Govt consultation on cap

Association Response to Government Consultation on Cap to WMC increases

The Almshouse Association has been working with our member charities to put together a response to the government consultation on capping increases to Weekly Maintenance Contributions (WMC) from April 2023.
Note: This cap would only apply to charities who are also Registered Providers of Social Housing (RPs).

As part of this process, we promised that we would allow members to view our response which is focused on achieving an exemption from any proposed cap, specifically for almshouse charities. As well as making our submission, we are meeting with the government team handling the consultation to make an explicit case for support of an exemption.

We will continue to keep members up to date as the situation develops.

Our response can be found here.

posted 11 October 22

New Almshouse Research published

We are pleased to share our most recent research report into how almshouse charities managed during the pandemic.

The Almshouse Association commissioned The Smith Institute to carry out the report so that we could learn about the difference our members made and what lessons we can learn for future emergencies.

The report, based on an extensive series of interviews, seeks to understand the impact of the pandemic on almshouse charities and their residents and examine the impact almshouse charities made since the first lockdown.

It places the spotlight on the positive contribution the almshouse model made during the public health crisis and extended periods of social isolation, identifies the lessons that can be drawn from the past two years and highlights the challenges the sector faces going forward.

The Smith Institute and The Almshouse Association hosted an online event on 11th October 2022 to mark the launch of a new report looking at the impact of the pandemic on almshouses.

A recording of the event can be found here.

Please click on the graphic below to download the full report.

posted 11 October 2022

The New Almshouse Association Awards launched!

The New Almshouse Association Awards are now open for your 2022 submissions!

The awards have been updated to include environmental innovations and to provide clear definitions for each award to ease the award submission path. They will continue to represent recognition for real innovation and achievement within the almshouse movement.

The upgrading and improvement of the environmental impact of buildings is now paramount. Remodelling almshouses or building new almshouses in a way that retains the integrity of their historic buildings is particularly challenging, requires great skill to navigate. Our members are doing an incredible job to ensure their almshouses are well maintained and kept warm and welcoming, whilst also adhering to environmental criteria.

With this in mind, The Almshouse Association Awards recognise and reflect the ever-growing environmental aspects that our members are taking on board when redeveloping or building new. The also encapsulate and honour all the tremendous hard work of our member charities, highlighting the wonderful innovations and life-enhancing projects that are taking place throughout our membership.

The four awards are:

We hope you enjoy being a part of these new awards and you will find, over the coming months, we will be engaging with you to support you with your submissions. We know so many of you have such incredible sites and we will be encouraging you to share these with your peers by partaking in the awards.

Our aim is to build on the quality and high standards of our previous award winners, setting goals and establishing, in many cases, best practices within the almshouse movement. 

Please click here to go to our Award pages where you will find criteria, guidelines and submission formats along with tips and design briefs and former award winners.

Today, more than ever, it’s so important to recognise the vital role almshouses and almshouse trustees play in today’s society. We look forward to receiving your submissions!

The deadline for submissions is 31st January 2023.

posted 6 October 2022

P&G update: 26.09.22

The Almshouse Association regularly posts a news summary of the latest Policy and Governance legislation that could impact / requires action from our member charities, with links to further information where applicable. Please find below our latest summary:

Government

  • Support for energy bills announced – Prime Minister Liz Truss has outlined the support that the government will provide to help with the spiralling costs of energy.

    The Energy Price Guarantee is a package of measures which includes:
    • Suspending green levies on energy bills
    • Capping household bills to £2500 per year for the next two years
    • Providing the £400 energy rebate
    • Equivalent support will be offered to those on heat networks
    • A fund will be established to support charities with their energy costs this winter, offering an equivalent guarantee for the next 6 months

More information can be found here.

  • Government announces support for non-domestic energy bills – The Government has now published details on the Energy Bill Relief Scheme which will help those on non-domestic (business) tariffs this winter. This will include charities who provide energy to their residents.
    The support will initially be available from 1st October 2022 until 31st March 2023, with further support expected after this for the most vulnerable sectors.

    The scheme will be available to everyone on a non-domestic contract including:
    • businesses
    • voluntary sector organisations, such as charities
    • public sector organisations such as schools, hospitals and care homes
      who are:
    • on existing fixed price contracts that were agreed on or after 1 April 2022
    • signing new fixed price contracts
    • on deemed / out of contract or variable tariffs
    • on flexible purchase or similar contracts

The support will be applied to all bills by suppliers, and you will not need to apply for it to take effect.
– Our full article on the support can be found here.
– A more detailed breakdown of the support can be found on the government announcement here.

  • Response to Tenant Satisfaction Measures Consultation Published -The Regulator of Social Housing has published its response to its consultation on the introduction of Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) for Registered Providers of Social Housing.

    The TSMs are a set of measures on which are aimed to reflect the performance of housing providers, included registered providers who are almshouses. Following the consultation some of the TSMs have been amended, but there will still be 22 data points covering measures gathered from residents and housing providers based upon levels of satisfaction, complaints, health & safety checks etc.

    For most almshouse charities who have less than 1,000 dwellings, there are provisions to collect this data every year or every two years. For those with over 1,000 dwellings, it will be an annual requirement.

The TSMs are due to come into effect on 1st April 2023. Full details on the response and supplementary information can be found here.

The Charity Commission

  • Protect your charity from fraud and cybercrime – The Charity Commission has published guidance on protecting charities from fraud and cybercrime ahead of Charity Fraud Awareness Week (17 – 21 October 2022).

Full guidance can be found here.

RECORD OF PREVIOUS 2021/22 Policy and Governance updates:

Posted 26 September 22

Government announces support for non-domestic energy bills

The Government has now published details on the Energy Bill Relief Scheme which will help those on non-domestic (business) tariffs this winter. This will include charities who provide energy to their residents.

The support will initially be available from 1st October 2022 until 31st March 2023, with further support expected after this for the most vulnerable sectors.

The scheme will be available to everyone on a non-domestic contract including:
– businesses
– voluntary sector organisations, such as charities
– public sector organisations such as schools, hospitals and care homes

who are:
– on existing fixed price contracts that were agreed on or after 1 April 2022
– signing new fixed price contracts
– on deemed / out of contract or variable tariffs
– on flexible purchase or similar contracts

The support comes from a cap being placed on the unit price on your electricity and gas, this cap has been set at:
– £211 per megawatt hour (MWh) for electricity
– £75 per MWh for gas

For comparison, this compares to £600 for electricity and £180 for gas which had been expected this winter.

The support will be applied to all bills by suppliers and you will not need to apply for it to take effect.

  • If you agreed your fixed price contract / tariff on or after 1 April 2022 you will get support if the calculated wholesale element of the price you are paying is above the government supported price.
  • If your fixed tariff is based on wholesale prices below the government supported price, you will not be eligible for support.
  • For members who use heat networks or provide energy to their residents the Government advises:

“We expect businesses and other organisation to pass on the benefits under this scheme through to the end user in a reasonable and proportionate way. This will ensure support, for instance, to customers of heat networks and park home residents.”

A more detailed breakdown of the support can be found on the Government announcement here.

The Almshouse Association will continue to discuss the needs of the almshouse movement to be included in any future support beyond 31st March 2023 and would greatly appreciate evidence/case studies from member charities regarding the impact of the high energy costs and how the support provided through this scheme is ensuring services continue.

If you have any further questions, please get in touch with Jack Baldan via jackbaldan@almshouses.org

Posted 22 September 22

TV Licensing – Dispensation for the Queen’s Funeral

The Almshouse Association has received the following communication from the BBC representative for TV licensing

Good afternoon,

We offer our deepest condolences to the Royal Family following the death of Her Majesty The Queen. Her Majesty was the embodiment of public service.

We know that many communities may wish to come together and observe the funeral of Her Majesty The Queen and so the BBC is providing local communities a TV Licence dispensation. The dispensation will allow any communal setting where TV is not usually watched, such as town halls, community centres and libraries across the UK, to screen the live programmes without needing to purchase a licence. 

We want to reach out to communities and those who are making arrangements to let them know that the dispensation is in place and therefore we welcome your support in making your service users aware.

By law, if live television or BBC iPlayer is viewed on any premises, those premises must be covered by a valid TV Licence. However, in exceptional circumstances, the BBC can grant a dispensation for the temporary viewing of television, so long as the viewing is for the sole purpose of screening an event which is judged by the BBC to be of national importance.

As the BBC Board has said, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was a unifying figure across generations, communities and borders, who represented the very best of our nation. We are grateful at the BBC to have witnessed, recorded and shared so many of the special moments in her long life and reign. She will always be remembered with the greatest affection and admiration.

If you need any further information to help you to support your clients, if you have any queries or if you would like to know more please contact me.

Dan Cooper
Senior Communications Specialist | TV Licensing
daniel.cooper@bbc.co.uk

Posted 12 September 22

HM The Queen Elizabeth II

The Almshouse Association board of trustees, staff and members, are deeply saddened by the death of the Queen.
Our heartfelt sympathy goes to the Royal Family who have been such a consistent inspiration through their uplifting patronage of The Almshouse Association and the wider almshouse movement.
The Queen’s devotion and selfless commitment to public service, will continue to be an example to us all.

On Monday 19th September 2022 The Almshouse Association office will be closed as we pay our respects to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Government outlines support on energy bills

Prime Minister Liz Truss has outlined the support that the government will provide to help with the spiralling costs of energy.

This package includes:

  • Suspending green levies on energy bills
  • Capping household bills to £2500 per year for the next two years
  • Providing the £400 energy rebate
  • Equivalent support will be offered to those on heat networks
  • A fund will be established to support charities with their energy costs this winter, offering an equivalent guarantee for the next 6 months

The Almshouse Association will continue to study the details of this package and will look to ensure that all almshouse charities are able to access the support they need this winter.

Further support is likely to be announced later this month when the Chancellor is due to deliver a ‘fiscal statement’.

Posted 8 September 22

Support during cost-of-living crisis

The Almshouse Association is aware that many of our members are concerned by the current cost-of-living crisis and the impact it is having on residents. These are extraordinary times without a single, clear solution and the Association is working hard to ensure that your voices are heard.

This has included:

  • Continued correspondence and discussions with government, including with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Department for Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities as well as the candidates for Prime Minister
  • Consulting with our members on a response to the government’s consultation on a cap on the increase of WMC for Registered Providers
  • Writing to Ofgem to call for greater support for charities who are facing higher rates due to being seen as businesses for energy purposes
  • Establishing links with external organisations who may be able to offer additional support and advice to our members or their residents

If you or your residents do need additional support, we have compiled a list of organisations and websites below that you may find useful:

The Almshouse Association is, however, continuing to do all possible to gain help and support for our members throughout these challenging times and, as always, we will post all relevant information as well as news of any developments on our website.

posted 5 September 2022

Starts at Home Day – 2nd September 2022

On this Starts at Home Day when housing associations up and down the land are celebrating supported housing and the positive impact it makes on thousands of lives, The Almshouse Association would also like to recognise the support offered by almshouse charities throughout the UK that are providing homes for over 36,000 people in housing need.

Care and support in the community has been described as a postcode lottery. This can be particularly true in rural areas where residents can feel disconnected from established support networks. This leaves us wondering what happens in these towns and villages when someone hits hard times in their lives?   

In rural areas, almshouses are sometimes the only form of social housing.

Established over centuries, almshouse charities help to support the communities they serve by providing genuinely affordable local housing to those in need. Almshouses ensure the residents not only have a safe, warm roof over their heads, but are also able to remain within their community. This can make a significant difference in helping people to find their feet when things haven’t gone to plan, providing the support to retain their independence.  

Maintaining and expanding this provision of supported housing is vital if we are to ensure that people who need extra support will always have a safe home that meets their needs.

This is a pressing need across the country, but particularly in our rural communities which do not benefit from a concentration of services within easy reach.  To do this we need a broad spectrum of support – from government, both local and national, to new benefactors who want to help in their local area and local volunteers who can become trustees. Collectively, these groups can continue the tried and tested almshouse tradition into the future, providing support to create new homes in disconnected areas and breathing new life into existing charities.  

This Starts at Home Day, The Almshouse Association is proud to champion the work of our members up and down the country, yet we know that we must continue to call for greater support. Supported housing, such as almshouses, makes a fantastic contribution and helps to save the government money.

Recent research showed that almshouses alone provide over £40m in annual financial benefits.

This contribution shows the great value that investment in this vital sector can bring. It is crucial that we proactively promote this work as we endeavour to secure the support it rightly deserves.    

Almshouse Association members that would like to get involved and ensure the longevity of the almshouse movement could look to invite their local MP to visit their almshouse or write a letter to them. If you need any help with this, we have a template letter on our website you may wish to use (click here).

Members of the public wishing to offer support to either their local almshouse or the almshouse movement can get in touch with The Almshouse Association at www.almshouses.org and we will put you in touch with your local charity.

posted 1st September 2022