having on tenants. Reported evictions due to rent arrears in UC cases increased from 18% to 27% during the roll-out and by the end of the study all respondents reported they were aware of food bank use – something that a number of other studies have found.
More than half of the participants were aware of an increase in tenant health issues. These included stress and anxiety, depression, and suffering from the effects of cold and damp after being unable to heat their homes, particularly during the wait for the first payment. The announcement of the recent one-week reduction in the waiting time for first payment was positive, but the waiting time for claimants is still significant.
Jo Boaden, Chief Executive, NHC said: “The impact of UC on social landlords and their tenants is deeply concerning. The new system poses real challenges around rent collection and puts severe pressure on landlord resources in already challenging times. Worryingly, the situation could get worse for tenants as some face additional hardship over the Christmas period. Whilst we support the principle of simplifying the benefits system, there is clearly still work to be done to ensure it runs smoothly. Many of the messages on UC from the Autumn Budget were encouraging, and we urge the Government to continue to listen to housing providers in the sector, who offer security and support to many of society’s most vulnerable people. The NHC and our members have worked closely with the DWP throughout the process and will continue to do this over the coming months.”
You can download the report here and an infographic of statistics here.
Key contacts
Claire Henderson, Communications Manager, Northern Housing Consortium, Claire.henderson@northern-consortium.org.uk 01915661032
David Hetherington, Marketing Officer, Northern Housing Consortium, david.hetherington@northern-consortium.org.uk 0191 5661038
On 1st October 2017, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, announced proposals to address the imbalance of power in the private rented market by regulating letting and managing agents.
A call for evidence sought views on a new regulatory model and how best to protect and empower tenants and leaseholders.
The Northern Housing Consortium has responded to the Call for Evidence and you can read the response in full here.
The NHC has welcomed an approach to a more professional managing agent market and believe that, if framed correctly, there are benefits for property management agents as well as for tenants and leaseholders. We believe that regulation creates a level playing field, and will help responsible agents to not be undermined by a minority of agents with poor practice and will help improve the reputation of all.
The Government will bring forward detailed proposals early next year, following analysis of the evidence submitted.
The Northern Housing Consortium (NHC) has responded to Government proposals to reform the planning system to increase the supply of new homes and increase local authority capacity to manage growth. The full consultation response is available here.
The proposals are focused on providing the potential for greater pace, simplicity, and transparency in the planning process. We support this; however, the supply of the right homes in the right places needs to have recognition of the planning system as a significant driver of economic growth and quality of life through its importance in place-making.
We support a streamlined and simplified process, but we are concerned that a standard approach as a way of calculating local housing need will not allow for the complexity and unique needs of local housing markets, which vary significantly from place to place. For many parts of the North, we believe the standard methodology will create challenges with the alignment between housing need and economic growth and regeneration.
On 26th October, the Northern Housing Consortium facilitated landlord and tenant engagement sessions with Alok Sharma, Minister of State for Housing and Planning, alongside colleagues from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).
Representatives from around 30 NHC members attended the meeting for landlords, and the tenant engagement event attracted more than 80 residents from a cross section of providers in the North East and Yorkshire and Humber. A separate North West event was hosted by Community Gateway Association in Preston. The Minister was fully involved in the lively and well received session, both addressing and sitting with tenants to listen to their concerns and ideas. At the start of the session, NHC Deputy Chief Executive Tracy Harrison described this as a “golden opportunity to make your voice heard” which the Minister agreed with, encouraging the audience to be as frank as possible.
Discussions between tenants and the Minister covered a wide variety of topics including tenant voice, funding and investment, quality of stock and recognition of local issues. At the end of the session, Mr Sharma promised to write to each of the attendees in person and told them their comments, views and ideas would be used to shape the upcoming Social Housing Green Paper, “setting out what we’ve learned [from the sessions] and what needs to change.”
“At the end of my time as Housing Minister, I want to feel that I’ve done my part to get fairness back into the social housing system” Mr Sharma said while also mentioning a desire to “invest in modular housing similar to those made in Germany and Scandinavia” and the importance of incentivising private landlords to provide longer tenancies.
Commenting on the event, Tracy Harrison said “The NHC was delighted to facilitate this event with the Minister and his team at DCLG. The event presented our members and their residents with a real opportunity to discuss how they feel about where they live, and how services are provided to them by their landlord. I was particularly encouraged by the acknowledgement that local decision making can play a part in reconnecting isolated or fragmented communities — these are issues we know are key to our members — and we look forward to seeing how this shapes the Social Housing Green Paper next year.”
The Northern Housing Consortium has published its fourth Impact of Universal Credit Round. This report outlines the findings of the final in a series of four surveys and builds upon the results of the first three reports, which can be accessed from NHC’s website here. The research investigates how the implementation and continuing rollout of Universal Credit is affecting housing organisations and their tenants in the north.
We continue to track members’ responses to core questions on arrears levels, delays in processing claims and on how the system impacts on tenants’ health and well-being. This latest survey, however also introduced questions to explore confidence in service centres and respondents’ relationships with DWP Partnership Managers. Some of the key findings from the Round 4 report are:
We continue to use findings from the research to engage with DWP officials through NHC’s roundtable programme to raise members’ concerns and experiences of procedural issues and we will work with DWP to make the new system as smooth as possible for tenants, housing providers and DWP alike.
Now that the research is complete and there is a whole year’s worth of data collected, a final report will soon be published that pulls together all of the data from the four surveys to provide trend analysis and some conclusion from the findings. If you need any more information on this project, please contact Business Intelligence Officer Barry Turnbull.
