Letter from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government appointing Chris Wood as the lead reviewer for the non-statutory review into the London Borough of Croydon. This letter includes the terms of reference for the review.

The findings of this review will be reported to the Local Government Secretary in November and published on GOV.UK once complete.

A rapid non-statutory review will be conducted into the London Borough of Croydon, the Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick has confirmed today (Thursday 29 October).

The review will focus on Croydon Council’s overall governance, culture and risk management following the Council’s announcement that it would seek exceptional financial support from MHCLG.

The council has agreed to this short, informal review to identify the issues the council is facing and make recommendations after a number of serious concerns around the council’s governance and risk management identified by MHCLG were underlined in a Public Interest Report published last week by Grant Thornton. The report was highly critical of the Council’s financial management and scrutiny of its spending and investments.

The rapid review does not rule out a more formal, statutory intervention from the Government in the future – a decision on which will be informed by this work.

Local Government Secretary Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP said:

The situation at the London Borough of Croydon is deeply concerning and completely unacceptable – local people rightly deserve and expect better than this from their local council leaders.

The Public Interest Report published this week is damming about the dysfunctional governance within Croydon Council, who have been entirely irresponsible with their spending and investments. There are serious questions that local leaders to answer, and we are stepping in to get the situation under control.

Croydon Council has been allocated over £23.5 million in unringfenced funding since the start of the pandemic. In addition, the council’s core spending power saw an increase of nearly £20.8 million this financial year even before additional emergency funding was announced.

Three independent reviewers have been appointed to carry out the review. Chris Wood will lead the review and will be supported by financial reviewer, Alan Gay OBE, as well as a commercial reviewer, Boris Adlam.

Lead reviewer, Chris Wood has worked in several London boroughs and with councils and housing organisations on strategic regeneration planning, asset management and capital programme delivery and was Chief Executive of the London Borough of Newham. He is also a former member of the Grenfell Recovery Taskforce and current partner at Altair housing consultancy.

Chris Wood will be supported by financial reviewer, Alan Gay OBE, who is the former Finance Director and Deputy Chief Executive at Leeds City Council. Currently, he is the Director of ATG Associations, providing advice and support to Councils and other public bodies on financial and management. He is also Chair of the CIPFA Devolution Panel.

Commercial reviewer, Boris Adlam is the Crown Representative in the Cabinet Office for Kier, Amey, Deloitte and PA Consulting. A former chairman of Nexus Management plc, he has also held a number of roles across finance and investment at Arcanum Partners, Lehman, BNP Paribas and Nomura.

The findings of the review will be reported to the Local Government Secretary in November and published on Gov.uk once complete.

More than 3,300 new long-term homes for rough sleepers and other vulnerable people have been approved, the Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick MP has announced today (29 October 2020).

Backed by government investment of more than £150 million the new homes will be made available in every region of England. This will enable people who sleep rough, or at risk of sleeping rough, to be rehoused in secure, long-term accommodation, providing some of the most vulnerable in society with a permanent place to live and help to rebuild their lives.

These will be available by the end of March 2021 and are part of the government’s investment of £433 million to deliver 6,000 new homes for rough sleepers by the end of this Parliament. In March the government launched the ‘Everyone In’ campaign to house rough sleepers in safe accommodation, helping to protect thousands of lives during the pandemic.

By September over 29,000 vulnerable people had been supported, with over 10,000 in emergency accommodation and nearly 19,000 provided with settled accommodation or move on support.

Communities Secretary, Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP said:

Our Everyone In plan is widely considered the most effective action taken by any country in the world to protect those sleeping rough from the pandemic. And that work hasn’t stopped – 29,000 rough sleepers and other vulnerable people have been supported into safe accommodation since the start of COVID-19.

The next step in our mission is to ensure they have a more settled home. Which is why we are providing over £150 million, as part of the biggest ever investment in homes for the homeless, to deliver over 3,000 new long-term homes across England, giving them the stability and security they need to start to rebuild their lives.

Kelly Tolhurst, Minister for Housing and Rough Sleeping said:

The efforts to protect rough sleepers throughout the pandemic have been truly outstanding, and I want to wholeheartedly thank all the charities, councils, housing providers and support groups who have made this possible.

We want to ensure the progress continues for years to come and the new, safe and supported homes are the cornerstone of our work to tackle rough sleeping and provide a solid foundation for those affected to rebuild their lives.

Kate Henderson, Chief Executive at the National Housing Federation, said:

It’s positive that this funding has now been allocated to provide long-term homes for rough sleepers. These homes, along with support, will be vital in ensuring people who have experienced rough sleeping do not return to the streets.

Housing associations will be providing many of these homes and support and look forward to working with local authorities to ensure people are helped into permanent housing.

This is an important step towards achieving the government’s manifesto commitment to end rough sleeping by 2024, alongside investment in new homes for social rent.

Nick Walkley, Chief Executive of Homes England said:

We’re proud to be supporting local authorities, charities, housing associations and our other partners access the funding they need to get on and deliver these crucial homes.

In total, 276 schemes have been approved across England, including 38 in London alone, which will provide 904 new homes for rough sleepers. Outside of London, 238 councils have received approval to move to the next phase of development, encompassing 2,430 new homes.

This funding is on top of the £91.5 million allocated to 274 councils in September to fund their individual local plans for rough sleepers over the coming months, and to help provide short-term and interim accommodation for vulnerable people, as well as the £10 million Cold Weather Payment for councils to help to keep rough sleepers safe this winter.

Once they have the keys to their new home, rough sleepers will be supported by specialist staff to access the help they need, such as support for mental health or substance misuse needs, so they can rebuild their lives, move towards training and work, and remain off the streets for good.

During the pandemic, the government has worked closely with councils and charitable organisations to offer vulnerable people safe accommodation and support.

Thanks to the funding provided by this government, and the efforts of charities, local government and other partners, in just over two months, more than 90% of rough sleepers known to councils at the beginning of the pandemic were offered accommodation to help protect them.

Allocations are subject to due diligence and contracting.

This is part of the £433 million commitment, to bring forward 6,000 units of accommodation, over the next 4 years.