[William Clemmey]

TinaI have googled average rents for Stratford-upon-Avon and also asked a local estate agent. I shall send across my formula calculation and would be interested to see yours
Sue – thanks for pointing out the rent flexibility in section 2.14 where you can go up to 105% of the formula rent (or 110% for supported housing)
William Clemmey
chiefofficermunicipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Adele
I am trying to send you a copy of our Residents handbook but your email bounces back
William
chiefofficer’municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Tina
Here are my thoughts on answering your questions
a) Do new licences start at existing wmc rate per property (minus service charges) plus upto a 5% increase. So long as they dont exceed the fair rent valuation
For new residents we currently increase the WMC charged to the fair rent valuation we have obtained from the Valuation Office – in future we will also look to compare it to the formula rent calulation now that I have worked out how to calculate it. Either way will lead to an increase in WMC levels for new residents.

b) is the Rent Cap the fair rent valuation? – It looks like the Rent cap is much higher than the fair rent valuation
see p36 of this document for current rent caps (which certainly exceeed our WMC and Service Charge)
These will increase annually by CPI plus 1.5% (see 2.4 of the document)
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/697b8d18f8f4a746d9572f51/Annex_B_-_policy_statement_on_rents_for_social_housing.pdf

c) WMC annually can only increase by a max of 5%. . if CPI plus 1% exceeds an 5% increase- then the wmc can only be increase by the consumer price index
No we can increase WMC by CPI plus 1% for the next 10 years.
2.18 Registered providers are not required to reduce rents (in nominal terms) should
CPI fall below 0%. In this circumstance, registered providers may not increase rents but
they are not obliged to reduce them (i.e. there is a floor of 0%)
So from April we will be increasing WMC by 4.8% (CPI of 3.8% in September 2025 plus the 1%)

d) if residents move between properties- the wmc cant be reset
We certainly charge the residents the new WMC since its a new property that they are moving to with a new WMC and possibly new service charge level

e) rent flexibility level is 105% – not sure what you mean by this

f) if wmc when increased by CPI plus 1% is below the formula rent (existing wmc?)- does this mean a negative amount? in which case there is a £2 allowance
From April 2027 if the WMC increase of CPI plus 1% results in the WMC level being below the formula rent then we can increase it by an additional £1 a week
From April 2028 if the WMC increase of CPI plus 1% results in the WMC level being below the formula rent then we can increase it by an additional £2 a week
In theory the WMC will eventually catch up with the formula rent

This is all good news for registered providers since in the past the only way to increase WMC for older residents would have been to apply to the regulator for an increase and the paperwork involved looked horrendous – hence we started by increasing WMC levels for new residents and adding a Service Charge for all residents

Hope that helps
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Virginia
Very happy to share the terms of reference for our sub committees:
Properties Committee – deals with Almshouse properties and maintenance
People and Governance Committee – deals with policies and staffing
Finance and Risk Committee – deals with finance, budgets, investments and risks
Relief in Need Committee -deals with charitable giving fund
William Tyler Properties Committee (dealing with commercial property)
Residents Appointments Committee

William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

The Wessex Almshouse Group have a great comparison benchmarking exercise and I am sure Nick Stiven will respond collegeofmatrons@outlook.com

There was a previous topic Reviewing Employee Pay which seems to have disappeared
Meanwhile
Very happy to benchmark our salary figures
These are the ones from 1 April 2025

2024 hourly rate 2025 hourly rate 2024 hours Total/week
Scheme Manager £22.00 £23.10 30 £693
Operations Manager £22.00 £23.10 30 £693
Chief Officer £28.53 £29.96 25 £749
Finance Officer £26.00 £27.30 22.5 £614
Cleaner £15.89 £16.68 2 £33
Handyman £16.48 £17.30 10 £179
Handyman £16.48 £17.30 30 £519

We are likely to have a 5% salary increase from 1 April 2026
Hope that helps
William Clemmey
cheifofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Diane
We currently offer an additional day’s holiday for each year of service (up to 5).. In addition we offer one additional day’s holiday is offered for all staff to be taken over the Christmas period. So staff can have up to 34 days holiday a year

Our work life balance policy includes the following (happy to send the full policy over)

Work life balance options within Municipal Charities are:
Flexible Working Arrangements:
Flexi-time – working contracted hours during the week to meet work demands but on days and at times agreed with line managers.
Part time work – defined by the government as working less than 30 hours per week – on days and at times agreed with line manager. This applies to all of our current staff.
Home working – where appropriate to the task
A process for handling employee requests for Flexible Working for Parents (Staff handbook has details).
Job sharing – more than one person carrying out the duties of one post – with the prior agreement of the line manager
Breaks from work – time off for dependents, parental, adoption and maternity / paternity leave. (Staff handbook has details).
Study time for relevant or required accredited longer courses.

Support For Parents (including adoption):
1. Extended paternity leave: two weeks at the same rate as maternity pay and an additional one week at 90% pay.
2. Increased statutory maternity pay at 90% of salary from 6 weeks to 8 weeks.

Salary Sacrifice Schemes:
1. Cycle to work Scheme offering loans for staff to purchase bicycles. E.g. https://www.bike2workscheme.co.uk/employer
2. For those wanting to invest more into their pension schemes – Municipal Charities will contribute 10% of the amount sacrificed on top of the employee’s salary sacrifice into the pension scheme. The employer will contribute 10% up to the current Government limit which will become £2,000 from April 2029.
(This will actually save the Charity money – 5% since they will not be paying the 15% employers NI)
3. Training courses undertaken in the staff members own time that Municipal Charities do not fund – the staff member can sacrifice their salary and Municipal Charities will then pay the training fees from the salary sacrificed (this can include driving courses). The staff member benefits from not having to pay tax and NI on their fees.
4. Access to the Computing Scheme for purchases of computer equipment
https://www.techscheme.co.uk/how-it-works?gclid=CjwKCAjw34n5BRA9EiwA2u9k38sE1QLdXSbS-PsjVGOAWQj4peEm8sfF-RngZPwD9kD4O4Y2M92w7hoCZ-IQAvD_BwE
5. Staff are encouraged to join the Charity worker discount scheme
See HMRC salary Sacrifice information

Other Benefits:
1. Free tea, coffee and soft drinks at work.
2. Free eye tests for all those using computer screens. Free glasses up to the cost of NHS glasses Voucher C (currently £92.60) for those with middle vision problems.
3. We currently offer an additional day’s holiday for each year of service (up to 5).
4. Staff can carry over up to 10 days holiday into the next year.
5. One additional day’s holiday is offered for all staff to be taken over the Christmas period.
6. Employers Pension contribution is 6% by Municipal Charities – to be matched by the employee. Municipal Charities will match up to 8% of the salary pension contribution into the staff’s pension scheme. .
7. If a person wishes to quit smoking then we would offer to pay for a Smoking cessation course.
8. Up to 8 hours (pro rata) of paid employee volunteering each year.

William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Vanessa
Many thanks for the link to your wealth of policies which are excellent
William

[William Clemmey]

David
My role is known as Chief Officer (or you could run with Charity Manager)
Happy to share my job description
all the best
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Virginia
We have a small number of KPIs so as not to make it an arduous task

KPIs for Municipal Charities

To note that we have the following KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators):

Occupancy rate – aiming for at least 98% (we budget for 95%)
To undertake 100% of the work marked “High” on the Quinquennial reports by 31 October 2025
Completion of 90 % Quinquennial medium tasks by 31st October 2025
Completion of 70 % Quinquennial low tasks by 31st March 2026
To apply for planning permission for Solar panels on as many of our properties as possible by 31st March 2026
To produce Monthly Management accounts
To circulate all agendas a week before the meeting
To ensure that our returns to the Charity Commission, the Regulator of Social Housing and the Housing Ombudsman are all submitted before the deadline

In addition we have a number of aims to be achieved under our Business Plan

Look forward to others responses

William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

We now supply cookers, fridges and washing machines where there are no communal washing facilities provided. We PAT test them each year
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Lisa
We have recently upgraded our Lifelines and smoke detectors to a digital system
We used Warwick District Council Sophie.Meade@warwickdc.gov.uk Mobile: 07718 575762
The Board approved the following – We have 46 properties of which we have already upgraded 3 lifelines to the new ones which work with GPS and are not dependent on a phone line. The quotation to upgrade all of our properties to going digital is £8,224.80. Our quarterly charge would remain the same as we would have purchased the equipment, and this charge is currently set at a monitoring only charge.
In addition we will need to replace the smoke alarms so that they link into the new digital lifelines. They cost £65 each so the cost will be up to £2,990
Proposal – that we authorise the payment of up to £11,235 to move all of our lifelines across to the digital version and purchase new smoke detectors.

We use Social Telecom for our free Wifi to residents (we obtained Awards for All funding towards this). We also use them for the landlines. contact Dale Lewis T: 01743 299488 M: 07399 438246
We are now putting in VoIP phones for those residents who want them and removing the landlines. For the 25 residents who don’t want the use of a VoIP phone then we will be able to save on the cost of the landline. This will save the Almspeople charity £6,258 a year which can be used to support residents in other ways. For those 21 residents moving to VoIP we will also save since VoIP is effectively free and we will just pay for the calls rather than taking out a £5.50 a month bundle. This then saves the £17.39 (plus VAT) per month for the landlines. So an additional saving of £5,256 a year. So the conversion will pay for itself within a year and then we will be over £11,500 a year better off.
We are going to appear as a national case study for the Department of Health and Social Care.

Hope that helps
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

We can recommend LGT Wealth Management who Charity Aid Foundation work with
Our Manager is

Dexter Baum | LGT Wealth Management | Investment Manager
Phone +44 20 3943 8597 | Mobile +44 7720 085 318 | 14 Cornhill EC3V 3NR | dexter.baum@lgt.com

For more information on CAF:
https://www.cafonline.org/services-for-charities/charity-banking-investments/esg-investments?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=16624927169&gbraid=0AAAAAC9lTD6d8guZxBdlUqhldBmkiwYS6&gclid=Cj0KCQiA6NTJBhDEARIsAB7QHD0TemOL2aPZmTpPIqpfLW3vN8Bn5z9WJYCxTlFv_tZq89mjD2fGwt0aAmJNEALw_wcB

Explore the IFSL CAF ESG funds
There are three IFSL CAF ESG Funds with clear aims, investment policies and targets, to enable charitable investors to choose the most appropriate fund or funds for their needs based on risk and return appetite.

All funds are actively managed by LGT Wealth Management, this means that the investment manager decides which investments to buy or sell and when. They will have exposure to ESG focused investments through a broad range of asset classes and investments across different industries and geographical regions, however not all asset classes may be held at all times.

William Clemmey
Chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

We simply banned it for all new residents and now have no smokers at all
It is also banned in all of communal areas and gardens
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Is there any update about a possible opt out for Almshouses?
William Clemmey
Chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

[William Clemmey]

Margaret
We use Juttons who are energy brokers and also one of the tenants in the offices we rent out
They are excellent and can negotiate good rates for you
Siân Haynes
Key Account Manager
Jutton Associates Limited
t: 01789 268132
m: 07711 358017
http://www.juttonassociates.com

Hope that helps
William Clemmey
chiefofficer@municipal-charities.org.uk

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