NEWS RELEASE

22/11/05 Media Contact: Robert Davies 020 7393 2160 Ref: 88/05

Double announcement means good news for key workers

The Key Worker Living Programme is running well ahead of target, the Housing Corporation announced today, with between 6,500 and 7,000 key workers being helped by the end of 2005/06, against a target of 5722 key workers.

The Housing Corporation, which administers the Key Worker Living (KWL) Programme has been given a wider remit by the Government, including broadening the definition of a key worker to make access to such new homes easier for those for whom they were originally intended, and giving more flexibility over whether homes are owned or rented.

As at 31 October 2005, a total of 7,912 key workers have received assistance from the KWL Programme, bringing the total number of those assisted through key worker housing initiatives to 18,244.

Housing Corporation Chief Executive, Jon Rouse, said: "The KWL Programme is delivering much-needed new homes for those who run our essential and emergency services – the sort of people without whom towns and cities simply couldn't function, but who often cannot afford homes on the open market.

"The Corporation will put its 30 years-plus experience of managing affordable housing investment into making the KWL Programme a continuing success, dealing with every scheme on a case by case basis and moving quickly to ensure each home is occupied as soon as possible.

But we cannot do that without the support and guidance of the housing associations, local authorities and regional housing stakeholders who are the local experts. That is the challenge for us all as it stands today."

The Corporation works with Regional Housing Boards, Local Authorities, Housing Associations and employers to manage the Key Worker Living programme.

Steve Walker, Chief Executive of Tower Homes, a Zone Agent in the South East, said: Tower Homes will help twice as many key workers as originally anticipated this year through KWL and the wider definition of a key worker will give the Programme greater momentum."

The Housing Corporation is committed to invest significant additional funds to the provision of homes for Key Workers under its 2006-08 investment programme.

Ends

Notes for Editors:

1. The Key Worker Living Programme (KWL) is designed to help those defined as key workers to buy their first home or to move to a more suitable family home. Launched in London, the South East and the East of England in 2004, assistance includes equity loans of up to £50,000 or £100,000 to buy a home on the open market or a newly built housing association home; shared ownership of newly built housing association homes; or intermediate renting.
2. From 14 November 2005 the following key workers will be eligible for all Key Worker Living funded shared ownership, new build homebuy and intermediate rented units:
· All clinical staff employed by the NHS including social workers and qualified nursery nurses.
· Qualified teachers in maintained primary and secondary schools and teachers in further education establishments. Children's social workers and qualified nursery nurses who work for the LEA are also eligible.
· Uniformed staff, below principal level, in Fire and Rescue Services. Currently included in this definition are the following services:
London
Bedfordshire & Luton
Cambridgeshire
Essex
Hertfordshire
Norfolk
Suffolk
Buckinghamshire
East Sussex
Hampshire
Isle of Wight
Kent
Oxfordshire
Royal Berkshire
Surrey
West Sussex
· Police officers and community support officers. Currently included in this definition are the following Police Authorities (only frontline civilian staff from contributing police forces listed as eligible in Annex B of the Key Worker Living Capital Funding Guide can access these products currently):
Metropolitan Police
Essex Police
Norfolk Police
Suffolk Police
Bedfordshire Police
Essex Police
Cambridgeshire Police
Hertfordshire Police
Thames Valley Police
Surrey Police
Hampshire Police
Sussex Police
Kent Police
· Planning Officers employed in Local Planning Authorities delivering statutory planning services.
· Applicants from the Prison Service in one of the following disciplines:
Prison Officers and related grades;
Nursing Staff;
Operational Support Grades (OSGs);
Industrials;
Instructional Officers;
· and employed in one of the following establishments:
Brixton;
Belmarsh;
Wandsworth;
Wormwood Scrubs;
Feltham;
Latchmere House;
Pentonville;
Holloway;
Huntercombe;
Send;
Highdown;
Downview;
Coldingley;
Aylesbury;
Reading;
Woodhill;
Bullingdon;
Grendon/Springhill;
Winchester;
Lewes;
The Mount;
Chelmsford;
Bullwood Hall;
Bedford
· Within the Probation Service, Senior Probation Officers, Probation Officers, Probation Service Officers and for intermediate rent only Trainee Probation Officers.
· British Transport Police Officers and Community Support Officers based at stations in:
Norwich
Peterborough
Cambridge
Ipswich
Milton Keynes
Southend
Reading
London
Guildford
Southampton
Portsmouth
Brighton
Gatwick
Croydon
Chatham
Ashford
· Police Officers in the Civil Nuclear Constabulary based at sites in Kent, Oxfordshire and Suffolk
· Local authority employed clinical staff, nursery nurses, occupational therapists, social workers, speech and language therapists, rehabilitation officers for the visually impaired and educational psychologists.
3. Widening the eligibility criteria will enable us to:
· Respond to the calls through the consultation on new HomeBuy products, for a wider eligibility criteria from employers, at a more local level.
· Take advantage of the opportunities to help more key workers as the supply of new homes increases.
· Create a more uniform approach across all participating sectors going some way to addressing criticisms raised through the Key Worker Living evaluation that the current criteria can be divisive in the workplace.
· To enable us to be more responsive to changes in recruitment and retention trends as a result of programmes such as KWL. This will allow new groups to be helped without excluding those groups that have previously received help - to prevent their problems returning in the future.
4. Bids for funding under the National Affordable Housing Programme are being assessed at the moment with a final decision due to be announced in Spring 2006.
5. The Housing Corporation is the Government agency responsible for regulating and investing in nearly 2000 housing associations in England. Its current investment programme of £3.3bn for 2004-06 is funding over 63,000 affordable homes. 16 348 of these will be for key workers and 25% will use some form of modern method of construction.