Making homes happen Annual Report & Financial Statements 2020/21 HC 456 ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020/21 Making homes happen Homes England1 Annual Report & Financial Statements 2020/21 Presented to Parliament pursuant to paragraphs 11 and 12 of Schedule 1 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008. Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 21 July 2021. HC 456 The Homes and Communities Agency is an executive non-departmental public body and statutory corporation created by the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 (as amended by the Localism Act 2011), trading as Homes England. It is sponsored by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government. This Annual Report & Financial Statements presents the audited consolidated results of the 2020/21 Financial Year for the group of entities of which Homes England is the parent. The Homes England Group is consolidated into the 2020/21 Financial Statements of the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government. 3 HOMES ENGLAND © Crown copyright 2021 This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3. Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. This publication is available at www.gov.uk/official-documents. Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at our registered office: One Friargate Coventry CV1 2GN Telephone: 0300 1234 500 Email: [email protected] ISBN 978-1-5286-2749-8 CCS0221098302 07/21 Printed on paper containing 75% recycled fibre content minimum. Printed in the UK by the APS Group on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. 4 ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020/21 Contents 6 Chair’s foreword 10 Performance report 12 Performance overview 14 Interim Chief Executive’s statement 18 Organisational overview 24 Performance summary 28 Performance analysis 30 Delivery and financial targets 46 Financial summary 54 Sustainability report 68 The Accountability report 70 Corporate Governance report 70 The Board report 81 Statement of Accounting Officer’s responsibilities 82 Governance Statement 92 Remuneration and staff report 104 Parliamentary Accountability and Audit report 108 The certificate and report of the Comptroller and Auditor General to the Houses of Parliament 114 Financial statements 206 Contact us 5 HOMES ENGLAND Chair’s foreword I joined Homes England in October 2020 during a difficult time for many partners and the wider housing sector. After 40 years as a private sector developer and investor, I came to Homes England because of the enormous importance of housing to wellbeing and prosperity in our country and the potential to build better. I am very proud of what Homes England achieved this year in the face of the pandemic and excited by the potential to work alongside the Government and the housing sector to achieve more still. Homes England’s mission leaders in the fields of finance and purpose is to help create and investment to leverage a housing market that Homes England’s own offers suitable homes for all investment on behalf of the needs across the country by Government. Our partners delivering Government policy. include Barclays, Lloyds I also believe it is vital that Banking Group and M&G. In we ensure homes are not just March 2020, we announced built at every price point, but a £10m investment in M&G Peter Freeman that they are well designed, Investments new Shared Chair sustainable and help foster Ownership Fund. Homes a sense of community and England’s early participation place. To achieve this, the catalysed £177m of initial Agency works closely with institutional investment, a over a thousand partner first step towards the fund’s organisations across the £825m target capital raise. country, including Local Over the next five years Authorities, housebuilders the fund will develop more from the smallest to than 2,000 new affordable largest, public bodies and shared ownership homes organisations, and more than in partnership with housing 300 housing associations. associations across England. This deal highlights the In addition to these commitment Homes England widespread relationships, has to supporting the growth Homes England works and evolution of housing in alongside a small number of institutional portfolios and 6 ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020/21 championing public-private By doing so, we have played a Homes Programme and sector partnerships. key role in the delivery of over strategic partnerships Homes 25% of the country’s homes England is tackling this The Agency also looks to each year. head on with the delivery support innovation in the of 130,000 homes over sector and in the last year This year we announced five years. This year we has taken significant steps a major new regeneration granted £53m to Together to achieve this through scheme, York Central, in Housing Group to enable the investment in Modern partnership with Network delivery of 1,152 additional Methods of Construction Rail, the National Railway new homes in the North of (MMC). Most recently, Homes Museum and York City England by March 2022. England announced an Council. This will see the 1,800 homes MMC Research delivery of 2,500 homes By granting funding for entire Commission across eight with a focus on design and development programmes, Agency sites. The six-year sustainability, in addition our long-term strategic venture will enable us to to creating a quality place partnerships have given learn lessons in this field and with new jobs and support housing associations the drive forward greater uptake for York’s economy. York investment and flexibility of MMC in the sector. Central is also an important to adapt to the changing signal that Homes England is housing market as a result Importantly, the Agency does taking good design seriously, of the COVID-19 pandemic. not compete with the market and we’re encouraging this To make the strategic by directly building homes. further by putting terms into partnership model more Instead, we support our our land sales. widely accessible, Homes partners to unlock delivery England has now extended and increase supply, whether Affordability pressures remain this offer to Local Authorities this is through enabling land a barrier to many getting a and for-profit registered to come forward, providing home of their own, and I am funding where it is otherwise pleased that through our not available, and brokering £7.4 billion Affordable relationships to bring skills and capacity together. 7 HOMES ENGLAND providers. These changes will organisation with increased allow us to create a more capacity and capability. I diverse market and better am grateful to Gordon More support priority places. for stepping up as Interim Chief Executive and providing As we look to move on from strong leadership at this time. the worst of the pandemic and along a path for recovery, Finally, a thank you to all we also find ourselves Homes England staff and looking to the future and everyone who has worked the longer-term challenges with the Agency to make facing the housing sector homes happen during this and wider built environment. incredibly challenging year. This means thinking about Despite the difficulties, how we enable attractive, productivity has been strong, practical, and sustainable and the sector has achieved a design. It also means thinking great deal. about how we can support local partners respond to Looking to the year ahead the issues affecting urban and with a new Chief centres across the country. Executive soon to be at the While increasing the supply helm, Homes England’s of new homes remains focus will be on working Homes England’s core focus, with our many partners to a key lesson from last year deliver more and better in a is that we should approach way that is open, effective this holistically to ensure and collaborative. We will we’re creating the homes continue to drive Government and places that can stand housing ambitions and our up to the 21st century. As we pride will be in the delivery move into the next financial of our mission through year, I’m looking forward to quality homes and places tackling these challenges and for communities across the opportunities as a sector - country. and in those challenges are opportunities. I would like to thank Nick Walkley, who stepped down as Chief Executive in February 2021 after four years of immensely hard work to transform Homes England into a mature and ambitious 8 ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020/21 Tilia Homes (formerly Kier Partnership Homes) are developing this surplus public land site, transforming the former Manor and Kingsway Hospitals in Derby as part of a multi-phase development of 700 homes of high environmental standards, of which nearly 330 homes are occupied. Manor Kingsway was one of the first developments in the country to meet the Building for Life 12 standard – achieving 12 ‘green lights’ and Diamond Status. 9 HOMES ENGLAND Performance report 10 ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020/21 Contents: 12 Performance overview 14 Interim Chief Executive’s statement 18 Organisational overview 24 Performance summary 28 Performance analysis 30 Delivery and financial targets 46 Financial summary 54 Sustainability report 11 HOMES ENGLAND Performance overview 12 ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020/21 This section is designed to give the reader sufficient information to understand Homes England, its purpose, the key risks to the achievement of its objectives and how it has performed during the year. 13 HOMES ENGLAND Interim Chief Executive’s statement The success of Homes England is built on the efforts of our colleagues and partners. Over the course of a year disrupted by COVID-19, we have enjoyed many successes and that is down to the resilience of each and every one of the people that we work with.