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The British and Foreign School Society says its new name points to the global nature of its work

The National Lottery Community Fund will aim to reach more than 80 per cent of local areas across the UK, says David Knott

Statement from the Minister for the Cabinet Office on the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme

Sir Robert Francis has been appointed by the Government following the Infected Blood Inquiry's final report.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman says the Charity Commission should also initiate an independent review of its communications with Lara Hall

The two authors of the letter say the Merthyr Tydfil Leisure Trust ‘no longer appears to provide a public benefit’

The charity said it was was at risk of closure after losing £47,000

The Centre for Ageing Better have revealed that fixing older people’s faulty homes would save the NHS and social care more than £1.5bn a year and deliver more in health benefits.

How many times have you heard Prime Minister’s and MPs promise to help the NHS and social care by providing them with more funding? Well, new research has found that funding may need to go into another industry as the key to helping health services has been found to be an unlikely one.  

Experts from the Centre for Ageing Better have revealed that removing the most serious risks to people’s health and safety from the country’s poorest quality homes, where the head of the household is aged 55 or over, would result in savings to the NHS of almost £600m per year.

In addition, new analysis from academics at the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre (CPEC), which is based at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), found formal care costs could be slashed by £1.1bn a year by 2027.

The LSE analysis indicates the potential for a further £3.5bn annual savings in unpaid care costs for older people. Previous research from the Centre for Ageing Better, an independent charity identified £19bn of annual health benefits from investing more in home improvement.

Arguably, this research couldn’t have come at a better time. Not only could fixing elderly people’s homes save the sector billions, but it could also reduce pressures on the NHS and social care, who are currently facing their worst staffing crisis to date. Likewise, the charity have also previously discovered that almost eight million people live in an unsafe home: approximately 2.6 million of these are aged 55 and over and 1.8 million are children.

Dr Carole Easton OBE, chief executive at the Centre for Ageing Better, said: ‘There is a terrible personal cost for older people who live in homes that are making them ill and which have the potential to seriously injure and even kill them. Older people are more likely to live in a dangerous, damp or cold home and are among the most vulnerable to the health impacts which can exacerbate conditions such as asthma and arthritis, as well as increasing the risk of an acute episode such as a stroke or heart attack.

‘But this country’s poor-quality housing crisis also reaps a terrible cost on our already stretched health and social care sectors. Fixing unsafe homes is a value-for-money solution that will not only help people to live healthier and longer lives, but will also reduce pressures on health and social care.’

‘With so much supporting evidence pointing to significant benefits, it beggars belief that home improvement is not higher up the political agenda,’ Dr Easton added. ‘Improving the country’s health cannot be done without improving the quality of our homes.’

Focusing investment just on mitigating excess cold, which claims the lives of up to 9,000 people a year in England and Wales, in every home in the country headed by an older person would deliver an estimated £325 million worth of savings to the NHS every year and pay back the repair costs within nine years.

The Centre for Ageing Better recently launched the Safe Homes Now campaign with eight other charities including Barnardo’s, Asthma + Lung and St John Ambulance.

Following the publication of this research, the campaign is calling for a national strategy to tackle the poor quality of the country’s homes and has challenged the government to halve the number of non-decent homes, which currently totals 3.7 millions, within the next ten years.

Dr Nicola Brimblecombe, senior researcher at the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre and lead of the LSE research project (CAPE), said: ‘Our study clearly shows how poor quality and unsuitable housing can increase people’s care needs and their ability to live independently, negatively affect wellbeing, and reduce choice.

‘Improving housing has the potential to improve people’s quality of life, reduce health and care inequalities, and save money for government as well as having wider benefits to the environment and society. Negative effects of poor housing for social care can be long-term – action to improve poor quality housing cannot come soon enough.’

The new research will be presented at a special event on the cost of poor-quality housing to health and social care at LSE on Tuesday 21st  May.

Image: The Centre for Ageing Better

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The Accounts Commission have revealed local authorities are currently facing a budget gap of £585m this financial year – but matters are only set to get worse.

Last week the commission published a report on the financial state of councils in Scotland at a budget briefing prepared by Audit Scotland. Stark conclusions were drawn which highlighted that if councils were to make any improvements, ‘ever tougher decisions’ would have to be made. These include councils having to raise money through charging citizens for some services and using reserves.

Experts found that this year’s budget gap represents 3.5% of councils’ total revenue budget.

According to the budget briefing, the 2024/25 funding allocation of total revenue to local government has increased by 5.7%, but money remains constrained as most of the increase is directed to funding to deliver central government pledges.

The majority of local authorities in Scotland were planning to increase their budgets by increasing council tax in 2024/25, however in the Autumn of 2023 the government announced a council tax freeze in a bid to help locals struggling with inflated living costs.

Although, the financial blows for councils don’t stop there. Within the report, the Accounts Commission have highlighted that councils could be facing a budget shortfall worth £780m by 2026/27.

Derek Yule, from the Accounts Commission, has claimed it is ‘getting harder for councils to do more with less.’

Derek added: ‘They have to find and then deliver significant levels of savings to address budget gaps. Fully engaging with local people and being clear about the different and difficult budget choices is vital, whilst understanding the impacts on the most vulnerable.’

This is the first year that findings from the budget briefing have been made public. The Accounts Commission said the ‘wide range’ of approaches councils take to budget setting and the level of information, and the way that it is publicly reported, made it ‘challenging to report a definitive national position’.

Following this, Derek said councils in Scotland must improve the way they present financial information.

Reacting to the dire financial states of local authorities, COSLA – a councillor-led, cross-party organisation championing the work of Scotland’s councils, is calling for a ‘real’ and ‘meaningful’ solution to address the problem.

Katie Hagmann, COSLA’s resources spokesperson, said: ‘It is vitally important that these concerns, which have been consistently raised by COSLA Leaders and are now backed up by evidence presented by the Accounts Commission, are acted upon for the sake of Scotland’s public services and our communities who rely upon them.

‘Now is the time to take real action. [The] Accounts Commission report is an accurate portrayal of where we are now. The reality right now for councils has never been more challenging.

‘The effect of years of real-terms cuts to core budgets have been compounded by additional policy commitments and less flexibility in how we allocate increasingly directed budgets. This makes the ability to take local decisions on most of our budget, almost impossible.’

Image: Chris Robert

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New figures from Rightmove’s House Price Index show the average price of properties listed for sale increased by 0.8% this month.

The month of May holds various positives. Typically, it is the time in England when the weather starts to improve, flowers begin to blossom and the days get longer. However, new data from Rightmove’s House Price Index also shows this month to be a particularly good time for house sales. Experts have uncovered that this month, the average price of a home rose to £375,131, which is an increase equivalent to £2,807.

According to professionals from Rightmove, the increase has happened as a result of the Spring selling season – May is often a popular time when people decide to buy a house, as new records have been set in 12 of the past 22 years.

Tim Bannister, director of property science at Rightmove, said this news is especially encouraging as various industry experts believed the property sector would struggle after the Bank of England hiked interest rates up to 5.25%.

‘Some predicted that property prices would suffer sharp falls and take a while to recover following the Bank of England increasing the vase rate up to 5.25%, where it has remained since august 2023,’ Tim said. ‘However, the momentum of the Spring selling season has exerted enough upwards price pressure to reach a new record asking price.’

Tim added: ‘From a regional perspective, the North East, with the cheapest average prices in Great Britain, has seen the strongest price growth. However, it’s important to remember that prices overall are still only 0.6% ahead of this time last year. The market remains price-sensitive, and with prices reaching new records in the majority of regions and mortgage rates remaining elevated, affordability for many homebuyers is still stretched.’

In addition to showcasing a rise in property prices, the data also displayed that increased buyer and seller activity has been driven by pent-up demand, despite continued high mortgage rates. Sales agreed between buyers and sellers in the first four months of the year are up 17% compared to the same period in 2023, outpacing a 12% rise in new listings.

Daniel Austin, CEO at ASK Partners, said: ‘The property sector is recovering. Rent values have seen sustained growth, positioning real estate as reasonably valued in comparison to gilts and presenting growth potential.

‘In the realm of commercial real estate, factors like physical condition, location, and age significantly influence a property’s value. Well-maintained properties boasting modern amenities tend to command higher prices, while neglected ones may struggle to attract tenants or investors. In the current market, the emphasis has shifted towards the importance of location and quality over the yield on debt or cost. We anticipate opportunistic acquisitions of prime properties in prime locations.’

Echoing a similar tone, Aaron Milburn, UK managing director for Pepper Advantage, claimed it is likely the trend of increased house prices and buyer-seller activity will continue.

‘Growth in house prices looks set to continue, according to Rightmove this morning. This would appear to complement our recent findings that mortgage arrears growth is slowing to its lowest rate since September 2022’s Mini-Budget and the mortgage market is showing some signs of improvement,’ Aaron said. ‘However, today’s figures contrast with those from Nationwide’s survey earlier this month which observed the average asking price of a home going in the opposite direction.

‘This discrepancy highlights that the state of the housing and mortgage markets is not the same across the whole of the UK, with disparity between regions. Similarly, we found that the arrears growth rate increased during Q1 for both the North East and North West regions while other areas, including the South East and Greater London, decreased. Even with green shoots appearing, the economic picture remains complex, and certain groups remain under pressure and will likely require support for some time.’

Overall, Rightmove predicts around 1.1 million completed sales transactions will occur this year. However, due to the house buying process still taking around five to seven months to complete, Rightmove have stated that to achieve this target by Christmas, people who are considering buying a property should act now.  

Image: volzi

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Central government have given councils in the county £9.6m to help restart housebuilding plans that have been delayed by almost two years.

Planning permission to build 16,000 homes in Norfolk have been in talks since 2022, however they were postponed due to concerns about pollution levels in the River Wensum and on the Broads.

Against this backdrop, Norwich Broadland, South Norfolk, Breckland and North Norfolk councils stopped granting permission for new properties close to the waterways. The authorities said no more homes could be constructed until measures were implemented to stop sewage from new properties impacting river nutrient levels.

However, thanks to funding from the government, the plans to build new homes have been given the go-ahead, as over £9m has been earmarked to help fund mitigation measures that include paying farmers not to keep livestock near rivers.

Lee Rowley, local government minister, who visited a housing estate at Beeston – a town near Norwich, said: ‘We have seen too many homes stuck in the planning system. This government backs the builders and not the blockers.

‘This fund will help unlock new housing in catchment areas like Norfolk, supporting councils to build more homes that local communities want and need.’

However, environmental groups, have claimed that whilst introducing nutrient neutrality measures were a start, the government need to do more.

Norwich Green Party councillor Gary Champion said: ‘Instead of improving the water we are just removing one source of pollution and replacing it with another, so the river is still polluted.

‘We really should be taking measures to bring overall pollution levels down.’

Image: Phil Hearing

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Since 2021 the world’s second largest economy have faced property struggles. However, the country have recently revealed their most significant steps yet to address it.

China’s property market was a key driver of growth up until developers began selling houses that hadn’t been built yet. With ever-rising prices, citizens were happy to keep purchasing – even if they didn’t intend to live in the houses, which inevitably caused their market to crash. However, this week, new measures have been announced which include cutting the amount home buyers need for a deposit and encouraging local authorities to purchase unsold properties.

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) claimed it would establish a 300bn yuan – which equals to £32.8bn – facility to support affordable housing. This is designed to help local state-owned enterprises to but unsold homes.

In addition, the central bank have also axed the minimum mortgage rate and cut the minimum down payment for first-home buyers from 20% to 15%. The lowest deposit for second homes was also reduced from 30% to 25%.

Today, He Lifeng, Vice Premier, informed officials that councils can purchase properties at ‘reasonable prices’ and sell them as affordable housing, although he hasn’t offered any details yet about the number of homes that could be bought or the timescale the initiative would run for.

As well as the new measures being revealed, new figures have also been released which show new home prices had fallen for the 10th month in a row in April – the 0.6% month-on-month decline was the sharpest reduction since November 2014.

Against this backdrop, County Garden – a struggling Chinese developer – had a hearing in a Hong Kong court over its potential liquidation on Friday. Although, this has been adjoined to 11th June.

Since 2021 developers in China have been facing severe financial pressures as local authorities announced measures to curb the amount real estate companies could borrow.

Image: Rikke Filbært

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