Last week, The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) announced an extension of the evictions ban by a further 4 weeks. The ban was initially introduced to prevent tenants being evicted during the coronavirus lockdown.

The Almshouse Association has encouraged our members to follow the guidance as best practice during the current situation. We understand that this will not be a good position for all members.

The ban extension means:

• Evictions cannot be legally sought until September 21^st 2020
• A new requirement to provide 6 month notice periods has been introduced which will remain in place until 31^st March 2021, except in ‘those cases raising other serious issues such as those involving anti-social behaviour and domestic abuse perpetrators’.
• Courts will not resume eviction hearings until the ban ends. When the ban is lifted, cases will be prioritised based on how serious they are, i.e. those involving anti-social behaviour, or rents which have not been received for over a year.

We have been working with MHCLG over the last month or so to move to a ‘set of guidance‘ that fits with how our members manage rare cases of necessary set aside rather than a blanket ban on evictions. To date, it seems we have not been able to persuade them to move to pragmatic guidance rather than control.

We will continue to work with MHCLG to persuade them to develop a ‘set of guidance’ that fits with how almshouse charities manage residents in the very rare cases that set aside is the only option.

UPDATE 1/9/2020

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government has provided a further update regarding the notice period required for cases involving serious issues such as anti-social behaviour.

These changes mean that from 29 August notice periods must be at least:

• 4 weeks in relation to anti-social behaviour. Some discretionary grounds relating to nuisance/immoral or illegal use of the property require no notice at all. 2 weeks’ notice is required for notices in relation to rioting.

• 2 – 4 weeks’ notice periodsin relation to domestic abuse (depending on the type of tenancy notice period will vary – 2 weeks’ notice for grounds under 1988 Housing Act and 4 weeks under the 1985 Housing Act)

• 2- 4 weeks’ notice periodsfor false statement (depending on the type of tenancy and ground used, the notice period will vary – 2 weeks’ notice for grounds under 1988 Housing Act and 4 weeks under the 1985 Housing Act)

• 4 weeks’ notice period where over six months of rent is due (if less than six months is owed, then six months’ notice must be given)

• 3 months’ notice periodwhere the tenant is unlawfully present in the UK in breach of immigration rules (known as no ‘Right to Rent’) or where the tenant has passed away.

• 6 months’ notice periodfor all other grounds, including Section 21 notices and rent arrears under 6 months.

Notice served on and before 28 August are not affected by these changes, and must be at least three months if served on or after 27 March. If a landlord wishes to serve a new notice in order to take advantage of the new shorter notice periods required for certain serious cases, they should, where they are issuing a new notice of the same type, withdraw the first notice before they serve a new notice. These regulations will apply in England only.

Posted 25 August 2020; updated 1 September 2020

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It is with great sadness that we announce the death of former Almshouse Association Head of Member Services, Sue Turner.

Our good friend and coworker passed away last night; her husband Tim has sent us this message...

Tonight at around 8pm Sue passed away.

She had been fighting the illness for a long time now and in the past few weeks it became clear that the end was near.  Sue certainly didn’t want her life to continue in the way she was and we know now she is in no more pain.  Obviously this news is unwelcome but, it is for the greater good. 

When we have more information regarding COVID-19 funeral arrangements we will distribute them.  Thank you for all the support you’ve given Sue, and the whole family, in the past year. It has been and will continue to be appreciated.

Tim, Adam, Laura & Leon Turner

Here at the Association, we have been missing Sue since December 19 when she retired from the Almshouse Association after 18 years of dedicated and passionate service to our members who she felt so close to and worked tirelessly to support and guide. Her dedication to the Association and knowledge of the almshouse movement was second to none and an inspiration to us all. On a personal level, we all remember Sue’s loyalty and kindness, her dry sense of humour, boundless energy, passion for travel and good wine and the joy and love she felt for her family. She will be so very sadly missed by us all and we all send our heartfelt condolences to her family and friends at this saddest of time.

Posted 1 September 2020

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Dear Members

You will recall that we are currently in the process of reviewing our guidance manuals, which we plan to have in place in 2021.

The new guidance manual will be an improvement and amalgamation of both Standards of Almshouse Management and the Support and Care manuals. It will be available online in an easy downloadable format and all future updates and reviews will be made available online and in a downloadable format. We hope to be able to also offer a ring-binder for those wishing to download hard copies.

The manual will have three sections:

1. Overview
2. Governance
3. Operational

It will include policies, templates and checklists that each charity can utilise for their individual requirements.

We are aware that when we post updates on the website in ‘Latest News’ and ‘Current Issues’, sometimes the current online manuals lag behind the update. Please accept our apologies if you find this is the case, and thank you for your patience whilst we work on the updated guidance manual.

In the meantime, if in any doubt please do not hesitate to contact the Almshouse Association Member Services for the latest update.

Posted 1 Sept 2020

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……..Support Almshouses – Community-led, Truly Affordable Housing For Your Community……

Is Boris’s new white paper, “Planning for the Future”, good news for those needing affordable homes?

In sentiment, it looks good. Who could argue with a paper that starts off aligning its spirit with the great housing philanthropist George Cadbury? But, like a proverbial curates cream egg, it may be good in parts but there is more than one layer to this and the devil may lurk in the sugar coated detail.

The Government’s mission is presented as the solution to the country’s housing crisis. But this terminology has always been, in my view, a misnomer. The real crisis is one of affordability, not just availability. There seems to be no lack of 4 bedroom executive homes being built, however, for young families and single people living in substandard housing at ever increasing rents, there is a crisis. Roughly, 90% of those on lower incomes find that housing benefit does not cover their rent. While an estimated 8.4 million people in England are living in an unaffordable, insecure or unsuitable home, according to the National Housing Federation *. This is unsustainable.

So the good first. There is an ambition that most developers will pay something towards the affordable housing provision locally. This paper asks for a national, clear and unambiguous policy. It points to an uncertain and inconsistent implementation of section 106, a levy on developers to provide a percentage of housing onsite or negotiate a fee to the council for the provision of affordable homes.

Certainly the current Section 106 agreement process needs reviewing, for example, it could work more effectively if properly applied and standardised and not negotiated and haggled down by the best lawyers. Also, it does not properly prioritise community housing and truly affordable housing, with the current wording suggesting the best beneficiaries are housing associations, not locally led and accountable community housing charities such as almshouses.

The new paper wants a standard levy across the country, but with the potential for regional variations. Does that sound familiar? I wonder what the difference would be in practice.

What we need is a simple levy set for affordable housing on new development by commercial developers. If its 20% then let it be 20% from Ipswich to Islington. Let’s make sure that almshouses, as the truly affordable form of community-led housing, are recognised as a priority beneficiary, if not we would like to see almshouse charities being offered the opportunity on all sites where the levy is applied. Let’s make sure that no almshouse charity is charged the affordable housing levy (I know how mad that sounds but some local authorities have tried!)

There are definitely some good elements of the paper around protecting Greenbelt, AONB and focusing development on brown field sites and I don’t want to detract from that. Overall, the White Paper has some good intentions but in places is contradictory or, at least, appears so.

We would like to see:

– All almshouse charities exempt from the new Infrastructure Levy just as they are from the current Community Infrastructure Levy.

– All almshouse charities to be able to apply for affordable homes benefits or partnerships on a level playing field with other affordable housing providers.

– Community led housing supported on small scale sites as a preferred option to large corporate style housing associations.

* Affordable housing stats from – Statistica and ONS

Posted 19 August 2020

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We have been informed by our contact at Aon UK Limited that their business model is changing. In the next few days members will receive a letter to advise that The Almshouse Association has changed *one of our appointed insurance brokers from Aon to Higos Insurance Service Limited. 

Almshouse Association CEO will be holding meetings with Higos this week to set out the importance of customer service and price to our members. Please see below the statement issued by Higos, agreed by Higos and AON.

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“We are delighted to welcome you to Higos Insurance Services Limited and we can confirm the transfer of your policy has started. The change from Aon to Higos is effective from 27^th August 2020 onwards.

Higos Insurance Services Limited has been trading for over 25 years as a general insurance broker and we pride ourselves on our customer service throughout the whole lifecycle of your policy.  We work with our insurers to develop the best possible offering for our customers and we welcome customer feedback.  Once customers have engaged with our knowledgeable staff and experienced our service they stay with us for our care and advice.

We have connections to the UK’s leading insurance companies, as well as lots of other markets that offer niche insurance products for personal insurance, business and much more. Your existing policy with AON|Ecclesiastical will not be affected by this change and Higos will continue to administrate your existing policy following the recent renewal date.

We are committed to The Almshouse Association and have a devoted team of professionals.  Your team telephone number is 01458 270304 but if you would prefer to communicate by email you can contact us on almshouses.portfolio@higos.co.uk “

www.higos.co.uk

* Our other appointed insurance broker, Grout Insurance Brokers Limited remains unchanged.

Posted 17th August 2020

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Draft Building Safety Bill

The Government has recently published its draft Building Safety Bill. The bill would bring a number of changes in what is being referred to as the “biggest improvements to building safety in nearly 40 years”.

Changes include:

• The creation of a new Building Safety Regulator
• A new duty holder system will be implemented in every building, which aims to ensure that the person or entity that creates a building safety risk is responsible for managing that risk
• The requirement to have a Building Safety Manager in every high-rise building in the country to manage the day-to-day management of the building
• Increased sanctions for breaches
• Creation of a New Homes Ombudsman

The Almshouse Association will continue to monitor the progress of the bill and will keep members up to date with any developments.

Building Safety Fund

The Government has released guidance for social landlords on how to apply for the Building Safety Fund to pay for the removal of dangerous cladding without passing the cost onto leaseholders. Due to the age of most almshouses, it is unlikely that many members will be eligible for this support, but it is worth looking into if you oversee a multi-storey almshouse. It is also worth noting that a lot of the language refers to landlords and leaseholders, but the funding should extend to almshouse charities.

The key points for the fund are:

• The Government will prioritise funding for building owners who can demonstrate that the contractor will start work on cladding remediation by 31 March next year
• Online forms must be completed by 31 December 2020 to be considered
• Trustees would need to provide:
  • Confirmation that evidence is available to support submissions regarding eligibility of height and materials.
  • Confirmation of costs of the project – this could be a report from a cost consultant, together with the basis on which costs attributable to leaseholders have been calculated.
  • Confirmation that they have the legal right to recharge leaseholders – this could be evidence in the form of a copy of a lease agreement that contains the legal right to pass cost back to leaseholders. Social housing providers will be expected to show a representative sample demonstrating that the ability to recharge is across all leases.
  • Certification that the project will be on site and remediation work will have started by 31 March 2021.
• The funding is not available for buildings below 17.7m in height

Full guidance on the fund can be found here.

Previous Policy and Governance Updates:

Click here for Policy and Governance – June 2020 Summary
Click here for Policy and Governance – May 2020 Summary
Click here for Policy and Governance – Apr 2020 Summary
Click here for Policy and Governance – Mar 2020 Summary
Click here for Policy and Governance – Feb 2020 Summary
Click here for Policy and Governance –Jan 2020 Summary
Click here for Policy and Governance – 2019 Summary

Posted 17 August 20

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Our sixty ninth AGM will take place virtually at 10am on 1^st September 2020 by webinar.

Main Business:

• Approval of Minutes of the 68th Annual General Meeting held on Wednesday 5th June 2019 at The Worshipful Company of Haberdashers, Haberdashers’ Hall, 18 West Smithfield, London EC1A 9HQ.
• Election of Board Members
• Presentation of 2019 Annual Report and Accounts
• To re-appoint Buzzacott LLP as Auditors for The Almshouse Association
• Special resolution to approve the ‘change of name’ from ‘The National Association of Almshouses’ to ‘The Almshouse Association’

All members are cordially invited to attend the webinar. The nominated representative for each member charity is invited to cast their vote (NOTE: only one person per charity is permitted to vote)

– To register for the webinar, please click here.

– To post your vote, please click here

Deadline for voting is 25th August 2020

Posted 18th June 2020, re-posted 17 August 2020

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Last month, The Almshouse Association wrote to Helen Whately MP, Minister of State for Care, calling for almshouses to have access to testing for coronavirus as testing was due to be rolled out to care homes. Since writing the initial letter, the rollout of tests has been delayed, with full rollout now expected next month.

However, we are pleased that the minister has responded to our letter and has assured us that the Government, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, Public Health England and others agree that:

‘some supported-living and extra-care facilities share similarities with care homes in terms of care and risks…[and that] The Government will roll out an initial round of testing for staff and residents in the settings that meet certain risk-based criteria’

The Almshouse Association welcomes the response from the minister which provides reassurance that coronavirus testing will be based on risk. We will continue to push for almshouses to be seen as high risk settings which require regular access to Coronavirus testing.  

Members may also like to know that the minister expressed her “immense gratitude for the care being provided in almshouses, particularly during this pandemic.” 

You can keep up to date with the latest Coronavirus news here.

10th August 2020

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