Levelling Up and Regeneration Act; Party conferences; Regulator of Social Housing; Cost of Living Payments; Charity Commission

Latest Policy and Governance legislation that could impact and/or may require action from our member charities, with links to further information where applicable:

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Levelling Up and Regeneration Act received Royal Assent on Thursday 26th October – The Almshouse Association will provide a full update shortly.

2023 Party Conferences

Party Conference Update: Desire to build more housing across the political spectrum 

Autumn is party conference season and this year saw an increase in their importance for all the main political parties, as there must be a general election by January 2025 at the latest. 

  • The Conservatives in Manchester were less vocal about housebuilding announcements than the other parties. The Conservative Party is concentrating on the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, its flagship housing and communities legislation and The Almshouse Association continues to lobby for almshouses to be included within the definition of affordable housing for planning purposes.  The fringe programme at the Conservative party conference showed that housing is increasingly being seen as an issue which must be tackled if their pledge to build 300,000 homes each year is to be achieved.  
  • The Labour party conference took place in Liverpool and they were much more vocal about their ambitions for housebuilding, albeit somewhat matching the Government’s target by pledging 300,000 new homes each year. In contrast, however, there were proposals to establish new towns, allow some housebuilding in some parts of the green belt to be designated grey belt, making it easier to build on brownfield land and encourage more council house building.  Labour also had a busy fringe calendar for housing related matters. 
  • The LibDem political conference was held in Bournemouth and saw the party’s membership overrule its leadership by refusing to pledge to scrap the national target of building 380,000 new homes per year.  The Young Liberals were at the heart of the debate.  As part of overall housebuilding efforts, the LibDems are pledging to build at least 150,000 new council and social homes a year. 
  • The Green party in Brighton pledged to ensure a home that’s “warm, safe and affordable for everyone” was possible, giving the legal right for homes to be properly insulated, damp-proofed and mould-free, and with the cost of renting set in line with local wages. 

Party conference season has demonstrated that whilst there are clear differences between the parties on policy, for once all parties seem to be agreed on the principle of building more houses. 

This could be very important for the almshouse movement if it is matched at the local level by Councils and Councillors across the country, who are usually responsible for planning related matters on a local level.  Our Policy & Engagement Officer, Charles Fifield, a former Borough Councillor, attended the Conservative Party Conference. He spoke to a broad range of Councillors across a variety of fringe events and found general support for the almshouse concept from Councillors, once explained. 

To help spread the word more easily to MPs and Councillors, we have updated the public area of the website to include a specific page for MPs and Councillors, along the main horizontal menu bar, to make it more visible and would encourage members to use this too in correspondence with MPs and Councillors: https://www.almshouses.org/mps-councillors/  

Regulator of Social Housing 

RSH has been running a consultation regarding the level of fees it charges registered providers.  TAA has liaised with the National Housing Federation and are lobbying for a reduced fee basis for providers with less than 250 units, to ease the burden of the proposed doubling of the flat rate for providers with up to 1,000 units. 

The consultation closes on 31 October 2023. 

Cost of Living Payments dates announced 

Millions of households across the UK will receive ÂŁ300 directly from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) between 31 October and 19 November.

  • Millions of households to receive ÂŁ300 from DWP between 31 October and 19 November 2023 
  • This is the second of 3 payments totalling up to ÂŁ900 supporting eligible people on means-tested benefits with the cost of living 
  • Payments make up part of government’s record financial support for the most vulnerable worth an average of ÂŁ3,300 per household 
  • Tax credits-only customers who do not qualify for a payment from DWP will receive ÂŁ300 from  HMRC  between 10 and 19 November 2023. 

Click here for details

Charity Commission 

The Charity Commission are increasingly tightening up on financial reporting deadlines i.e. Annual Return, Accounts and Trustees Annual Report (TAR) together with up to date information on Trustees,  which some had fallen behind with due to the Covid pandemic.   

We would remind all our members to keep up to date with their statutory filing duties as part of their legal obligations under the Charities Act 2011.  Further information, guidance and useful links can be found here.

posted 26 October 2023