How was this allowed to happen? - General Election 2017 Where do we go from here? - Housing Quality Network
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HQN’S MAGAZINE FOR BOARDS, EXECUTIVES AND LEADERS JULY 2017
How was this
allowed to
happen?
Jules Birch on the
Grenfell Tower fire
General
Election 2017
Where do we
go from here?
Evidence
Four page research
and analysis pull-out
Contents
July 2017 Special pull-out:
Evidence
Published by:
The latest edition of HQN’s
HQN Evidence magazine,
Rockingham House incorporating the latest
St Maurice’s Road housing research and
York analysis from leading
YO31 7JA academics.
Issue 18 | July 2017
In this issue: 1 Welcome / Too many women becoming homeless
2 Welfare Reform: The challenges ahead for policy and practice
Editorial:
3 Disabled people’s perspectives on welfare conditionality 4 In brief
EVIDENCE
update
THE LATEST RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS – IN PLAIN ENGLISH
Alistair McIntosh Welcome
Jon Land
The start of a new parliament, recent election and on the welfare benefit cuts still in
with a new government in place, the pipeline – amounting to greater cuts than already
is generally a buoyant time in seen. And Dr Jenny McNeill offers case studies of the
politics. This time, however, the difficulties faced by two disabled people trying to
mood has been sombre, with a claim Employment and Support Allowance.
Jules Birch
weakened government, terrorist Homelessness remains a serious and growing
attacks and the Grenfell Tower problem in the UK, and the situation of homeless women
fire. is under-reported. For the first time researchers have put
together knowledge about women and homelessness
The mood is also a reaction against the years of from across Europe. Dr Joanne Bretherton reports.
Mark Lawrence
‘austerity’. Though social security and housing benefit
have not been top political issues recently, they will Janis Bright
form an important part of the debates to come. Editor
In this issue, Professor Christina Beatty reflects on the Evidence
Rob Gershon Too many women becoming homeless
Joanne Bretherton from the University of York comments avoid emergency services which are largely filled with
Janis Bright
on the first systematic attempt to bring together men, instead, they rely on the people they know. Women
knowledge about women and homelessness across may sofa surf more than men and there is growing
Europe. evidence they exhaust these informal arrangements
before seeking formal help.
Women’s homelessness is neglected. We think about Research shows that lone homeless women are highly
Roger Jarman
homelessness, as people sleeping on the street and vulnerable. Simultaneous mental illness and addiction,
in emergency shelters. For many of us, our picture of high rates of domestic violence and abuse and
homelessness is not a woman and her children, sleeping extremely poor physical health are common. American
in a friend’s living room because they have nowhere evidence shows us that women (and men) do not start
else to go. their homelessness careers with these sorts of support
Domestic violence is not seen as a homelessness issue. needs, instead such needs can result from recurrent or
Yet women and women with their children are driven long-term homelessness.
out of their homes, made homeless, by male violence. The homelessness statistics, which differ between
Between 1998-2015, 66,660 households containing lone England and other parts of the UK, record people who
women and lone women parents were accepted as are helped under the homelessness laws, they are not
Email:
homeless due to domestic violence in England1. a count of all homeless people. Lone homeless adults
For women, homelessness often means staying with can find it difficult to receive assistance under these
someone, family, friend, or acquaintance, because laws, which focus on protecting children and a narrowly
there is nowhere else to go. Sofa surfing is the experience defined group of vulnerable adults. This means women
of many homeless women. without children, or who have lost contact with their
jon.land@hqnetwork.co.uk
Internationally and in the UK, academic research children, often cannot access these systems. Because of
is showing us that women react to homelessness in an emphasis on homelessness prevention people are less
different ways to men. Women avoid the street, they likely to reach the point of being recorded as ‘homeless’.
1 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness
Tel: 07740 740417 JULY 2017 | EVIDENCE - 1
Advertising: Cover features
All enquires to: 9 After Grenfell
hqn@hqnetwork.co.uk 5 How was this allowed to happen?
Tel: 0845 4747 004 HQN chief executive
Jules Birch investigates the governance failures ‘at all Alistair McIntosh sets
Design: levels’ that played their part in the Grenfell Tower fire out his six-point plan for
tragedy while Roger Jarman calls for a revamp of the regulation following the
Sam Wiggle regulatory regime for social housing on the back of the Grenfell Tower fire.
disaster.
Printed by Darecomm, York
10 Where do we 15 The Last Word
Published four times a go from here? HQN’s Residents’ Network
year. All rights reserved. lead associate Rob
Reproduction in whole Mark Lawrence looks Gershon says residents’
or in part without written back on a tumultuous voices need to be
permission is strictly few weeks for the housing heard in the aftermath
prohibited. sector and explores what of Grenfell and calls
the General Election result for an increased focus
is likely to mean for future on tenant involvement,
housing policy. empowerment and co-
regulation.
Have you seen our new website?
Visit www.hqnetwork.co.uk
Cover photo: Jon Chiral
2 | JULY 2017
Fixing our broken housing hearts
“We’ve got great news
for you Mr 20,000-home
landlord – 76% of the
15 fire risk assessments
we looked at were OK.
No we didn’t actually
go to the houses. But
the files are tip top”
We’ve got to get a shift on. The bad looks like. Stock condition now. I’d pull the tenant involvement
Notting Hill Carnival starts on 26 surveys tell you all you need to standard and beef it up. You must
August. That’s the next time the know about net present values but listen to tenants on safety. After
world will descend on Grenfell. So nothing at all about safety. You every tragedy you find someone
we need to have put our house in would have thought the houses that says ‘I told you so’. Better to be
order. Here’s what I would do. needed to be pretty much free of wise before the event.
It’s time to tell the speculators that fire risk to be worth anything. But I’d take a good look at the VfM
enough is enough. We need a policy too often that does not enter the standard before it comes out
of use it or lose it in busy places. You equation. And these risks do not too. Make sure it spells it out that
can’t tell people in London there make their way onto the assets and scrimping on safety is wrong. And
are no homes for them when they liabilities register. compel landlords to proactively
can see loads of empties with their Then there’s the laboriously manage safety in much the same
own eyes. Don’t rub people’s noses constructed multi-coloured swap way they deal with financial risks.
in it. That will end badly. Possession shop risk maps that couldn’t hit a The long forgotten white paper
of empty homes does more harm barn door at five paces. They are wants more hook ups to boost
than possession of drugs. So make about as much use as that weather efficiency. The HCA shouldn’t just
the punishment fit the crime. Or at app on your phone. If it says 0% check the finances of a merger.
least change the tax system. chance of rain pack a brolly. And It must cast a sharp eye over the
We need to make safety the don’t get me started on internal new outfit’s safety management
number one job. The law setting up audit reports done by kids with no plans. You can get a lot of untidiness
the HCA didn’t make it a priority. technical knowledge. To make here as the top brass spend all their
Sadly, the then Government wanted matters worse the sample sizes can energy heaving a deal over the line.
to put in place a Praetorian Guard be tiny. We’ve got great news for And If I was the HCA I would
to protect the lenders and to hell you Mr 20,000-home landlord – 76% certainly not be trumpeting about
with everything else. To be fair the of the 15 fire risk assessments we what a great idea de-regulation is
HCA has flexed what little muscles looked at were OK. No we didn’t just now.
it has in this area. It put Circle and actually go to the houses. But the As Joe Strummer, one of West
Luminus to the sword on safety. And files are tip top. It’s a blessing that no London’s finest squatters, once
it has warned about the dangers one actually reads the things – too put it – the future is unwritten. Of
of chopping the repairs budget to often boards just look at the traffic course we can do better if we all
pay for the rent cut. But it needs to lights for simpletons on the cover pull together. We have to build new
do more. When they carry out an sheet. homes, yes we need to look after
in-depth assessment they must look Of course there are strong the money, but our first priority must
at safety as the number one priority. boards. But you all need to step up be to keep people safe. One of his
What will they find? to the plate. I really do see some most famous songs was about going
There is a mixed picture. I’ve just sloppy work on safety. These days up and down the Westway at night.
read a report of a fire in a tower covenant compliance is the work After the fire there is a darkness in
in Birmingham where everything for grown-ups. So other things get that old sky. Never again.
worked as it should. Mind you, less attention. Time is finite.
tenants were worried given what While the HCA has to hit the fast-
was in the news. So we can get it forward button on safety, there are Alistair McIntosh,
right. But we certainly know what a few things they can pause for Chief Executive, HQN
JULY 2017 | 3
Business transformation –
thinking differently
FREE to Housing Quality
Network members
‘Changing the way we do business’ is the mantra for many
housing organisations as they seek to adapt to a landscape where
new housing delivery, being more efficient and the sweating of
assets are the top priorities.
As part of a membership to Business transformation – what we offer:
the Housing Quality Network, • Free to attend best practice workshops and
you and your colleagues roundtable events with other housing organisations
have the opportunity to share
• Innovation days with leading technology
knowledge and experience
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call 01904 557150.
How was this
allowed to
happen?
Jules Birch looks at the multitude of governance failings
surrounding the Grenfell Tower fire and wonders why we
have failed to learn lessons from the past.
Sometimes it takes one terrible incident to expose
failures that were already in plain sight.
In the 1980s we got used to it. Valley Parade in 1985,
King’s Cross and the Herald of Free Enterprise in 1987 and
Piper Alpha in 1988 exposed a collective complacency
about safety and an individual willingness to cut corners
and ignore regulation.
Afterwards we wondered how we could ever have
had football stadiums with wooden stands or tube
stations with wooden escalators and how we had ever
allowed such lax safety on cross-channel ferries and
North Sea oil rigs.
The fire at Grenfell Tower looks as bad, if not worse,
than any of those disasters from the past. Add the horrific
pictures, the gruesome detail and the chaotic disaster
response by the authorities and you have something on
the scale of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.
continued >>
Photo: Natalie Oxford
JULY 2017 | 5
Failure Regulations on fire safety stipulates that materials
used on the outside of buildings more than 18 metres
Already the fire is looking like a failure of governance high should be of ‘limited combustibility’ but it remains
on every conceivable level. The Royal Borough of unclear whether the cladding system used on Grenfell
Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) is within a whisker of Tower was compliant with it or not.
being taken over by commissioners. An emergency Building control inspection was deregulated in the
taskforce had to take over relief operation. The council 1980s to allow private approved inspectors to compete
proved incapable of holding a meeting in public, hiding with local authorities. The fire inspection regime in
behind advice from its lawyers that this could prejudice England was similarly opened up in 2005 at the same
the public inquiry. The chief executive, leader and time as responsibility for fire risk assessments was
deputy leader have all resigned. transferred from local fire services to building owners
The homes were managed by Kensington & Chelsea and landlords.
Tenant Management Organisation (TMO) but it seems As we went to press the cladding on 181 tower blocks
equally paralysed and its chief executive has also had failed fire tests at the Building Research Establishment
stepped down to focus on the inquiry. In theory it is an (BRE) despite passing the system of regulation, control
arm’s length management organisation but in practice and certification at the time it was installed. The 100%
all the key decisions on the refurbishment of the tower failure rate prompted the Local Government Association
seem to have been taken by councillors. to question the testing method. Needless to say, the BRE
A TMO ought to be more focused on tenants than a was itself privatised in 1997.
conventional landlord but instead it has been accused Despite a strong recommendation from the coroner
of ignoring the concerns of Grenfell residents. A system of in the Lakanal House inquest in 2013 and a pledge by
regulation that once focused on giving tenants a voice former housing minister Gavin Barwell in 2016, a review
has been pared down into one that allows intervention of England’s Part B has still not appeared. If governance
in cases of proven ‘serious detriment’ to consumers starts at the top, the rapid turnover of housing ministers –
but focuses mainly on financial viability and value for six since 2010, 15 since 2000 – has not helped.
money. The Audit Commission, which once inspected It’s the same story with sprinklers. When the Welsh
local authorities and their housing management, was government made them compulsory in all new
abolished in 2015. residential buildings (though not
refurbished ones) it faced a barrage
of criticism from housebuilders and
Questions “Already the fire is English ministers complaining about
‘red tape’.
Meanwhile, questions of governance looking like a failure But switch the focus away from
in its widest sense apply well beyond the national level and the causes
the council and the TMO. Decisions of governance on of the Grenfell Tower fire and there
taken by the contractor, consultants are governance issues for social
and subcontractors are already the every conceivable landlords at a very local level too.
focus of intense scrutiny. Immediate questions were
There are questions that go to level” raised about cladding installed by
the heart of a construction industry the same contractor on five tower
culture that is relentlessly focused on blocks on Camden’s Chalcot estate
cost and is based on subcontracting work into smaller but residents were also evacuated over concerns about
and smaller packages and passing risk down the line. fire doors and gas pipe insulation.
The terms of the contracts, supervision of the work and Some landlords have decided to retrofit sprinklers in
the specification of the materials will be an inevitable their blocks following the Lakanal recommendations but
focus of the inquiry. most have not.
But the fire has also shone a light on the whole system
of regulations and assessments that govern building
projects. You might have thought that the refurbishment Compromised
of a 24-storey tower block with only one staircase might
be even more heavily regulated than the construction The Right to Buy has also made it more difficult to
of a new building but you would apparently be wrong. manage tower blocks that were designed on the
The architects of 1960s and 1970s tower blocks knew assumption that one landlord would be in control. New
the fire risks in tall buildings and they were designed on buyers may decide to make internal alterations that
the principle of compartmentation so that a fire and unwittingly compromise fire safety or replace one-hour
smoke from one flat would not spread to the rest of the rated fire doors with less institutional, but non-fire rated
building. This is what lies behind the advice to residents alternatives. They may make internal alterations that
that they should stay put and wait to be rescued. We compromise fire safety (as at Lakanal House). And they
knew from previous incidents and from the inquest into make it more complicated for landlords to fund work on
the fatal Lakanal House fire in 2009 that changes to the the safety of the block as a whole because they have to
exterior of the building can compromise its fire safety. go through the tortuous process of getting contributions
Yet our system of regulation appears at best from leaseholders.
ambiguous. Guidance on Part B of the Building The impact of the Grenfell Tower is being felt all over
6 | JULY 2017
Photo: Jon Chiral
Tributes placed at the scene of the Grenfell Tower fire
the country, by tenants wondering if their blocks are safe
and by landlords and their boards wondering if they Time for consumer
have paid enough attention to fire risks.
regulation to be re-booted
Public inquiry By Roger Jarman, former Head of
Housing, Audit Commission, and
At Grenfell itself, exactly who was responsible for what member of the Cave Review of
and when in the management of the homes and the social housing regulation
procurement of the refurbishment work will be a key
focus of the public inquiry led by retired judge Sir Martin Ten years ago Professor Martin
Moore-Bick. A separate police investigation is looking at Cave published his seminal report
whether to bring criminal charges, potentially including on housing regulation – ‘Every
manslaughter, against anyone involved in the decisions Tenant Matters’. This marked the
that led to the disaster. high point in the evolution of social
However, both have already faced criticism from housing regulation in England.
residents: the judge and inquiry for being too narrowly As the title suggests, the service user was put at the
focused and the police for being reluctant to confirm a very heart of the regulatory framework devised by
higher death toll than the current 80. the Professor and his team. The report’s blueprint was
The disasters of the 1980s provide a powerful reminder enshrined in the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008
of where even this kind of governance can go wrong. and the Tenant Services Authority (TSA) was created as
The decade ended with the deaths of 96 Liverpool a standalone agency to regulate the sector as a whole
supporters while watching their team in an FA Cup covering both local authorities and housing associations.
semi-final at Hillsborough in 1989. The police, media and The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) was set
political establishment infamously blamed the tragedy up to fund and manage state investment in the social
on the behaviour of the fans. housing sector.
It took years of campaigning by the families for the The TSA had a wide range of regulatory tools; many
truth to finally emerge via a second independent inquiry focused on ensuring social housing tenants received
and a second inquest that concluded that the fans the best possible service from their landlords and that
were unlawfully killed. Finally, 28 years after Hillsborough they had as much control over service delivery by their
and two weeks after Grenfell, the Crown Prosecution landlords as possible. But the TSA had barely been
Service announced that it was bringing charges against established when the coalition government assumed
six people involved on the day including senior police power in 2010 and the dismantling of the new regulatory
officers. regime began.
The residents of Grenfell Tower, dead and alive, Indeed Grant Shapps (the housing minister in the
deserve the truth and they deserve justice. The rest of us new government) had boasted that the TSA was ‘toast’
need answers to ensure that this never happens again. when he was opposition.
continued >>
JULY 2017 | 7
A rearguard action saved the regulatory function
from complete abolition after lobbying from the City’s “We need a regulatory
financial interests ensured that the pared down function
would focus its much reduced resources on assessing framework that puts tenants first
the financial viability and governance of housing
associations (local authorities would hardly feature in and looks at the performance
this brave new world).
This demonstrated the power of the finance sector of all landlords not just housing
as it sought state assurance that its multi-billion-pound
investment in housing associations was secure. At the associations”
same time tenant bodies like TAROE had their state
funding withdrawn and Cave’s proposals for a National
Tenants’ Voice to represent tenant interests in discussions
with government and landlord bodies were ditched. instance, a large number of gas safety certificates were
out of date.
Even the sanctioning of providers failing the consumer
Bonfire of the Quangos standard mirrored the framework for financial regulation.
Lazily, the regulator judges that providers not meeting
The new arrangements were put on a legal footing its consumer standards should have their governance
in the Localism Act 2011. The TSA and the Audit rating downgraded. Because the HCA has no remit
Commission (which ran the housing inspection service over the governance of local authorities, this measure
in conjunction with the TSA) were abolished as part of does not even apply to local housing authorities or their
the ‘Bonfire of the Quangos’. Housing regulation – now managing agents (such as ALMOs or TMOs).
part of a reconstituted HCA – was to be based on the
HCA’s governance and financial viability standard (and
latterly on the value for money standard too). Co-regulation
Tenants’ interests were not entirely ignored. Consumer
regulation had a set of standards that providers were And with its co-regulatory approach, the HCA has
supposed to follow but those responsible openly simply monitored the actions of providers attempting to
acknowledged that this part of the regulator’s remit rectify their faults. Despite having a plethora of powers
would be reactive only. to deal with underperforming providers - new managers
can be appointed, fines can be levied, inspections can
be commissioned to forensically assess the problems
Serious detriment identified to name but a few - very few of these regulatory
tools (if any) have been used by the HCA to date.
‘Serious detriment’ had to be proved before any form
of intervention would be considered. Invariably the
HCA only became aware of breaches in the consumer Opportunity
standards when providers had ‘fessed up’ that, for
In the light of the Grenfell Tower disaster we need a re-
boot of consumer regulation. The HCA is about to be
broken up and regulation separated once more from
investment (as recommended by the Cave Review
when they were previously undertaken by one body -
the Housing Corporation).
So we have a real opportunity to re-visit the
conclusions of Professor Cave and also mirror the
regulation of school, hospitals and care homes where
the key objective of the regulator is to judge services
from the perspective of the user (be it the pupil, patient
or care home resident).
We need a regulatory framework that puts tenants first
and foremost and one that looks at the performance
of all landlords and is not focused on just housing
associations. And a regulator that not only oversees
the safety and security of tenants but also a regulator
that assesses the quality of the services delivered by
landlords.
We do indeed need a regulatory system where every
tenant matters – and one geared less to the interests of
the banking sector.
< Professor Martin Cave
8 | JULY 2017
Issue 18 | July 2017
In this issue: 1 Welcome / Too many women becoming homeless
2 Welfare Reform: The challenges ahead for policy and practice
3 Disabled people’s perspectives on welfare conditionality 4 In brief
EVIDENCE
update
THE LATEST RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS – IN PLAIN ENGLISH
Welcome
The start of a new parliament, recent election and on the welfare benefit cuts still in
with a new government in place, the pipeline – amounting to greater cuts than already
is generally a buoyant time in seen. And Dr Jenny McNeill offers case studies of the
politics. This time, however, the difficulties faced by two disabled people trying to
mood has been sombre, with a claim Employment and Support Allowance.
weakened government, terrorist Homelessness remains a serious and growing
attacks and the Grenfell Tower problem in the UK, and the situation of homeless women
fire. is under-reported. For the first time researchers have put
together knowledge about women and homelessness
The mood is also a reaction against the years of from across Europe. Dr Joanne Bretherton reports.
‘austerity’. Though social security and housing benefit
have not been top political issues recently, they will Janis Bright
form an important part of the debates to come. Editor
In this issue, Professor Christina Beatty reflects on the Evidence
Too many women becoming homeless
Joanne Bretherton from the University of York comments avoid emergency services which are largely filled with
on the first systematic attempt to bring together men, instead, they rely on the people they know. Women
knowledge about women and homelessness across may sofa surf more than men and there is growing
Europe. evidence they exhaust these informal arrangements
before seeking formal help.
Women’s homelessness is neglected. We think about Research shows that lone homeless women are highly
homelessness, as people sleeping on the street and vulnerable. Simultaneous mental illness and addiction,
in emergency shelters. For many of us, our picture of high rates of domestic violence and abuse and
homelessness is not a woman and her children, sleeping extremely poor physical health are common. American
in a friend’s living room because they have nowhere evidence shows us that women (and men) do not start
else to go. their homelessness careers with these sorts of support
Domestic violence is not seen as a homelessness issue. needs, instead such needs can result from recurrent or
Yet women and women with their children are driven long-term homelessness.
out of their homes, made homeless, by male violence. The homelessness statistics, which differ between
Between 1998-2015, 66,660 households containing lone England and other parts of the UK, record people who
women and lone women parents were accepted as are helped under the homelessness laws, they are not
homeless due to domestic violence in England1. a count of all homeless people. Lone homeless adults
For women, homelessness often means staying with can find it difficult to receive assistance under these
someone, family, friend, or acquaintance, because laws, which focus on protecting children and a narrowly
there is nowhere else to go. Sofa surfing is the experience defined group of vulnerable adults. This means women
of many homeless women. without children, or who have lost contact with their
Internationally and in the UK, academic research children, often cannot access these systems. Because of
is showing us that women react to homelessness in an emphasis on homelessness prevention people are less
different ways to men. Women avoid the street, they likely to reach the point of being recorded as ‘homeless’.
1 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness
JULY 2017 | EVIDENCE - 1While the homelessness statistics are not perfect, we staying with someone else because they have no home,
can use them to get an idea of numbers. Between 1998 are hard to count because they move around.
and 2015, 1,475,150 households were found homeless The solutions to women’s homelessness are both
and in need of assistance in England. We know that simple and complex. The simple aspect centres on the
995,360 of these households were homeless families UK’s chronic shortage of affordable, adequate housing
and/or had a pregnant woman living in them. Analysis with security of tenure, which the evidence shows ends
of the homelessness system has shown that around 65% almost all family homelessness. For lone women with
of homeless families accepted as homeless are lone complex needs, specific interventions like Housing First, a
women parents, which means somewhere in the region carefully and sensitively managed package of support,
of 647,000 lone woman-headed homeless families were may be needed. Homelessness prevention, particularly
accepted as homeless in England from 1998-20152. In when eviction and unplanned moves can be stopped,
the third quarter of 2016, 74,630 of statutorily homeless is another area that can be better developed. Support
households were in temporary accommodation, 33,630 for women at risk of domestic violence is fundamental to
of whom were female-lone parent headed families preventing and reducing women’s homelessness.
and 5,620 of whom were women living alone (53% were The Women’s Homelessness in Europe Network
women lone parents or lone women). (WHEN) has brought together the information on the
Of course, this is not all of women’s homelessness. current state of knowledge on women’s homelessness
There are women in homelessness services, women in a new edited collection, Women’s Homelessness in
made homeless by domestic violence in refuges and Europe which is available from Palgrave Macmillian.
approximately 20-30% of rough sleepers are women. The first systematic attempt to map our understanding
Again, UK and international research is showing us that in more than 20 years has highlighted the likely extent
women experience sofa surfing at possibly higher rates of sofa surfing by women, the failure to record women’s
than men. homelessness and the need for better understanding to
Putting exact numbers on women’s homelessness enhance prevention and services.
is a challenge. Women sleeping rough hide, because
if they are seen on the street they are at potential risk, Joanne Bretherton is a Research Fellow in the Centre for
and women who experience sofa-surfing, temporarily Housing Policy, University of York
2 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness and Pleace, N. et al (2008) Statutory Homelessness in England: The
experience of families and 16-17 year olds London: DCLG https://www.york.ac.uk/media/chp/documents/2008/Family%20Homelessness%20final%20report.pdf
Welfare Reform: The challenges ahead for policy and
practice
Professor Christina Beatty from Sheffield Hallam benefit income affects their ability to maintain housing
University reflects on the absence of welfare reform as costs over time especially in a time of rising rents or if
an issue in the general election, and what the future living in a high rent area. Many families affected by
impact of cuts could be. welfare reform are in work, but do not have savings to fall
back on. This means that low-income households find it
Given welfare reform has been central to contemporary increasingly difficult to ‘just about manage’ or to ‘get
political and policy debates since 2010, when a major by’ when they are hit by a financial crisis - such as losing
overhaul of the benefits system was announced by the a job, a reduction in hours, the washing machine packs
Coalition Government, it has been surprisingly absent as in or the car breaks down. Over time, the resilliance or
a big issue in the run up to the recent General Election. coping mechanisms become stretched to breaking
Only in the latter stages of campaigning have issues point as further reductions in entitlement and eligibility
concerning the impact of continued austerity and are introduced.
welfare reform on the vulnerable, the sick and disabled, The scale of cuts across a whole array of working age
low-paid workers, families and children come to the benefits is unprecedented (Figure 1). The level of support
fore. Even then, politicians tend to focus on specific available to low-income households, compared to that
elements of the reforms, for example the ‘bedroom which would have been available if the reforms had
tax’ or the two child limit for Tax Credits. This is often the not been introduced, has reduced significantly. The
trap that politicians, policy makers and practitioners Coalition Government implemented cuts equivalent
tend to fall into. Focusing on individual elements of the to £14.5bn per year by March 2016. An additional
reforms - say for housing professionals to focus primarily £11.7bn per year of cuts have been announced by the
on reforms related to the Housing Benefit system or the Conservative Government since 2015. Only about a
implemention of Universal Credit and direct payments - quarter of these reforms have been implemented so far
misses the bigger picture. and there are significant cuts to come before they are
It is the cumulative impact over time of the totality of fully realised. If the reforms go ahead as planned, they
the reforms that poses the biggest risk to low-income will not be fully implemented until 2021. Even if there is
households. The continuous downward pressure on a change of Government the manifestos indicate that
EVIDENCE - 2 | JULY 2017Figure 1: Estimated annual financial loss from welfare reform, GB
Tax Credits 4,210 Benefit freeze 3,580
Child Benefit 3,030 Universal Credit Work Allowances 3,190
1 per cent uprating 2,700
Tax Credits 2,255
Housing Benefit: LHA 1,670
Personal Independence Payments* 1,680
Personal Independence Payments 1,190
LHA cap in social rented sector 535
Employment and Support Allowance 650
Employment and Support Allowance 450
Council Tax Support 370
360 Benefit cap 340
Housing Benefit: 'bedroom tax'
Non-dependant deductions 210 Mortgage interest support 245
Household benefit cap 100 HB: 18-21 year olds 30
0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500
Estimated loss £m p.a. Estimated loss £m p.a.
Pre-2015 reforms impact by March 2016 Post-2015 reforms impact by March 2021
*Additional post-2015/16 impact of pre-2015 reform
Sources: HM Treasury, Impact Assessments and Sheffield Hallam estimates based on official data
the majority of the proposed reforms in the pipeline are rented sector from 2019 they will inherit the LHA rates
likely to proceed. that have been in place since 2015.
These welfare reforms have occurred alongside As you read this piece, with the general election over,
increased conditionality, a harsher sanctions regime we will know which of the manifesto proposals with
and the introduction of Universal Credit which includes regards to welfare reform are likely to be implemented.
longer waiting periods before being eligible for support, The result may be no change or limited change to the
as well as the introduction of direct payments for policies already implemented or still in the pipeline.
housing entitlement. These factors are compounded However, this may be an opportune time to gather
by the growth in precarious low-paid work and self- evidence which highlights the very real but often
employment which has ocurred alongside a long-term unintended consequences of welfare reform. Changes
stagnation in wages and increasing inflation. Recent in policy can be made at any point of the political cycle,
figures from ONS highlight this phenomenon with but now seems as good a time as any to take stock and
inflation running at 2.7%, wage increases at 2.1% and no reassess the situation.
uprating of working age benefits (often used to top up
low-paid work) which are frozen for four years. This article draws on research undertaken by Professor
This four year freeze on uprating benefits also applies Christina Beatty and Professor Steve Fothergill on ‘The
to Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates. This will make it Uneven Impact of Welfare Reform: The financial losses to
even more difficult for tenants reliant on Housing Benefit places and people’ which was co-funded by the Joseph
living in the private rented sector (both those in work or Rowntree Foundation and Oxfam. Both authors of the
out-of-work) to find properties within the local LHA rates. report are based at the Centre for Regional Economic
In the vast majority of Broad Rental Market Areas these and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University. An
have already fallen below the the 30th percentile of accompanying dataset is available on the scale of the
private market rents in the area. When the LHA system financial losses and numbers affected for every local
is applied to Housing Benefit for tenants in the social authority in Britain.
Disabled people’s perspectives on welfare
conditionality
Dr Jenny McNeill reports on two case studies taken depression for most of her life. She is also a recovering
from interviews carried out as part of the Welfare alcoholic. University educated, Brenda worked until
Conditionality: Sanctions, Support and Behaviour 10 years ago but has since struggled to find secure
Change study. employment. She became increasingly depressed at
this and started drinking heavily, which worsened her
Brenda and Steve (not their real names) are among mental health. When we first interviewed Brenda, she
58 disabled people interviewed as part of our study was claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA).
conducted with 480 welfare service users. They live in Brenda had initially felt “excited” about offers of “extra
different locations and have different impairments, support” to find work. However, this changed when she
but their accounts illustrate the challenges inherent in was referred to attend the Work Programme (WP), which
claiming Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). clashed with a referral appointment for specialist drug
Brenda is 50 years old and owns her own home. She and alcohol treatment. Although she informed the DWP,
has been diagnosed as bipolar and has suffered from she was sanctioned for non-attendance, which led to a
JULY 2017 | EVIDENCE - 3suicide attempt: medicals ... and it was fine to start off with. Then… I had
“When I’d had my benefit stopped … that’s when I another medical there and they rejected it. They said I
emailed the adviser, and I basically had been up all was fit for work... They could not understand that I was
night, and I’d drunk quite a lot, and I felt suicidal, and in hospital, and how am I supposed to work when I’m in
I actually wrote to her and said, ‘I feel suicidal about hospital? … they still expected that some employer is
this’, which sounds really extreme, but I just thought I’m going to employ me while I’m doing that.”
living in a crazy world where I try and get help and I’m Like Brenda, Steve described feeling the continual
punished for trying, and I’m actually going to be more of threat of being sanctioned: “It’s just they never leave
a drain on society if I continue to drink and can’t work, you alone. They’ll try everything. If they don’t get a letter
whereas if I get help, get sorted, hopefully, I will be able on time, if they don’t get a phone call, they’ll stop your
to contribute, be a meaningful member of society.” benefit, and it’s wrong.”
At our second interview, Brenda had been placed Steve felt that he was unfairly treated and that there
in the Work Related Activity Group for ESA and was is a lack of appropriate support and empathy within the
therefore still expected to actively engage with the WP. current benefit system:
When we visited Brenda for a third and final interview, “That’s what I felt with the DWP. I’m not a person, I’m a
she still lived with fear of being sanctioned; she describes number.... I’m not only coping with an illness that affects
it as like living “on tenterhooks.... I just feel like if I put a your daily life, but I’m also affected [by] somebody [who]
foot out of place, the money will be withdrawn”. has just clicked a button and just stopped my benefits,
Steve was living with his parents following a relationship stopped the bit of income that’s coming in.... It does start
breakdown. He had worked until two years before, to affect, mentally as well.”
when he sustained an injury requiring multiple surgeries
that left him unable to work. Welfare Conditionality: Sanctions, Support and
Steve’s story encapsulates a number of issues that Behaviour Change is a major five-year programme of
are common features for many who apply for ESA and research, funded by the Economic and Social Research
undergo the Work Capability Assessment. He describes Council. www.welfareconditionality.ac.uk
his frustration at applying for ESA and being rejected,
even as someone still undergoing hospital treatment: Full paper by WelCond researchers Dr Jenny McNeill,
“I had no option but to go to the local jobcentre to try Universities of Sheffield & York, Dr Lisa Scullion & Katy
and claim a benefit. They put me on JSA to start off with. Jones, University of Salford, and Dr Alasdair Stewart,
Then they said ‘no, we need to make a claim for ESA’... I University of Glasgow http://www.ingentaconnect.com/
was on that for a while and then they sent me for some content/tpp/jpsj/pre-prints/content-ppjpsjd1700008
In brief
CaCHE opens Troubled Families Programme
A consortium led by Glasgow and Sheffield universities A paper by Sue Bond-Taylor explores the experiences
has won a prestigious funding award to set up a new of families within the Troubled Families Programme
housing research centre. The centre, which has funding in responding to professional concerns about the
for five years from the ESRC, officially begins work in condition and maintenance of the family home,
August. in People Place and Policy https://extra.shu.ac.uk/
ppp-online/domestic-surveillance-and-the-troubled-
Wales legislation families-programme-understanding-relationality-and-
Pete Mackie, Ian Thomas and Jennie Bibbings reflect constraint-in-the-homes-of-multiply-disadvantaged-
on ‘a year of pioneering Welsh legislation in practice’ families/
in preventing homelessness, in the latest edition of the
European Journal on Homelessness http://www.feantsa. Grenfell Tower fire
org/download/article-4592410342917616893.pdf After Grenfell, regulation must not be a dirty
word, says Ben Clifford from UCL in a piece for The
Homelessness event Conversation http://theconversation.com/after-
Feantsa, the European homelessness organisation, g re n f e l l - re g u l a t i o n- mu s t- n o t- b e - a- d i r t y-wo rd-
is holding its annual conference in Barcelona on 22 80031?sa=google&sq=housing&sr=6
September. Details http://www.feantsaresearch.org/en/
conference-presentations/2017/09/22/12th-european-
research-conference-on-homelessness?bcParent=760
Evidence newsletter editor: Dr Janis Bright
www.hqnetwork.co.uk
email: evidence@hqnetwork.co.uk
follow us on twitter @hqn_ltd
EVIDENCE - 4 | JULY 2017After Grenfell –
what a new regulatory
regime should look like
Tenants and politicians of all hues are getting angry with us.
Yes, you can say some of this is wrong and misplaced. But we
do know only too well that some things have got to change.
I’m not at all interested in recriminations, I just want to see us
move quickly to do all we can to stop any more accidents.
Here’s my six point plan for a new regulatory regime:
1. It would cover all rented homes (in the real world private renters and
social tenants live in the same streets and the same blocks and face
the same issues)
2. It would place a duty on leaseholders to co-operate with and pay for
safety works (it is insane to look at safety only in the rented homes – we
need to wake up to the fact that the right to buy happened)
3. Safety would move to the top of the agenda with a new mindset (the
way in which we relentlessly scan and stress test for financial problems
should be applied to safety)
4. It would listen to and act on tenants’ views especially where there
is a shortage of rented homes and they have no consumer power
(maximising the use of social media – but recognising the fact that the
top end of the market sorts itself out so it doesn’t need us)
5. It would ensure that a cadre of professionals, such as clerks of works
and fire risk assessors, are trained and ready to nip problems in the
bud (these people would have direct access to boards and cabinets)
6. It would safeguard the money and look after the interests of lenders –
but not as a sole or all-consuming duty.
Alistair McIntosh
JULY 2017 | 9General election 2017:
Where do we go from here?
Mark Lawrence looks back on a tumultuous few weeks for the country - and the housing sector in particular.
It’s fair to say the 2017 general election didn’t go the way
many predicted - least of all the Conservative Party.
Despite the surprising gains from Jeremy Corbyn’s
Labour, Theresa May and the Tories managed to cling
on to power but only with the help of the DUP.
A diminished May returned to Downing Street but the
question is - for how long? And with Brexit becoming all
consuming where does that leave housing?
If the general election result was a disaster for the
Tories, a genuine tragedy shocked the entire nation six
days later - and inadvertently bumped housing up the
political agenda.
The devastating fire at Grenfell Tower overshadowed
all other news during some very dark days in June. The
Prime Minister’s leadership was put to the test, and once
again it came up short.
A failure by both national and local government to
respond promptly and effectively in the immediate
aftermath of the fire raised question marks about the
Theresa May Jeremy Corbyn
10 | JULY 2017priority given to the families of the victims and the with rather than against the sector - Barwell pledged to
hundreds made homeless. review part B of the building regulations, which cover
It is just one of the many issues surrounding the fire that fire safety, as part of the process following the Lakanal
will be dissected in the coming months and years, along House fire. However, despite much lobbying the findings
with the suitability of cladding in tower blocks, building of the review have never seen the light of day.
regulations and the long-term under-investment in social
housing. The trouble is, we are not likely to get answers
anytime soon. Running scared?
The cumulative political effect of the general election
result and the Grenfell tragedy is yet to be seen but there So what of Barwell’s successor? Alok Sharma is the 15th
is little doubt that the country (and housing especially) is housing minister since 2000 and an unknown quantity.
currently operating in a policy vacuum. Coming from a junior role in the foreign office, the
A watered down Queen’s Speech focused largely on Reading West MP has had little to say on housing in the
Brexit while the latest housing minister merry-go-round past, bar a few brief exchange in the Commons.
over at DCLG saw a complete novice take over the role. Due to Grenfell, he has been thrown in at the deep
Not that the government had much choice in end since his appointment. Just barely days after being
replacing the previous incumbent Gavin Barwell “honoured” to be named the Housing and Planning
who had lost his Croydon Central seat after Labour Minister, he was accused of running scared from media
overturned his wafer-thin majority of 165. questions about the disaster.
And you couldn’t really blame him if he did want to
shut himself in a cupboard. He was heckled by local
Hero or villain? residents when he appeared on Victoria Derbyshire’s
radio show two weeks after the fire then mauled by Piers
In the days after the election, fulsome praise was heaped Morgan in a car crash interview on GMTV witnessed by
on Barwell both by his Conservative colleagues and millions. Unsurprisingly, he has also been mocked and
senior housing figures. Widely regarded as one of the ridiculed on social media.
nicest and most receptive politicians you could wish to That said, if there is one place the housing minister is
meet, news of his defeat was greeted with some dismay. guaranteed to get a warm welcome, it’s the Chartered
Barwell was quickly brought back into the thick of the Institute of Housing conference. What better opportunity
action, however, when he was appointed Theresa May’s then for Mr Sharma to put a difficult week behind him
chief of staff following the resignation of her close allies and get onside the people who really matter?
Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill - who became scapegoats Except he pulled out at the last minute, completely
for the Conservatives’ election defeat for their role in undermining any goodwill the sector may have had
making a hash of the party’s manifesto. towards him while at the same time raising serious
It had been a busy couple of days for Barwell but just question marks about his ability to do the job.
as it looked like he had managed to claw victory from It was the first time in 22 years the housing minister has
the jaws of his election defeat - he too was engulfed in not addressed the conference, with Local Government
the increasing controversy surrounding the Grenfell fire. Minister Marcus Jones stepping in to give a 10-minute
It emerged that during his tenure as housing minister - speech with no questions from the audience.
where he won plaudits for ‘getting the brief’ and working Many housing professionals thought the failure to turn
continued >>
Gavin Barwell Alok Sharma
JULY 2017 | 11up showed a disrespect to the sector, at the very time basis of much of what is to come. That said, confirmation
he should be keeping housing professionals on board. of the rent settlement for housing associations post-2020
No matter what happens post-Grenfell, the government would be a big help.
desperately needs more homes to be built and it also The white paper also signalled a possible change
needs existing homes to be made as safe as possible, as in approach towards local authority involvement in
quickly as possible. housebuilding.
As Natalie Elphicke, chief executive of the Housing
Finance Institute, said at a recent conference
Arms race appearance: “It seems as if the mindset on getting
local authorities to build again has been successfully
In the lead up to the election, the main political parties changed.”
were involved in some sort of housing supply version Some councils, such as Stoke on Trent, have already
of the arms race, where everyone tried to outdo each met with the DCLG to discuss different ways of using their
other on how many homes they were going to build. Housing Revenue Account, including discussing whether
Labour said 500,000 new social rent homes would be lifting the borrowing cap will be possible.
built, with another 500,000 standard homes; the Liberal As for the private rented sector, the government has
Democrats promised 300,000 homes of all tenures every introduced a Bill in the Queen’s Speech to get rid of
year while the Conservatives said they would build 1.5m “unfair” letting agent fees.
homes by 2022. There was also a commitment to give more stability to
What was interesting, however, was the unlikely nod some tenancies in the market, with the minimum being
the Tories gave to social housing and the role of councils. raised to three years. However, current plans will only
“We will never achieve the number of new homes we apply to new build PRS properties, not existing ones.
require without the active participation of social and For the housing sector at large, issues still surround
municipal housing providers,” their manifesto stated the continued uncertainty over the future of supported
before adding: “We will enter into new Council Housing housing, the Local Housing Allowance Cap and welfare
Deals with ambitious, pro-development, local authorities reform.
to help them build more social housing.” The line from Marcus Jones in his short CIH speech on
However, as always with Conservative promises “creating a sustainable funding solution for supported
around affordable housing, there is a caveat: “We will housing” was met with groans from some in the audience.
build new fixed-term social houses, which will be sold Housing providers have worked hard with DCLG to put
privately after 10 to 15 years with an automatic Right to offers on the table, but so far no deal has been reached.
Buy for tenants.” The sector is also grappling with the introduction of
Universal Credit, with latest research from the National
Federation of ALMOs and the Association of Retained
‘Social housing’ debunked Council Housing finding that 86% of UC claimants living
in council properties are in rent arrears.
Not only that, but the bold use of the term ‘social
housing’ in the manifesto was quickly debunked. In an
interview with Inside Housing, Gavin Barwell confirmed Can DUP help UK with UC?
that rents would actually be set “at affordable levels”.
We are also unlikely to see much of a rowback on With the DUP now directly supporting the government,
the extension of Right to Buy to housing associations many in the sector hope they can influence national
either. This was particularly evident in the hours after housing policy and reflect what the DUP have done to
new minister Sharma was announced, with the majority offset the effects of the new benefits system in Northern
of responses to his tweet about being housing minister Ireland.
focusing on the inaction of his party to enforce the When Universal Credit is introduced in the province
policy. this September, there will be automatic payment of
It would be a major own goal by the party if they were rents direct to landlords, and twice-monthly payments
to abandon their plans, and a line in the manifesto is to claimants.
a veiled hint it could still be part of the plans: “We will CIH Northern Ireland Director, Nicola McCrudden,
continue to support those who struggle to buy or rent said the offsetting of the reforms “make a real difference
a home, including those living in a home owned by a to people’s lives”.
housing association.” She added: “A practical way that the party could
The manifesto also looks to go one step further from continue to help people at the national level is by
the Homelessness Reduction Act, passed earlier this seeking that the Conservative Party reverse its planned
year, with commitments to halve rough sleeping by 2022 cuts to housing benefit for people living in social housing,
(which would still be a higher level than in 2010) and which will apply from April 2019.”
eradicate it by 2027. But with limited funding in place, All in all, with limited support from Whitehall, housing
it looks like a hard ask for meaningful change to take providers need to find their own solutions to effectively
place. serve residents and local communities. Effective
In truth, few believe there will be a radical approach partnership working between housing associations,
to housing policy in the next few years. Sajid Javid has local authorities and SME builders is regarded as the key
already said that the Housing White Paper will form the to success but still doesn’t happen often enough.
12 | JULY 2017Join the Housing Quality Network today
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www.hqnetwork.co.uk to find out more.To merge or not to merge – what are your options? Want to know more about mergers? Are they the right answer for you? Form Follows Function – board strategy sessions Alistair McIntosh and Ian Parker will take your board through: • The HCA requirements on VfM and how merger fits in • What works and what doesn’t - our research on the pros and cons of merger in housing and other industries • The indicative financial impact of merger for you and your capacity to build homes or regenerate estates • A discussion based around the questions in our form follows function toolkit amended to your circumstances • Other options available to you eg stock swaps, shared services. “By the end of it the board had a much clearer idea of what we could do if we joined the neighbouring association or a national one set against working on our own. It was certainly thought provoking.” Housing association chief executive To find out more please contact Anna Pattison on 01904 557197 or anna.pattison@hqnetwork.co.uk www.hqnetwork.co.uk/consultancy
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