Good afternoon,
Another week, another housing minister. Rachel Maclean was removed as part of prime minister Rishi Sunak's Suella Braverman-driven cabinet reshuffle. Maclean's replacement is Lee Rowley, formerly minister for local government and building safety, who actually was housing minister for seven weeks during the reign of Liz Truss, so he comes with plenty of experience. Anyhow, in this update you'll find a briefing on HQN's response to the Housing Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code consultation, news of the RSH's latest Sector Risk Profile and a new HQN podcast on embracing professionalism in the housing sector.
We also have extensive updates from our Housing Finance, Housing Management and Rent Income Excellence networks, along with all the latest from the Rent Compliance Hub and Leadership, Organisational and Development Hub.
As always, if you've any feedback for us, we'd love to hear it. |
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Featured content of the week |
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Briefing of the week: Complaint Handling Code Consultation:
The Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS) has launched its consultation on the Complaint Handling Code. This briefing contains HQN's response. |
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Podcast: Embracing professionalism In the latest HQN podcast Jon Land sits down with Gavin Cansfield and Linsay Baverstock from housing provider settle to talk about their approach to the social housing professionalism agenda and how this work is benefiting staff, residents and the wider organisational culture.
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| Event of the week: We need to talk about…shared ownership Essential for everyone involved in shared ownership – specialist teams, finance, marketing and sales, policy and strategy –you'll leave with a clearer picture of where the shared ownership sector could be heading and how it could be part of the solution to the housing crisis. |
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Training of the week: Working effectively with hoarders This course will explore all the recognised options that are available to staff working with hoarders as well as help organisations to create policy procedures and protocols. It will look at the role of housing professionals as well as how health or social care specialists can assist. | |
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This week's big reports and announcements |
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Shared ownership inquiry
The government has published the written evidence relating to the LUHC enquiry into shared ownership, including from the Housing Ombudsman, NHF, G15, among others. |
| Podcast: Avoiding the 'bear traps'
Wayne Hughes talks about the numerous challenges facing asset teams and the practical steps they can take to get on top of the day job. |
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Sector Risk Profile The RSH has published its latest Sector Risk Profile, in which it warns that the sector is grappling with a range of significant external pressures, including high inflation and higher borrowing costs. |
| Value for money briefing note As at 31 October 2023, we'd analysed the data of 179 HAs. Here's a quick summary of our ‘indicative’ median VfM metrics for 2022/23, together with a set of graphs showing the main findings, and commentary from Alistair McIntosh. |
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Click below for the latest... |
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This week's featured networks |
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October 2023 inflation update
The latest inflation figures are here. Click the button below for the most up-to-date base rate, Consumer Prices Inflation, including Housing, CPI and Retail Prices inflation updates. |
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2024/25 rent increase survey
With the latest CPI figures out, and the government's autumn statement imminent, we'd like to gauge our members' forecasts for next year's rent increase. Please take our super-quick survey to let us know what you think it might be. |
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Sector Risk Profile
The Regulator of Social Housing has released its latest Sector Risk Profile. The reports set out the main risks facing the social housing sector and some of the actions registered providers should be taking to manage those risks. |
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VfM model
Since we published the model on the 31/10/2023 we've received extra financial statements and as a result the figures have been updated. Consequently, there have been minor changes to the median figures for Metrics 1 and 4.
The dataset set now contains VfM metrics for 186 RPs, which means it reflects around 94% of all organisations that will submit 2022/23 data to the RSH. |
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Improving challenging estate and schemes – call out for members to get involved
We're starting a new project to design a ‘toolkit’ to help social housing providers in Australia improve estates and schemes where there are special challenges. The focus will be on placemaking and community building rather than physical regeneration. This will also be of great benefit to providers in the UK and we want you all to take part. |
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Domestic abuse service providers and their stories
One in five adults experience domestic abuse during their lifetime. An ongoing ESRC- funded project is aiming to offer a new contribution to current research by adopting a narratological methodology to explore and scrutinise the stories of service providers, and how they relate to the dominant narrative(s) on domestic abuse. |
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ASB event write-up
This write-up covers the main topics covered at our recent ASB event, including the need for increased partnership working, shared approaches and a rethink of service delivery, with an emphasis on patch-based working for closer collaboration with residents, partners, police and local authorities. |
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Tenant Support Fund
Freebridge Community Housing's support fund initiative aims at providing essential assistance and support to vulnerable individuals and families. This case study explores the goals, strategies and outcomes of the fund, and highlights its impact on the beneficiaries as a whole. |
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HQM: How pets turn housing into home
This feature from the latest issue of Housing Quality Magazine explores the travails many animal-loving social housing tenants face when trying to obtain the right to keep pets in their homes. |
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HQM: How a garden supports independent living
In another feature from the latest edition of HQM, Neil Merrick reports on a housing association that worked with residents at a home for people with learning disabilities to create a sensory garden. |
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A neighbourhood strategy for national renewal
This report from the the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for ‘left behind’ neighbourhoods makes a case for remaking the levelling-up agenda to put ‘left behind’ areas front and centre of a new mission of national renewal. |
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Winter benefits and sustainable tenancy assistance
Whilst the energy price cap is now at £1,834 a month, a reduction from £1,976 from the last period (July to September), it's still an increase from £1,216 for winter 2021/2022. This write-up offers a guide for residents to ensure sustainable living over the winter months. |
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Click below for the latest network... |
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70% of tenants find it difficult to pay their rent
Earlier this year, 1,213 social housing tenants were surveyed as part of a collaboration between Sheffield Hallam University, the Chartered Institute of Housing, Qa Research and HQN. Among its key findings was that nearly 3/4 social housing tenants are struggling to pay their rent. |
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Welfare reform news and policy update – November 2023
Breakout stories this month include the DWP's latest UC roll-out update, increases to the Real Living Wage, news of changes to the work capability assessment, and details about new customer services standards for energy suppliers. |
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The squeeze on council finances and what it means for housing
A small number of councils have recently declared themselves unable to balance their books. Concern is growing for quite a number of others. This briefing looks at the current situation, how it affects housing services for all local people, and what actions authorities and other social landlords can take. |
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Best practice group The network's next best practice group is scheduled for 23 November. Free to members the sessions are a great way to find out what others are doing and have honest and open discussions. |
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Click below for the latest network... |
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Click below for the latest network... |
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The menopause at work
Research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has shown that most working women (aged 40 to 60) have experienced symptoms related to the menopause and over half have been unable to go into work at some point due to menopausal symptoms. Jane Atherton explores how employers can help women going through the menopause. |
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Blog: Measuring national well-being in the UK This article from the Office of National Statistics looks at a range of data it has recently published on what people have said matters most to them when it comes to living a good and meaningful life. |
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Best practice group
The hub's next best practice group, scheduled for 6 December, will focus on 'How are you using your employer brand to improve recruitment and attract new talent to the sector?' The sessions are free to hub members and offer a fantastic opportunity to talk freely with peers and share best practice.
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Event: Preparing for winter hazards
With winter fast approaching, estates teams know all too well colder weather creates hazards and increased likelihood of slips, trips, and falls. Our coming event will help you prepare – particularly important given the proposed Consumer Standards mean the sector needs to be more vigilant than ever when it comes to ensuring resident safety. |
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Best practice group
The hub's next best practice group will explore the scourge of fly tipping strategies for dealing with it. Scheduled for 21 November, the session is free to hub members and offers a great opportunity for serious discussion with fellow professionals.
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Housing in practice – guerrilla gardening
In our latest Housing in Practice video case study, we talk to former Blue Peter gardener and shared owner Chris Collins about his mission to improve green spaces in housing blocks and on estates as part of his work with community horticulture charity Garden Organic. |
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Reopening ASB cases
A member is reviewing their ASB process and would be interested to know whether anyone has any time constraints for reopening cases. They currently reopen cases within six months.
If you can help, please respond to this post directly. Vulnerability policies
One of our members is looking for examples of vulnerability policies, where you may set out your approach to support and/or an enhanced service for customers based upon particular vulnerabilities they may have.
If you have a document you’d like to share, please forward to damian.roche@hqnetwork.co.uk |
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If you’d like to ask the members a question, see our video guide on how to do this here. |
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| | Interested in our networks or events?
Email us or call the team on +44 (0)1904 557150 |
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Our mailing address is: Rockingham House, St Maurice's Road, York YO31 7JA |
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