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Inside Housing’s annual analysis of 218 associations reveals that safety concerns are driving up spending on repairs and maintenance. Rhiannon Curry reports. Illustration by Elly Walton
Repairs spending is rising. And it is rising by a lot. In the past year, it went up 7.7%. Or, in pound terms, around £250m. The major reason is summed up in one word: safety.
Every year, Inside Housing undertakes exclusive research into how much housing associations are spending on repairs, how they are spending it and why, based on their financial accounts. This latest version, produced with the help of housing data intelligence platform Housing Expert, includes 218 housing associations.
Repairs spending is subject to lots of changes. As you can see by glancing at the tables below the housing associations that spent the most, spending can go up and down quite dramatically year to year. However, we can still see some overall trends in the sector.
Amid the usual drivers for repairs – responsive and planned, replacing kitchens and fixing up homes as tenants move out – the data shows that many landlords are continuing to spend more in response to safety concerns.
That is shown in what might be termed direct responses to the Grenfell tragedy – fire safety and cladding work. But it also shows up in an increased attribution of spending to all sorts of hazards.
Let’s consider the data in more detail. We found that the 218 landlords spent £3.51bn on repairs in 2018/19. This is up from £3.25bn in 2017/18, the second year of rising spending. There are 12 fewer landlords than last year as a result of mergers and acquisitions, but the figures are like-for-like where possible.
As in previous years, routine maintenance – day-to-day repairs work carried out in response to problems reported by tenants – accounted for the largest proportion of spending, with housing associations shelling out almost £2.1bn in 2018/19, an increase of almost 6% on the previous year.
Planned maintenance, where companies plan works to update homes, increased from just under £835m to more than £943m – a 13% increase.
Major repairs increased by just over 5% to £491m – still less than the half a billion pounds spent by the same group of organisations in 2015/16. This number can vary enormously each year as housing associations undertake wholesale improvements on their estates.
The reason for the increased spending ranged from improvements to safety measures to upgrading kitchens. A number of associations reported that higher levels of tenancy turnover were to blame for an increase in costs this year. As housing associations have grappled with outsourcing their repairs services, some ran into problems.
Total spend 2019 (£) | Provider name | Change in total spend between 2018 and 2019 (%) | Routine maintenance 2019 (£) | Planned maintenance 2019 (£) | Major repairs 2019 (£) | Total spend 2018 (£) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
35,700,000 | A2Dominion Housing Group | 20.61 | 16,700,000 | 19,000,000 | 29,600,000 | |
27,329,000 | Accent Group | 13.56 | 17,582,000 | 9,747,000 | 24,065,000 | |
11,626,000 | Accord Housing Association | 13.13 | 8,480,000 | 3,146,000 | 10,277,000 | |
7,079,000 | Acis Group | 8.27 | 4,558,000 | 1,201,000 | 1,320,000 | 6,538,000 |
5,101,000 | Advance Housing and Support | -3.34 | 2,226,000 | 2,216,000 | 659,000 | 5,277,000 |
8,328,000 | Aldwyck Housing Group | 2.33 | 4,913,000 | 2,321,000 | 1,094,000 | 8,138,000 |
39,432,000 | Anchor Trust | 5.44 | 21,300,000 | 18,132,000 | 37,398,000 | |
1,384,230 | Arawak Walton Housing Association | 14.73 | 906,943 | 165,558 | 311,729 | 1,206,462 |
1,561,000 | Arches Housing | 10.40 | 913,000 | 648,000 | 1,414,000 | |
1,470,000 | Arcon Housing Association | -6.37 | 607,000 | 443,000 | 420,000 | 1,570,000 |
9,390,000 | Aspire Group (Staffordshire) | 0.47 | 5,891,000 | 3,499,000 | 9,346,000 | |
37,532,000 | Aster Group | 17.72 | 13,387,000 | 8,291,000 | 15,854,000 | 31,883,000 |
4,768,000 | B3 Living | -1.02 | 3,557,000 | 1,211,000 | 4,817,000 | |
21,883,000 | Believe (County Durham Housing Group ) | 21.01 | 17,203,000 | 3,927,000 | 753,000 | 18,083,000 |
19,676,000 | Bernicia Group | 0.72 | 10,073,000 | 5,077,000 | 4,526,000 | 19,536,000 |
20,469,000 | Beyond Housing | 18.69 | 9,721,000 | 4,630,000 | 6,118,000 | 17,246,000 |
2,169,000 | Black Country Housing Group | 5.55 | 1,884,000 | 285,000 | 2,055,000 | |
22,602,000 | Bolton at Home | 5.76 | 16,511,000 | 6,091,000 | 21,372,000 | |
2,091,000 | Bournemouth Churches Housing Association | 2.45 | 1,142,000 | 436,000 | 513,000 | 2,041,000 |
5,621,000 | Bournville Village Trust | -4.24 | 3,600,000 | 989,000 | 1,032,000 | 5,870,000 |
11,028,000 | bpha | 8.74 | 7,355,000 | 3,673,000 | 10,142,000 | |
11,075,000 | Broadacres Housing Association | 29.90 | 5,612,000 | 1,638,000 | 3,825,000 | 8,526,000 |
6,411,000 | Broadland Housing Association | -8.74 | 3,403,000 | 1,533,000 | 1,475,000 | 7,025,000 |
45,510,000 | Bromford Housing Group | 22.43 | 27,120,000 | 9,074,000 | 9,316,000 | 37,171,000 |
2,973,000 | Bromsgrove District Housing Trust | -4.28 | 2,112,000 | 861,000 | 3,106,000 | |
1,211,000 | Brunelcare | 0.00 | 901,000 | 83,000 | 227,000 | 1,211,000 |
2,594,200 | Byker Community Trust | 4.83 | 1,738,490 | 149,257 | 706,453 | 2,474,565 |
4,593,000 | Calico Homes | 1.66 | 3,062,000 | 717,000 | 814,000 | 4,518,000 |
9,264,000 | Castles & Coasts Housing Association | 21.62 | 4,237,000 | 2,826,000 | 2,201,000 | 7,617,000 |
21,185,000 | Catalyst Housing | 4.44 | 17,236,000 | 3,949,000 | 20,284,000 | |
1,080,000 | Central and Cecil Housing Trust | -34.15 | 692,000 | 388,000 | 1,640,000 | |
11,431,000 | Chelmer Housing Partnership | 1.60 | 6,409,000 | 4,189,000 | 833,000 | 11,251,000 |
5,895,000 | Cheshire Peaks & Plains Housing Trust | 14.49 | 4,177,000 | 1,718,000 | 5,149,000 | |
37,016,000 | Citizen (WM Housing Group ) | -13.79 | 23,024,000 | 4,688,000 | 9,304,000 | 42,937,000 |
187,700,000 | Clarion Housing Group | -3.55 | 122,700,000 | 50,200,000 | 14,800,000 | 194,600,000 |
6,580,000 | Coastline Housing | 0.95 | 2,022,000 | 3,510,000 | 1,048,000 | 6,518,000 |
6,150,000 | Cobalt Housing | 10.65 | 3,893,000 | 1,227,000 | 1,030,000 | 5,558,000 |
3,218,000 | Colne Housing Society | -5.58 | 2,292,000 | 411,000 | 515,000 | 3,408,000 |
5,553,000 | Community Gateway Association | 8.42 | 4,165,000 | 921,000 | 467,000 | 5,121,649 |
4,579,000 | Connect Housing Association | 14.59 | 2,387,000 | 1,859,000 | 333,000 | 3,996,000 |
10,351,000 | Connexus Housing | -3.53 | 8,571,000 | 1,780,000 | 10,730,000 | |
4,272,000 | Cottsway Housing Association | 15.12 | 1,674,000 | 1,980,000 | 618,000 | 3,711,000 |
11,173,000 | Cross Keys Homes | 13.72 | 7,652,000 | 3,521,000 | 9,825,000 | |
2,206,000 | Croydon Churches Housing Association | 10.85 | 1,877,000 | 329,000 | 1,990,000 | |
18,522,000 | Curo Group (Albion) | 2.60 | 10,480,000 | 8,042,000 | 18,052,000 | |
2,231,000 | Durham Aged Mineworkers' Homes Association | 0.00 | 2,175,000 | 56,000 | 2,231,000 | |
3,582,000 | East End Homes | -11.69 | 2,888,000 | 312,000 | 382,000 | 4,056,000 |
15,587,000 | East Midlands Housing Group | 6.38 | 11,559,000 | 4,011,000 | 17,000 | 14,652,000 |
1,662,000 | Eden Housing Association | 1.71 | 1,318,000 | 344,000 | 1,634,000 | |
591,004 | Empowering People Inspiring Communities | 0.98 | 422,928 | 168,076 | 585,267 | |
1,159,422 | English Rural Housing Association | 11.84 | 529,380 | 329,400 | 300,642 | 1,036,647 |
2,856,000 | Equity Housing Group | 13.51 | 1,656,000 | 1,200,000 | 0 | 2,516,000 |
6,877,000 | Estuary Housing Association | -12.54 | 5,662,000 | 1,215,000 | 7,863,000 | |
14,534,000 | First Choice Homes Oldham | 18.53 | 7,268,000 | 2,936,000 | 4,330,000 | 12,262,000 |
25,245,000 | Flagship Homes | 26.76 | 18,036,000 | 7,209,000 | 19,915,000 | |
16,628,000 | ForViva Group | 0.14 | 9,559,000 | 4,910,000 | 2,159,000 | 16,605,000 |
3,916,000 | Framework Housing Association | 22.41 | 3,030,000 | 886,000 | 3,199,000 | |
10,440,000 | Freebridge Community Housing | 39.78 | 5,662,000 | 1,113,000 | 3,665,000 | 7,469,000 |
9,304,000 | Futures Housing Group | -6.77 | 4,291,000 | 3,456,000 | 1,557,000 | 9,980,000 |
6,247,000 | Gateway Housing Association | 16.48 | 2,995,000 | 1,941,000 | 1,311,000 | 5,363,000 |
40,131,000 | Gentoo Group | 9.29 | 25,035,000 | 10,563,000 | 4,533,000 | 36,720,000 |
4,489,000 | Gloucester City Homes | 2.58 | 4,074,000 | 303,000 | 112,000 | 4,376,000 |
2,449,013 | Golden Lane Housing | 38.91 | 837,663 | 1,468,472 | 142,878 | 1,763,071 |
6,657,000 | Golding Homes | 3.13 | 4,362,000 | 2,295,000 | 6,455,000 | |
17,821,000 | Grand Union Housing Group | 6.60 | 9,744,000 | 2,510,000 | 5,567,000 | 16,717,000 |
16,079,000 | Great Places Housing Group | 4.69 | 7,543,000 | 3,517,000 | 5,019,000 | 15,359,000 |
8,645,000 | Greenfields Community Housing Association | -18.96 | 2,956,000 | 3,308,000 | 2,381,000 | 10,668,000 |
19,911,000 | GreenSquare Group | 52.06 | 13,642,000 | 6,269,000 | 13,094,000 | |
4,976,000 | Habinteg Housing Association | -7.92 | 2,450,000 | 2,024,000 | 502,000 | 5,404,000 |
9,496,000 | Halton Housing Trust | -10.67 | 6,360,000 | 763,000 | 2,373,000 | 10,630,000 |
6,009,000 | Hastoe Housing Association | 49.66 | 3,525,000 | 788,000 | 1,696,000 | 4,015,000 |
6,953,000 | Hexagon Housing Association | 13.65 | 4,313,000 | 1,487,000 | 1,153,000 | 6,118,000 |
5,197,000 | Hightown Housing Association | 13.82 | 3,711,000 | 526,000 | 960,000 | 4,566,000 |
62,020,000 | Home Group | 4.31 | 40,275,000 | 16,285,000 | 5,460,000 | 59,460,000 |
22,766,000 | Housing & Care 21 | 3.53 | 13,007,000 | 8,454,000 | 1,305,000 | 21,990,000 |
6,414,000 | Housing Solutions | 10.68 | 3,032,000 | 3,382,000 | 5,795,000 | |
2,377,621 | Howard Cottage Housing Association | 14.32 | 1,725,606 | 652,015 | 2,079,807 | |
1,728,000 | Hundred Houses Society | 66.15 | 1,099,000 | 629,000 | 1,040,000 | |
40,683,000 | Hyde Housing Association | 1.96 | 22,363,000 | 15,250,000 | 3,070,000 | 39,900,000 |
4,518,000 | Impact Housing Association | 46.64 | 3,028,000 | 1,475,000 | 15,000 | 3,081,000 |
3,594,000 | Inclusion Housing Community Interest Company | -9.88 | 2,042,000 | 1,552,000 | 3,987,899 | |
26,764,000 | Incommunities Group | 1.93 | 20,089,000 | 4,762,000 | 1,913,000 | 26,257,000 |
2,094,000 | Inquilab Housing Association | 17.57 | 1,354,000 | 495,000 | 245,000 | 1,781,000 |
9,725,000 | Irwell Valley Housing Association | 23.69 | 3,746,000 | 5,545,000 | 434,000 | 7,845,000 |
4,148,000 | Islington and Shoreditch Housing Association | -12.01 | 2,358,000 | 446,000 | 1,344,000 | 4,714,000 |
36,555,000 | Jigsaw Homes Group | -4.67 | 19,247,000 | 9,693,000 | 7,615,000 | 38,346,000 |
4,032,000 | Johnnie' Johnson Housing Trust | 1.28 | 1,978,000 | 2,054,000 | 3,981,000 | |
36,546,000 | Karbon Homes | 7.08 | 22,747,000 | 13,799,000 | 34,131,000 | |
20,015,000 | Knowsley Housing Trust | 8.95 | 14,855,000 | 5,160,000 | 18,371,000 | |
2,344,000 | Leeds and Yorkshire Housing Association | 76.91 | 1,157,000 | 911,000 | 276,000 | 1,325,000 |
4,634,000 | Leeds Federated Housing Association | 20.02 | 2,772,000 | 791,000 | 1,071,000 | 3,861,000 |
11,223,000 | Lincolnshire Housing Partnership | 13.94 | 7,022,000 | 3,032,000 | 1,169,000 | 9,850,000 |
41,387,000 | LiveWest Homes | 6.44 | 23,620,000 | 10,157,000 | 7,610,000 | 38,883,000 |
8,528,000 | Livin Housing | -2.40 | 7,606,000 | 619,000 | 303,000 | 8,738,000 |
1,768,000 | Local Space | 40.10 | 1,080,000 | 688,000 | 1,262,000 | |
149,000,000 | London & Quadrant Housing Trust | 49.00 | 83,000,000 | 66,000,000 | 100,000,000 | |
17,305,000 | Longhurst Group | -6.10 | 10,479,000 | 5,853,000 | 973,000 | 18,430,000 |
2,421,000 | Look Ahead Care and Support | 1.68 | 2,245,000 | 176,000 | 2,381,000 | |
26,680,000 | Magenta (Formerly Wirral Partnership Homes ) | 20.54 | 11,642,000 | 4,062,000 | 10,976,000 | 22,133,000 |
10,534,000 | Magna Housing Group | 21.56 | 4,593,000 | 3,126,000 | 2,815,000 | 8,666,000 |
1,337,000 | Manningham Housing Association | 8.70 | 753,000 | 535,000 | 49,000 | 1,230,000 |
53,685,000 | Metropolitan Thames Valley | 16.62 | 34,456,000 | 13,674,000 | 5,555,000 | 46,034,000 |
31,277,000 | Midland Heart | 4.84 | 21,443,000 | 5,757,000 | 4,077,000 | 29,833,000 |
21,586,000 | Moat Homes | 27.59 | 10,377,000 | 3,007,000 | 8,202,000 | 16,918,000 |
11,063,000 | Mosscare St Vincent's Housing Group | 7.02 | 8,193,000 | 2,870,000 | 10,337,000 | |
2,351,000 | Mount Green Housing Association | -7.40 | 1,022,000 | 901,000 | 428,000 | 2,539,000 |
7,256,000 | Muir Group Housing Association | -1.69 | 4,812,000 | 142,000 | 2,302,000 | 7,381,000 |
1,229,000 | Nehemiah United Churches Housing Association | 2.42 | 712,000 | 517,000 | 1,200,000 | |
22,574,000 | Network Homes | -15.03 | 17,042,000 | 5,532,000 | 22,827,000 | |
10,955,000 | Newlon Housing Trust | 19.09 | 5,050,000 | 5,819,000 | 86,000 | 9,199,000 |
5,164,000 | North Devon Homes | -7.37 | 2,934,000 | 942,000 | 1,288,000 | 5,575,000 |
3,933,000 | North Star Housing Group | -2.48 | 1,765,000 | 1,827,000 | 341,000 | 4,033,000 |
106,900,000 | Notting Hill Genesis | 36.53 | 58,700,000 | 31,200,000 | 17,000,000 | 78,300,000 |
11,356,000 | Nottingham Community Housing Association | 5.13 | 6,834,000 | 1,509,000 | 3,013,000 | 10,802,000 |
10,941,000 | NSAH (Alliance Homes) | 2.52 | 5,047,000 | 3,069,000 | 2,825,000 | 10,672,000 |
3,531,000 | Ocean Housing Group | 23.29 | 2,322,000 | 1,209,000 | 2,864,000 | |
8,519,000 | Octavia Housing | -6.05 | 6,217,000 | 2,044,000 | 258,000 | 9,068,000 |
137 | Omega Housing | -97.80 | 137 | 6,224 | ||
20,411,000 | One Housing Group | -8.66 | 12,585,000 | 3,561,000 | 4,265,000 | 22,346,000 |
10,834,000 | One Manchester | 6.95 | 6,787,000 | 1,632,000 | 2,415,000 | 10,130,000 |
21,350,000 | One Vision Housing | -8.59 | 14,547,000 | 6,803,000 | 23,356,000 | |
8,458,000 | Ongo Homes | 4.37 | 4,967,000 | 1,722,000 | 1,769,000 | 8,104,000 |
46,545,000 | Onward Homes | 4.74 | 28,471,000 | 17,932,000 | 142,000 | 44,439,000 |
69,806,000 | Optivo Homes | 6.88 | 27,579,000 | 33,032,000 | 9,195,000 | 65,315,000 |
49,100,000 | Orbit Group | -5.21 | 29,900,000 | 19,200,000 | 51,800,000 | |
8,722,000 | Origin Housing | -7.05 | 4,380,000 | 4,342,000 | 9,384,000 | |
4,108,000 | Orwell Housing Association | 9.55 | 2,513,000 | 1,595,000 | 3,750,000 | |
29,042,000 | PA Housing | 12.64 | 17,435,000 | 11,607,000 | 25,782,000 | |
17,730,000 | Paradigm Housing Group | 17.19 | 9,565,000 | 8,165,000 | 15,129,000 | |
72,000,000 | Peabody Trust | -1.89 | 30,000,000 | 42,000,000 | 73,386,000 | |
9,330,000 | Phoenix Community Housing Association (Bellingham and Downham) | -3.56 | 5,555,000 | 2,774,000 | 1,001,000 | 9,674,000 |
64,200,000 | Places for People Group | 19.11 | 44,700,000 | 14,700,000 | 4,800,000 | 53,900,000 |
44,531,000 | Platform Housing | 14.87 | 25,550,000 | 6,580,000 | 12,401,000 | 38,767,000 |
0 | Plexus UK (First Project) | -100.00 | 1,680,230 | |||
20,562,000 | Plus Dane Housing Group | 22.66 | 18,280,000 | 2,282,000 | 16,763,000 | |
24,256,000 | Plymouth Community Homes | 8.83 | 11,644,000 | 5,187,000 | 7,425,000 | 22,288,000 |
9,876,000 | Poplar HARCA | 44.05 | 9,394,000 | 482,000 | 6,856,000 | |
4,031,000 | Prima Group | -28.97 | 2,369,000 | 1,662,000 | 5,675,000 | |
16,917,000 | Progress Housing Group | 0.95 | 10,801,000 | 2,579,000 | 3,537,000 | 16,758,000 |
0 | Prospect Housing | N/A | 0 | |||
25,551,000 | Radian Group | 4.69 | 12,553,000 | 4,991,000 | 8,007,000 | 24,406,000 |
1,695,858 | Railway Housing Association and Benefit Fund | 10.21 | 1,453,071 | 242,787 | 1,538,764 | |
9,992,000 | Raven Housing Trust | 18.47 | 4,734,000 | 1,857,000 | 3,401,000 | 8,434,000 |
14,072,000 | Red Kite Community Housing | -7.92 | 3,708,000 | 1,927,000 | 8,437,000 | 15,283,000 |
14,642,000 | Regenda | 24.10 | 8,558,000 | 5,770,000 | 314,000 | 11,799,000 |
968,069 | Reside Housing Association | -5.29 | 758,914 | 209,155 | 1,022,181 | |
10,063,000 | Richmond Housing Partnership | 8.31 | 3,641,000 | 4,022,000 | 2,400,000 | 9,291,000 |
13,936,000 | Rochdale Boroughwide Housing | -7.28 | 9,852,000 | 1,959,000 | 2,125,000 | 15,031,000 |
5,939,000 | Rooftop Housing Group | -1.70 | 4,914,000 | 1,025,000 | 6,042,000 | |
3,170,000 | Rosebery Housing Association | 14.03 | 1,505,000 | 1,665,000 | 2,780,000 | |
7,184,000 | Saffron Housing Trust | 0.18 | 6,516,000 | 295,000 | 373,000 | 7,171,000 |
13,841,000 | Salix Homes | -7.16 | 7,250,000 | 2,434,000 | 4,157,000 | 14,909,000 |
5,127,066 | Salvation Army Housing Association | 26.54 | 3,900,542 | 221,572 | 1,004,952 | 4,051,788 |
105,900,000 | Sanctuary Housing Association | 1.15 | 79,300,000 | 26,600,000 | 104,700,000 | |
7,306,000 | Saxon Weald Homes | -1.76 | 3,443,000 | 2,888,000 | 975,000 | 7,437,000 |
10,154,000 | Selwood Housing Society | 3.88 | 4,012,000 | 3,057,000 | 3,085,000 | 9,775,000 |
8,483,000 | Settle (North Hertfordshire Homes ) | 82.20 | 4,845,000 | 3,638,000 | 4,656,000 | |
11,287,000 | Shepherds Bush Housing Association | -3.29 | 5,097,000 | 6,190,000 | 11,671,000 | |
9,469,000 | Silva (Bracknell Forest Homes) | 57.84 | 3,488,000 | 1,351,000 | 4,630,000 | 5,999,000 |
11,788,000 | Soha Housing | 17.63 | 6,802,000 | 4,986,000 | 10,021,000 | |
2,305,000 | Solon South West Housing Association | 31.19 | 636,000 | 1,304,000 | 365,000 | 1,757,000 |
3,210,000 | South Lakes Housing | 10.84 | 1,694,000 | 1,516,000 | 2,896,000 | |
5,357,000 | South Liverpool Homes | 3.80 | 3,208,000 | 1,704,000 | 445,000 | 5,161,000 |
6,311,000 | South Yorkshire Housing Association | -0.36 | 5,433,000 | 878,000 | 6,334,000 | |
30,187,000 | Southern Housing Group | 8.42 | 24,513,000 | 5,674,000 | 27,843,000 | |
6,229,000 | Southway Housing Trust (Manchester) | 36.69 | 3,396,000 | 1,431,000 | 1,402,000 | 4,557,000 |
69,797,000 | Sovereign Housing Association | 1.27 | 34,013,000 | 12,478,000 | 23,306,000 | 68,923,000 |
2,993,000 | St Mungo Community Housing Association | 25.28 | 2,108,000 | 885,000 | 2,389,000 | |
5,534,000 | Stafford & Rural Homes | -5.84 | 4,598,000 | 936,000 | 5,877,000 | |
3,120,000 | Staffordshire Housing Association | 15.81 | 2,544,000 | 576,000 | 2,694,000 | |
37,745,000 | Stonewater | 0.12 | 24,072,000 | 5,327,000 | 8,346,000 | 37,698,000 |
2,075,000 | Suffolk Housing Society | -11.13 | 1,980,000 | 95,000 | 2,335,000 | |
0 | Sustain (UK) | N/A | 0 | |||
9,663,000 | Swan Housing Association | -7.97 | 3,971,000 | 5,692,000 | 10,500,000 | |
4,264,000 | Teign Housing | 8.78 | 2,236,000 | 600,000 | 1,428,000 | 3,920,000 |
2,588,000 | The Abbeyfield Society | -14.11 | 2,365,000 | 223,000 | 3,013,000 | |
2,309,000 | The Cambridge Housing Society | -11.29 | 1,495,000 | 814,000 | 2,603,000 | |
2,182,000 | The Christian Action (Enfield) Housing Association | -16.33 | 1,988,000 | 194,000 | 2,608,000 | |
5,034,000 | The Community Housing Group | -24.62 | 3,301,000 | 1,605,000 | 128,000 | 6,678,000 |
63,500,000 | The Guinness Partnership | 5.66 | 38,700,000 | 17,600,000 | 7,200,000 | 60,100,000 |
10,735,000 | The Havebury Housing Partnership | 11.47 | 3,945,000 | 3,114,000 | 3,676,000 | 9,630,000 |
14,145,000 | The Housing Plus Group | 13.74 | 3,772,000 | 10,373,000 | 12,436,000 | |
2,305,000 | The Industrial Dwellings Society (1885) | -9.64 | 1,755,000 | 25,000 | 525,000 | 2,551,000 |
2,333,000 | The Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust | -3.56 | 804,000 | 934,000 | 595,000 | 2,419,000 |
1,531,778 | The Pickering and Ferens Homes | 14.10 | 635,374 | 390,904 | 505,500 | 1,342,473 |
3,149,000 | The Pioneer Housing and Community Group | 9.72 | 1,675,000 | 945,000 | 529,000 | 2,870,000 |
59,125,000 | The Riverside Group | 1.56 | 36,642,000 | 14,962,000 | 7,521,000 | 58,217,000 |
17,361,000 | The Wrekin Housing Group | 5.50 | 10,823,000 | 6,538,000 | 16,456,000 | |
55,205,000 | Thirteen Group | 14.08 | 31,491,000 | 3,245,000 | 20,469,000 | 48,393,000 |
4,251,000 | Thrive Homes | 3.58 | 3,121,000 | 1,130,000 | 4,104,000 | |
35,863,000 | Together Housing Group | 6.23 | 27,951,000 | 7,912,000 | 33,760,000 | |
39,778,000 | Torus62 | 14.53 | 20,729,000 | 10,788,000 | 8,261,000 | 34,730,000 |
3,223,000 | Tower Hamlets Community Housing | 35.93 | 3,223,000 | 2,371,000 | ||
10,982,000 | Town and Country Housing Group | 3.34 | 4,382,000 | 4,028,000 | 2,572,000 | 10,627,000 |
9,623,000 | Trafford Housing Trust | 25.10 | 5,471,000 | 3,728,000 | 424,000 | 7,692,000 |
5,961,000 | Trent & Dove Housing | -11.90 | 2,156,000 | 2,989,000 | 816,000 | 6,766,000 |
3,587,000 | Trident Housing Association | 16.12 | 2,461,000 | 1,126,000 | 3,089,000 | |
1,294,000 | Tuntum Housing Association | -3.50 | 920,000 | 374,000 | 1,341,000 | |
5,433,000 | Two Rivers Housing | -9.69 | 2,592,000 | 1,397,000 | 1,444,000 | 6,016,000 |
2,577,000 | United Communities | 10.51 | 2,186,000 | 391,000 | 2,332,000 | |
1,066,000 | Unity Housing Association | 21.69 | 634,000 | 432,000 | 876,000 | |
16,558,000 | Vale of Aylesbury Housing Trust | 20.75 | 8,319,000 | 2,496,000 | 5,743,000 | 13,713,000 |
28,748,000 | Vivid Housing | -9.29 | 16,624,000 | 4,742,000 | 7,382,000 | 31,691,000 |
32,934,000 | Wakefield And District Housing | 31.29 | 17,626,000 | 2,462,000 | 12,846,000 | 25,085,000 |
30,785,000 | Walsall Housing Group | 9.94 | 10,374,000 | 14,085,000 | 6,326,000 | 28,001,000 |
11,103,000 | Wandle Housing Association | 6.54 | 4,965,000 | 4,519,000 | 1,619,000 | 10,421,000 |
1,418,000 | Warrington Housing Association | 6.06 | 946,000 | 472,000 | 1,337,000 | |
4,118,000 | Watford Community Housing Trust | 4.52 | 3,397,000 | 461,000 | 260,000 | 3,940,000 |
4,231,000 | WATMOS Community Homes | -3.97 | 2,873,000 | 1,358,000 | 4,406,000 | |
12,333,000 | Weaver Vale Housing Trust | 6.21 | 5,480,000 | 4,752,000 | 2,101,000 | 11,612,000 |
6,065,000 | Wellingborough Homes | 2.85 | 4,322,000 | 712,000 | 1,031,000 | 5,897,000 |
11,674,000 | West Kent Housing Association | 9.28 | 4,033,000 | 7,212,000 | 429,000 | 10,683,000 |
7,410,000 | Westward Housing Group | -9.44 | 5,256,000 | 1,207,000 | 947,000 | 8,182,000 |
3,816,000 | Worthing Homes | 16.88 | 1,769,000 | 1,251,000 | 796,000 | 3,265,000 |
21,449,000 | Wythenshawe Community Housing Group | 6.97 | 10,697,000 | 1,901,000 | 8,851,000 | 20,051,000 |
12,185,000 | Yarlington Housing Group | -2.03 | 7,500,000 | 1,341,000 | 3,344,000 | 12,437,000 |
21,614,000 | Yorkshire Housing | -0.25 | 11,675,000 | 5,083,000 | 4,856,000 | 21,669,000 |
25,127,000 | Your Housing Group | 18.60 | 16,697,000 | 7,594,000 | 836,000 | 21,187,000 |
Source: Housing Expert/housing association financial statements
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Notes: 1. Some associations report planned maintenance and major repairs as one figure. For these organisations, this single figure appears in the planned maintenance column. 2. The major repairs figures do not include capitalised major repairs spending
Update 30.1.20: The total spend figure for Network Homes in 2018 was £22,827 and not £25,567 as originally reported
Let’s look in detail at one example: Wandle, which owns 7,000 homes across London.
“Wandle has, in common with many peers, incurred significantly increased costs in relation to fire and indeed other health and safety risks,” the association said in its annual report.
Of course, this is not the only factor. It says its new responsive repairs service had “not delivered the efficiencies we had planned for and indeed there are areas that have incurred additional costs”.
It says an action plan is in place to address this and it hopes to be back on track by 2019/20. In 2018/19, the organisation spent almost £5m on routine maintenance, only a slight increase on the previous year. But its planned maintenance shot up by more than 60% to £4.5m and, like other landlords, the spectre of the Grenfell Tower fire still lies heavy over its spending decisions.
Vale of Aylesbury Housing, which owns and is responsible for more than 7,500 homes, also revealed higher expenditure on safety measures.
“Contractors were employed in particular to support a peak in the profile of gas safety checks to cover vacant posts,” it commented by way of explanation. “Materials expenditure includes additional costs for smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.”
Provider name | Planned maintenance spend 2019 (£) |
---|---|
London & Quadrant Housing Trust | 66,000,000 |
Clarion Housing Group | 50,200,000 |
Peabody Trust | 42,000,000 |
Optivo Homes | 33,032,000 |
Notting Hill Genesis | 31,200,000 |
Sanctuary Housing Association | 26,600,000 |
Orbit Group | 19,200,000 |
A2Dominion Housing Group | 19,000,000 |
Anchor Trust | 18,132,000 |
Onward Homes | 17,932,000 |
Elsewhere, Byker Community Trust said it had fitted high-specification fire doors and a sprinkler system to two of its sheltered housing blocks, as it continues to tackle the repercussions of Grenfell.
The landlord spent 14% more on routine works, 30.5% more on planned maintenance, but 15.5% less on major repairs in the past year.
Moat said it had “seen an increase in costs relating to health and safety issues during the year to meet changes in the legislation and best practice guidance”.
It reported higher expenditure for asbestos surveys and asbestos-related repairs at £2.0m, compared with £1.4m the previous year, and for fire risk assessments and related works at £900,000, compared with £200,000 in 2017/18.
“Some of the expenditure on repairs and maintenance relates to essential compliance work to ensure the safety of our residents, but the majority is due to high levels of expenditure on repairs to void properties and responsive repairs,” GreenSquare Group, which owns and manages 12,000 homes in Wiltshire, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, said in its annual financial statement.
Provider name | Major repairs spend 2019 (£) |
---|---|
Sovereign Housing Association | 23,306,000 |
Thirteen Group | 20,469,000 |
Notting Hill Genesis | 17,000,000 |
Aster Group | 15,854,000 |
Clarion Housing Group | 14,800,000 |
Wakefield And District Housing | 12,846,000 |
Platform Housing | 12,401,000 |
Magenta (Formerly Wirral Partnership Homes ) | 10,976,000 |
Bromford Housing Group | 9,316,000 |
Citizen (WM Housing Group ) | 9,304,000 |
Notes: 1. Figures are included where they are reported separately to planned maintenance. 2. Figures do not include capitalised major repairs spending
The organisation spent £13.6m on routine maintenance and £6.3m on major repairs. It did not provide a figure for planned maintenance.
Leeds & Yorkshire Housing Association told a similar story: “Maintenance costs have increased as a result of increased costs and volumes of day-to-day repairs, as well as higher levels of tenancy turnover leading to higher void refurbishment costs.”
Housing associations also periodically have to update interiors, resulting in a spike in spending.
For instance, although all CHP’s homes already meet the Decent Homes Standard, it sought to upgrade a number of properties during the year, resulting in additional spending.
In the past year, it invested more than £14.3m in its existing homes. Alongside day-to-day repairs and maintenance, this included 128 new kitchens, 73 bathrooms and seven wet rooms, and replacing the heating in 422 properties and electrical upgrades in 413 properties.
Provider name | Routine maintenance spend (£) |
---|---|
Clarion Housing Group | 122,700,000 |
London & Quadrant Housing Trust | 83,000,000 |
Sanctuary Housing Association | 79,300,000 |
Notting Hill Genesis | 58,700,000 |
Places for People Group | 44,700,000 |
Home Group | 40,275,000 |
The Guinness Partnership | 38,700,000 |
The Riverside Group | 36,642,000 |
Metropolitan Thames Valley | 34,456,000 |
Sovereign Housing Association | 34,013,000 |
Among the G15, the 12 largest social landlords in London, spending on planned maintenance rose more rapidly than for the wider group, increasing by almost 31% on the previous year to £289m collectively.
However, spending on routine maintenance only rose 3.3% to £467m and major repairs spending fell 2.4% to £54m, compared with the previous year.
G15 member L&Q had the highest spending on planned maintenance in the 12-month period, with a bill of £66m. Its accounts show it has a far higher cost per home for major repairs than the sector average, at £1,013 for 2019 on an adjusted basis, compared with £793 in 2018, and a sector average of £720.
Much of the increase was attributed to the removal of potentially flammable cladding on some of its developments.
Meanwhile, the largest major repairs bill was run up by Sovereign, which spent £23.3m, although that was around £200,000 less than it had spent in the previous year.
Provider name | Routine maintenance 2019 (£) | Planned maintenance 2019 (£) | Major repairs 2019 (£) | Total spend 2018 (£) | Total spend 2019 (£) | Change in total spend between 2018 and 2019 (%) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A2Dominion Housing Group | 16,700,000 | 19,000,000 | 29600000 | 35700000 | 20.60810811 | |
Catalyst Housing | 17,236,000 | 3,949,000 | 20284000 | 21185000 | 4.44192467 | |
Hyde Housing Association | 22,363,000 | 15,250,000 | 3,070,000 | 39900000 | 40683000 | 1.962406015 |
London & Quadrant Housing Trust | 83,000,000 | 66,000,000 | 100000000 | 149000000 | 49 | |
One Housing Group | 12,585,000 | 3,561,000 | 4,265,000 | 22346000 | 20411000 | -8.659267878 |
Southern Housing Group | 24,513,000 | 5,674,000 | 31756000 | 30187000 | -4.940798589 | |
Clarion Housing Group | 122,700,000 | 50,200,000 | 14,800,000 | 194600000 | 187700000 | -3.545734841 |
Optivo Homes | 27,579,000 | 33,032,000 | 9,195,000 | 65315000 | 69806000 | 6.875909056 |
Peabody Trust | 30,000,000 | 42,000,000 | 73386000 | 72000000 | -1.88864361 | |
Network Homes | 17,042,000 | 5,532,000 | 22827000 | 22574000 | -1.10833662 | |
Notting Hill Genesis | 58,700,000 | 31,200,000 | 17,000,000 | 78300000 | 106900000 | 36.52618135 |
Metropolitan Thames Valley | 34,456,000 | 13,674,000 | 5,555,000 | 46034000 | 53685000 | 16.62032411 |
Across the country, unexpected spending on repairs remains a top financial risk for housing associations – particularly where the service is outsourced.
Accent Housing, which owns and manages 20,000 homes, said contractor failure remains its “highest risk”.
“Our assessment of this risk was increased when issues emerged with one of our five main regional contractors this year. Our response was swift and decisive, resulting in new services being effectively mobilised and continuity of service maintained. Given the volatility of the external operating environment, however, this risk remains under focus,” it said.
“Continuing to invest in our current homes is a key priority and this year our total investment in repairs and maintenance was £37m (capital and revenue expenditure). We replaced 2,900 components at a cost of £9.6m which was in line with our forecasts,” the association added.
Indeed, bringing a repairs service in house can lead to financial gains. Clarion reported £1.1m of productivity savings due to repairs jobs being completed more efficiently, and £700,000 of savings from the insourcing of responsive repairs contracts in north London and Birmingham.
Organisation | % increase in annual spend 2019 | Routine maintenance 2019 (£) | Planned maintenance 2019 (£) | Major repairs 2019 (£) | Total spend 2018 (£) | Total spend 2019 (£) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Settle (North Hertfordshire Homes ) | 82.20 | 4,845,000 | 3,638,000 | 4,656,000 | 8,483,000 | |
Leeds and Yorkshire Housing Association | 76.91 | 1,157,000 | 911,000 | 276,000 | 1,325,000 | 2,344,000 |
Hundred Houses Society | 66.15 | 1,099,000 | 629,000 | 1,040,000 | 1,728,000 | |
Silva (Bracknell Forest Homes) | 57.84 | 3,488,000 | 1,351,000 | 4,630,000 | 5,999,000 | 9,469,000 |
GreenSquare Group | 52.06 | 13,642,000 | 6,269,000 | 13,094,000 | 19,911,000 | |
Hastoe Housing Association | 49.66 | 3,525,000 | 788,000 | 1,696,000 | 4,015,000 | 6,009,000 |
London & Quadrant Housing Trust | 49.00 | 83,000,000 | 66,000,000 | 100,000,000 | 149,000,000 | |
Impact Housing Association | 46.64 | 3,028,000 | 1,475,000 | 15,000 | 3,081,000 | 4,518,000 |
Poplar HARCA | 44.05 | 9,394,000 | 482,000 | 6,856,000 | 9,876,000 | |
Local Space | 40.10 | 1,080,000 | 688,000 | 1,262,000 | 1,768,000 |
Overall, it spent £122.7m on routine maintenance, making it the biggest spender for this type of work. It also spent £50.2m on planned maintenance and £14.8m on major repairs during the year.
Sovereign also brought the provision of kitchens and bathrooms in house this year, reducing VAT costs and states that the decision means it can provide a higher-quality service to its customers. It forecasts additional savings of £360,000 for the first four years.
Elsewhere, Sanctuary Group suggested it would be increasing the amount of gas servicing and repairs work done by its own team in the coming year. Yorkshire Housing also said it was making similar moves.
“We’ve done more to extend our in-house repairs service,” the Leeds-based association said in its financial report. “This year we’ve expanded the work further into the investment programme and are delivering a higher proportion of the kitchen and bathroom installations in house.
Our aim is to improve service quality and consistency at the same time as reducing the cost of provision when compared with third-party suppliers.”
Provider name | Change in total spend between 2018 and 2019 (%) | Routine maintenance 2019 (£) | Planned maintenance 2019 (£) | Major repairs 2019 (£) | Total spend 2018 (£) | Total spend 2019 (£) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plexus UK (First Project) | -100.00 | 1,680,230 | 0 | |||
Omega Housing | -97.80 | 137 | 6,224 | 137 | ||
Central and Cecil Housing Trust | -34.15 | 692,000 | 388,000 | 1,640,000 | 1,080,000 | |
Prima Group | -28.97 | 2,369,000 | 1,662,000 | 5,675,000 | 4,031,000 | |
The Community Housing Group | -24.62 | 3,301,000 | 1,605,000 | 128,000 | 6,678,000 | 5,034,000 |
Greenfields Community Housing Association | -18.96 | 2,956,000 | 3,308,000 | 2,381,000 | 10,668,000 | 8,645,000 |
The Christian Action (Enfield) Housing Association | -16.33 | 1,988,000 | 194,000 | 2,608,000 | 2,182,000 | |
Network Homes | -15.03 | 17,042,000 | 5,532,000 | 26,567,000 | 22,574,000 | |
The Abbeyfield Society | -14.11 | 2,365,000 | 223,000 | 3,013,000 | 2,588,000 | |
Citizen (WM Housing Group ) | -13.79 | 23,024,000 | 4,688,000 | 9,304,000 | 42,937,000 | 37,016,000 |
A number of landlords spent less last year than in the previous 12 months, including Network Homes and East End Homes.
Often, a drop in spending reflects the cyclical nature of repairs: in some years, landlords are forced to outlay large amounts of money to update buildings, doing work that they may then not have to redo for another five years. This can skew spending figures over a particular period.
So while spending on repairs and maintenance continues to rise, the way that landlords provide the service may be changing, with some that once employed a contractor to do the work now choosing to manage the service themselves.
In all cases, landlords tend to be driven by the need to keep residents happy and safe. All those analysed spoke of improving resident satisfaction with the repairs services, reducing waiting times and improving communication with employees – all of which are problems that spending more money does not necessarily fix.
UPDATE 22.01.2020 9.47am
This article and tables have been updated to correct two errors, both relating to spending in the previous year (2018). Irwell Valley's figures erroneously showed a reduction in total repairs spending, due to an incorrect figure for 2018. In fact, this association’s spending went up nearly 24%.
We also erroneously recorded that Southern Housing’s spending went down, due to missing that Southern had restated the previous year’s repairs spending figures in its most recent financial report. Southern’s spending increased by about 8.2%.