As part of his Autumn Statement in November 2022, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced that, following the 2022/2023 cost of living payments, further payments would be made across the UK in 2023/2024.

Extra support will be provided for over eight million eligible means-tested benefits claimants, including those on Universal Credit, Pension Credit and tax credits.

Staring in the spring, these sums will be paid directly to bank accounts in three payments over the course of the financial year. There will also be a separate £150 for over six million disabled people and £300 for over eight million pensioners on top of their Winter Fuel Payments.

Exact payment windows will be announced closer to the time and will be spread across a longer period to ensure a consistent support offering throughout the year.

Find out more

We know that our younger residents can face a range of pressures. This is why we’re delighted to work with Tutors United to provide free weekly lessons in Maths and English to school children aged between 8-11 years old to support their learning.

Tutors United deliver confidence-boosting, attainment raising tutorials. There is a mixture of online and face-to-face sessions available so please do apply regardless of where you live.

Please note that spaces are limited – if your child doesn’t receive a space straight away, they will be put on the waiting list and you will be contacted as soon as it becomes available.

Register today

At One Housing, we value our residents’ insights and local expertise, and we understand that nobody knows more about what’s best for a community than the people who form it.

As a Resident Panel Member, you’ll have the opportunity to influence how we improve our services by giving a voice to your community, ensuring we are aware of residents’ concerns and overseeing local improvements.

You’ll also hold us to account, provide welcome scrutiny and help us to develop new policies.

If you’re selected as a Panel Member, you’ll be fully supported in getting used to the systems we use and how our Resident Panels work. You’ll get to spend time with fellow Panel Members and the One Housing officers supporting their work, forming important community relationships and working together to achieve good outcomes.

To apply, please submit your CV as well as a cover letter to residentengagements@onehousing.co.uk. In your letter, please tell us a little bit about your motivation for applying and any skills or experience you think would come in useful in the role.

Learn more about Resident Panels

Did you know that we work with a number of employers who can offer vacancies to our residents?

The current list includes opportunities in catering and hospitality, care, operational and environmental services.

There are opportunities both for those with and those without qualifications and experience – and offering the appropriate range of salaries.

In short, there’s something for everyone, from the school leaver through to the person who has been there, done that, and is ready to do it some more!

Take a look, and if you are interested in any of the roles, please contact our Employment and Training team via employmentandtrainingteam@onehousing.co.uk.

One of our advisors will be in touch with more details.

Current vacancies

Having joined The Riverside Group as a subsidiary in December 2021, our Board is now proposing to begin integration into Riverside through a “Transfer of Engagements”. The proposed transfer would mean that all our assets and liabilities, including ownership of our homes, would transfer to Riverside and they would become your new landlord.

Before we make the final decision, we would like to seek your comments and feedback on the proposal.

How to have your say

You should have received a letter inviting you to share your comments and feedback on the proposal along with a copy of Frequently Asked Questions and information on how to respond.

Each letter has been coded with a unique ID that is personal to you.

The closing date for responding online or by telephone is at 4pm on Wednesday 1 February 2023.

As part of the Resident Engagement Strategy consultation in 2022, residents told us that they wanted more influence in shaping and improving services in One Housing. We listened and now have a unique and exciting opportunity for two of our tenants to join the One Housing Customer Services Committee.

As a Resident Committee Member, you’ll make an important contribution to a Committee with wide-ranging responsibilities for scrutinising and reviewing customer-facing policies, performance and service delivery. This will include oversight of the delivery of our 2021-24 Customer Experience Strategy as well as overseeing our performance on customer services. You will work closely with other Independent Committee Members, Board members and the senior leadership team to make sure we achieve our objectives, while managing risk and delivering great services.

This is a remunerated role at a rate of £3,250 per year.

To learn more and to apply, please visit our website at https://onehousing.co.uk/about-us/our-people/our-governance-structure. The closing date for applications is 6pm Monday 13 March 2023.

Having joined The Riverside Group as a subsidiary in December 2021, our Board is now proposing to begin integration into Riverside through a “Transfer of Engagements”. The proposed transfer would mean that all our assets and liabilities, including ownership of our homes, would transfer to Riverside and they would become your new landlord.

The six-week consultation period on the proposed “Transfer of Engagements” ends at 4pm on Wednesday 1 February 2023.

Please take this opportunity to share with us your views on the proposed transfer to Riverside.

What are the benefits of the transfer?

We believe that a transfer to Riverside is the best option for our residents and our local communities. It would mean that:

• You continue to live in the same home with services provided locally by the teams you already know.
• Your tenancy/lease agreement will stay the same – only the name of your landlord will change to The Riverside Group Ltd. Your rights, including rents and service charges, whether you are a tenant, shared owner or leaseholder, will be protected.
• Riverside will continue to deliver the pledges it made when One Housing joined the Group, including the £1 billion for improving and repairing homes over the next 5 years and the £2.5m per year to support communities and livelihoods.
• We continue our commitment to ongoing improvement of services and the delivery of our Resident Engagement Strategy that we have worked with you to develop.

How to have your say

You should have received a letter inviting you to share your comments and feedback on the proposal along with a copy of Frequently Asked Questions and information on how to respond.

Each letter has been coded with a unique ID that is personal to you. Whichever way you decide to respond, your comments will go to BMG, our survey partner, and will be confidential.

If you have questions, or accessibility or translation requirements which are not met in the letter you received, please call BMG on 0800 358 0337.

What happens next

Once the consultation has concluded, we will provide you with feedback on the comments received and explain how we have taken account of your views in coming to our final decision.

Should the transfer to Riverside go ahead, we, One Housing Group, will serve you with a formal notice confirming the transfer and notifying you of any changes to where and how you should pay your rent and service charges.

If you would like to give us feedback, we must receive postal returns by Monday 30 January 2023 and online and telephone surveys by 4pm on Wednesday 1 February 2023.

As the cost-of-living continues to affect all households, we know that many of you are concerned about how you will cover essential items such as bills, groceries and rent.

If you are worried about money and would like additional support, you can now access Cost of Living Helper.

Funded by the Mayor of London and developed by the Advice and Advocacy team at Hyde Housing, the ‘Cost of Living’ tool is designed to help everyone access information and support as easily and quickly as possible.

The tool is user friendly and can be accessed from any device.

Every year we review our social housing rents in line with the rules set by the Government. Our final rent settlement has now been approved and we wanted to give you advance notice of this. Please note there are no changes to your rent at this stage. Any increases do not apply until April 2023 for the 2023/24 financial year.

This year our general needs rents will be increasing by 7% in line with the cap on social housing rent increases announced by Jeremy Hunt, Chancellor of Exchequer in November 2022.

This will mean a lower than expected rent increase which under the Regulator of Social Housing’s Rent Standard were set to rise by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus 1% - a total of 11.1%.

As a not-for-profit organisation, we use the money to improve our homes, support our planned investment including for critical fire safety works and invest in local communities.

We know many shared owners have also been concerned about the impact of inflation on their rents. We are therefore pleased to confirm that we have agreed a voluntary settlement for shared owners which means we will also cap shared owners rent at 7%. This is lower than the expected increase which under the terms of most leases is linked to the November Retail Price Index (RPI), which was 14%.

Intermediate rents and housing for older people rents will also be capped at a 7% increase.

Rents for supported housing haven’t been capped by the Government in recognition of the extra costs incurred by landlords who deliver this type of specialist housing. They will therefore increase by last September’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus 1% - a total of 11.1%.

We know this may be disappointing news for our supported residents, but we are committed to delivering good quality extra services that our supported housing schemes receive. Please do talk to us if you have any questions or concerns.

Our market rents will increase by Consumer Price Index plus 1% - 11.1%

The rent and service charge booklets detailing your individual charges will be sent out to you at the end of February 2023 with the new charges due from April 2023.

In addition, we have reviewed service charges for the coming year and have worked hard to ensure value for money for all the services that we offer. Unfortunately, inflation is considerably higher than it has been in previous years and our costs, including utility costs, have increased in line with the position nationally.

If you have difficulties paying your rent or service charge, please call us on 0300 123 966 or email us as soon as you can so we can work with you to find a solution. We can also signpost you to other experts and sources of advice.

If your Housing Benefit is paid direct to us, we’ll confirm your new charges with the local authority Housing Benefit Office.

If your Housing Benefit or Universal Credit is paid direct to you, it’s your responsibility to make sure Housing Benefit, or for Universal Credit, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), know your new charges and make any relevant changes.

Please remember, if you’re on Universal Credit do not update your claim until 4 April 2023 as it could cause issues with your claim.

At One Housing we value our residents’ insights and local expertise, and we understand that nobody knows more about what’s best for a community than the people who form it. We now have a unique opportunity for one of our residents to join the Island Resident Panel.

As a Resident Panel Member, you will make an important contribution in a role with wide-ranging responsibilities for example: reviewing customer-facing policies, scrutinising performance and service delivery and being consulted about the best approach for residents. The role will include oversight through a resident perspective of our 2021-24 Customer Experience Strategy and 2022-2025 Resident Engagement Strategy. You will work closely with other Resident Panel Members, Officers, and the senior leadership team to make sure we achieve our objectives and deliver great services.

Representing residents at the Resident Panel is an important role and means that you will be making suggestions and decisions for the benefit of all residents whilst bring your experience as a resident to the discussions. However, whilst collectively working with fellow residents on the Panel, Resident Panel Members will need to see beyond their personal interests and work for the benefit of all residents. You are not expected to be an expert in all the areas that Panels address but you will be able to deal with information and contribute to effective decision making. Induction, training and ongoing support will be provided to the successful candidates.

The Resident Panels each meet four times a year. As well as the formal meetings you will also be expected to attend other meetings to support wider communication of resident views and be consulted in between meetings. Quarterly meetings generally last 2.5 hours and are held in the early evening. To apply for this role, you must be a resident of One Housing, either a tenant or a leaseholder and this must be your sole residence.

One Housing is committed to equality and diversity. We consider that greater diversity on our Resident Panels strengthens our decision-making and allows us to better serve our customers. As such, we welcome and encourage applications from candidates from all backgrounds. A personal commitment to self-development and learning, diversity and inclusion and a strong empathy with and commitment to One Housing’s social purpose and values are a requirement for this role.

If you are selected as a Panel Member, you will be fully supported in getting used to the systems we use and how our Resident Panels work. You will get to spend time with fellow Panel Members and the One Housing officers supporting their work, forming important community relationships and working together to achieve good outcomes.

If you wish to apply, please fill in the application form and return it to rmiah@onehousing.co.uk. Please put 'RP Member' in the subject line.

The closing date for applications is Monday 16 January 2023.