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Electrical Safety First says its new visual identity is a ‘radical departure’ from its old branding

The awards recognise campaigns that use creative ideas successfully to further positive causes and acknowledge the organisations behind them

The purpose, membership and terms of reference for the Debt and Fraud Information Sharing Review Board.

Supporting senior leaders who are new to their grade, to gain the knowledge and skills needed to lead successfully in the Civil Service.

The government have confirmed that (Lord) Charles Banner KC will lead an independent review to speed up the delivery of infrastructure projects.

Housing Minister Lee Rowely, and Secretary of State James Cleverely have claimed Banner will be leading on the new review as infrastructure projects are often held up by legal barriers and judicial reviews.

To say Banner is successful in his field would be an understatement. He was called to the Bar of England & Wales in 2004 and to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 2010. In addition, he was also appointed to the Queen’s Counsel in 2019, during which he was only 38 – the youngest of the 2019 silks.

Assisted by fellow barrister Nick Grant, Banner will explore whether Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) are unduly upheld by inappropriate legal challenges, and if so, what are the main reasons and how the problem can be resolved, whilst guaranteeing the constitutional right to access of justice and meeting the UK’s international obligations.

An infrastructure project is a plan that focuses on the improvement and upkeep of services that are already in place in the country. Examples include, new road improvements, offshore wind farms and waste water management facilities.

It should also be noted that even if a legal challenge is unsuccessful, projects can still experience major setbacks.

One recent example of this is the Norfolk A47 project. Originally planned to be completed by the end of 2025, three new road schemes have been delayed by more than 20 months after climate activist, Dr Andrew Boswell, took National Highways to court.

Housing Minister, Lee Rowely, said: ‘It is vitally important that we use every tool at our disposal to slash unnecessary planning delays and accelerate building where it is needed across the country.

‘That is why I am delighted that (Lord) Banner will lead a review on how we can speed up the delivery of national infrastructure in the face of costly legal challenges. I look forward to the outcome of this crucial piece of work.’

In addition, (Lord) Charles Banner KC, added: ‘I am looking forward to analysing the information available, as well as the feedback from key stakeholders, to ascertain whether, within the terms of reference, there is a case for improving the process for legal challenges of NSIPs in a way that would reduce any identified impacts of inappropriate legal challenges whilst maintaining constitutional principles and relevant international obligations.’

The review that Banner is now leading was announced as part of the autumn statement last year. It is expected to take three months and the government will consider the recommendations once it has been published.

Image: shawnanggg

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Although the saying goes ‘what goes up must come down’, in this instance second homes and empty properties in Sandwell will experience an increase in council tax one year from 1st April. 

In celebration of National Empty Homes Week, which ran from 4th until 10th March 2024, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council announced they will be doubling the amount of council tax owners empty properties will have to pay, to help provide more homes to people who need them the most.   

Prior to this announcement, the additional 100% council tax charge was only payable on empty properties after two years, however now owners will be charged one year from 1st April 2024.

Cabinet member for housing and built environment, Cllr Laura Rollins, said: ‘We are facing a significant housing shortage in Sandwell and we cannot have homes sitting empty.

‘We need 41,000 new homes by 2041. Having properties sitting empty only adds to the pressure on housing in the borough.

‘By charging extra Council Tax on empty properties, we aim to increase the availability of affordable housing and reduce homelessness by bringing empty homes back into use.’

In addition to council tax increasing for empty homes, second homes will also attract double the amount of council tax from 1st April 2025. This will be a change from the current position, which sees second homes charged an additional 100% council tax from the day they become empty – the rule will come into force within the next financial year.

This news also coincides with the government confirming plans to implement stricter rules for some empty houses, commencing from 1st April.

Although next year councils will get new powers to charge extra tax on second homes as well, there will be some special circumstances where the new rules won’t apply.

These include:

• A home is uninhabitable due to renovations
• Second homes that are not available for use year-round due to planning restrictions
• Homes that have been inherited

These new rules are part of a big government plan to construct one million homes and they say they have £10bn to help complete the goal.

On the topic of money, Sandwell Council’s deputy leader, Cllr Bob Piper, said increasing the council tax charges will help raise more than £800,000 which will be reinvested into council services.

Cllr Piper said: ‘The increase in council tax charges on empty properties will affect around 600 properties that have been empty for a year.

‘This will help us to raise more than £800,000 in Council Tax over the financial year to invest back into council services.

‘Not only that, we hope this will encourage landlords and owners to not allow homes to remain empty when they could provide much-needed housing.’

Image: Nataliya Vaitkevich

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On 9 March 2024, the Government announced the introduction of The Elizabeth Emblem. This commemorative emblem is awarded as a mark of recognition to the next of kin of those who lost their lives in the course of undertaking eligible public service.

This notice sets out how we will use your personal data, and your rights.

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A new way to define and measure which households are struggling with rising costs has been published to help policy makers provide support.  

The University of Sheffield have published a new study highlighting that employment status, housing tenure inability to save, energy prepayment methods and household composition are indicators of households who may be struggling with current energy prices.

Published on Friday 8th March, the study was also produced by the UK Energy Research Centre, and Universities of Nottingham, East Anglia, and Macedonia in Greece. It looked at a sample of households between 2016 and 2022.

Low energy price resilience (LENRES) is also associated with worse health, disability, and wellbeing outcomes for adults. This is mainly driven by the stresses of falling behind on energy bills.

Reasons for looking into how households can be better supported with the ongoing energy crisis have stemmed from recent government figures. Estimates show that around 37% of households now spend more than 10% of their residential income on energy, after deducting housing costs – a threefold increase compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Against this backdrop, recent data has also found that energy-related debt has risen to record-breaking levels – £3.1bn.

Dr Andrew Burlinson, from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Economics and UK Energy Research Centre, said: ‘Our study puts forward a definition and a quantifiable measure of low energy price resilience that can be used to inform policy making aimed at preventing the worst economic, health and wellbeing consequences of high and prolonged energy price events on households in the UK.’

Professor Giulietti from Nottingham University Business School added: ‘The UK government has already attempted to mitigate the impact of the crisis with measures such as the universal energy price guarantee, which has allowed for speed of action in the intervention.

‘However this was a temporary measure for most consumers and potentially failed to support the most vulnerable.’

‘As price volatility and uncertainty persist, policy interventions in the energy market will need to be better targeted to avoid further detriment to the most vulnerable households. This could include measures targeted at improving supply resilience as well as demand, more specifically individual household resilience in the longer-term.’

As well as this new study examining how households can be better financially supported, Jeremy Hunt announced in his Spring Budget that the Household Support Fund – a scheme that sees councils distribute certain amounts of money to vulnerable households – will be extended after it was originally due to end at the end of this month.

Image: KWON JUNHO

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Crippling new research has outlined tons of families have been unsuccessful in finding permanent accommodation for more than 10 years.

New research, which was first reported by The Observer and released under the Freedom of Information Act over the weekend, has discovered that thousands of families have been housed in ‘temporary’ accommodation for more than a decade. Arguably, such a discovery gives a new meaning to childhood – it’s more like ‘child without a hood’.

According to the findings, around 50 local authorities across the country are thought to have high numbers in temporary accommodation and almost 14,000 households have been in it more than five years.

In one heartbreaking case, a homeless household in London were placed in temporary accommodation in 2000 and are still there today.

Other devasting, yet similar examples include one family being left in temporary accommodation in Manchester for nine years and a family in Kent being there since 2009. Some families in Birmingham have also been in the housing since at least 2011 – no data was available for the city before that.

As a result of these harrowing discoveries, the research has led to warnings describing temporary accommodation as futile.

The research has come just after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt delivered the government’s Spring Budget, which was accused of favouring pre-election tax cuts rather than relieving the pressures that have led to record levels of homelessness, and failing to help councils provide secure homes for the most vulnerable.

Following this, individuals are now demanding for a change in law to secure the fact that there is a maximum length of time families can spend in temporary housing before being moved to a more permanent space.  

Jack Shaw, an expert in local government, who is responsible for uncovering the figures, said: ‘The government must do more to protect families in insecure housing, including investing more in building homes and in homelessness services run by local authorities.’

Recently, record-breaking homelessness figures were published which showcase that between July and September last year, 109,000 homeless households were in temporary accommodation, up 10% in a single year. This statistic included 142,490 children.

Social workers have discovered that children who are being brough up in such conditions are being talk how to walk on a bed. Young individuals experiencing key development stages should be equipped with the freedom to step head-first into the world, but instead are missing out due to a severe lack of space. Children were also found to be robbed of other key development stages, including leanring to crawl.   

Taking to X (formally known as Twitter), homelessness charity Shelter have said: ‘The housing emergency is spiralling out of control.

‘Investing in social homes is the only way to ensure children are not left growing up in temporary accommodation.’

The #HousingEmergency is spiralling out of control.

Investing in social homes is the only way to ensure children are not left growing up in temporary accommodation.#BuildSocialHomes https://t.co/Z2ujClZxr5

— Shelter (@Shelter) March 9, 2024

In addition, Matthew Bolton, executive director of Citizens UK, has stated that without government interference, councils will be unable to supply enough homes to rid families of temporary homes.

‘We’re campaigning on this at the local level, persuading councils to improve standards and make urgent repairs, but we need government action,’ Matthew said. ‘Citizens UK are calling on all parties to make ending child homelessness a top priority leading into the next general election. This starts with a commitment to introduce and enforce improved standards in temporary accommodation and to set a statutory limit on the length of time people can be stuck there.’

Image: Volodymyr Hryshchenko

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