Accelerating our digital transformation

News story

Our Annual Report and Accounts 2021-22 reveals a strong year in our transition to a data-driven, digital organisation that is flexible, resilient and responsive to market challenges.

  • HM Land Registry delivers its Annual Report and Accounts 2021-22: Accelerating our digital transformation
  • Organisation reports significant progress in digitising and automating services, large-scale recruitment and investment in management, systems and training
  • On track to meet the challenges of a volatile market

In another year of record demand in the property market, HM Land Registry has accelerated its transformation to a 21st-century, data-driven, digital organisation, as set out in its Annual Report and Accounts 2021-22, published today (14 July 2022).

With a 20% increase in demand for its services over 2021-22 compared with the previous year, HM Land Registry has made significant progress in digitising and automating services. This, together with the largest recruitment exercise in more than a decade and investment in management, systems and training, has accelerated the organisation’s transformation.

In collaboration with industry partners, HM Land Registry is building on the advances it has made in digitisation and automation – including digital identity, electronic signatures and its award-winning Digital Registration Service. These, and other advances set out in the Annual Report, are helping the property sector as a whole transform for the long-term future.

The Annual Report and Accounts 2021-22 shows the distance already covered. The organisation’s forthcoming Strategy 2022+ and Business Plan will lay out the direction of travel and roadmap towards a new vision for modern land registration.

Published 14 July 2022




Mid-life MOT expansion to help tens of thousands assess work, wellbeing, and finances

The Mid-life MOT is a review for workers in their 40s and 50s that helps them take stock of their finances, skills and health, and enables them to better prepare for their retirement and build financial resilience.

As part of the expansion, Mid-life MOTs will be delivered online, in the private sector and through the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP’s) national network of jobcentres.

The jobcentre expansion will see staff sit down with older jobseekers to examine their retirement planning and help them to not only identify how to overcome barriers to employment, but also explore any avenues to help improve their earning and saving potential.

Minister for Pensions and Financial Inclusion Guy Opperman said:

The challenges we’ve faced over the last few years have highlighted the importance of financial resilience. As people live longer and healthier lives, planning for work, wealth and wellbeing in later life is vital.

Our Mid-life MOT expansion will give people the tools they need to assess where they currently are and how they can get to where they want to be – whether it’s that next career move or ensuring they’re on track for the retirement they want.

These new measures form part of a wider £22 million package to help over 50s find new careers and earn more money by boosting time with Work Coaches and bringing in specialist support.

Alongside this, a face-to-face Mid-life MOT programme will be trialled through employers with employees in three areas: the North East of England, Cornwall & Devon, and East Anglia. DWP will also be working in partnership with the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) to develop an enhanced digital Mid-life MOT tool.

The new plans follow the successes of private sector pilots and government-funded trials delivered through ten Local Enterprise Partnerships last year.

This increased support is in addition to 37 50:PLUS Champions covering every district across England, Wales and Scotland who will work with local employers to help them realise how their recruitment could benefit from the talent of older workers.

These initiatives will help more people, both in and out of work, to assess their options and opportunities to ultimately enjoy a more financially secure retirement.

Additional information

  • The funding is part of the enhanced package of support for older workers which was announced in the 2021 Spending Review.

Media enquiries for this press release – 0115 965 8781

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Transformational border pilots to create an Ecosystem of Trust

News story

The Brexit Opportunities Minister, Jacob Rees-Mogg, has announced that the Government, in partnership with industry, has launched six border innovation pilots that will transform the way the border operates.

Minister Rees-Mogg delivered a keynote speech and took part in a brief Q&A at the Border Management and Technologies Summit Europe yesterday (13 July). The event was hosted by the International Border Management and Technologies Association (IBMATA).

The Ecosystem of Trust pilots will assess the use of technology, data and trusted trader relationships to minimise the administrative burdens and costs on traders which are ultimately passed on to the consumer

The model aims to create a more secure border, while limiting the need for HMG to conduct compliance activities at the border, with traders allowed to perform more self-assessment at their premises. Ultimately, it could remove the transactional nature of customs/border processes.

Minister Rees-Mogg expressed his enthusiasm over the pilots that have been selected to test the Ecosystem of Trust border model. Six consortia were successful in their bids; the pilots are led by Azarc, Chainvine, IBM & Maersk, Fujitsu, Palantir and Digital Business Marketplace.

Minister Rees-Mogg expressed his gratitude to the businesses who are leading each of the pilots and thanked them for their time, commitment and expertise and looks forward to seeing the results

The Ecosystem of Trust pilots will run until the end of the year to establish how they can be scaled to a new border model which will increase the efficiency, speed and crucially the safety of our trade borders.

Published 14 July 2022




Professor Clare Anderson, Lance Batchelor, Sir Stephen Deuchar, Murdoch MacLennan, William Nye and Professor Andrew Thompson have been appointed as Trustees of the Royal Museums Greenwich

Professor Clare Anderson

Clare Anderson is Professor of History and Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Leicester. Her research focuses on the history of empires, including the history of punishment and forced labour mobility. She has special interests in the Indian Ocean and Caribbean regions, and is the author of numerous articles and six books, including Subaltern Lives and Convicts: A Global History. Professor Anderson has served on the British Academy’s South Asia panel and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Grants Assessment Panel C, including as Vice-Chair. She has been awarded research grants totalling over £3m, including from the European Research Council, ESRC, AHRC, and British Academy, and has held doctoral partnership awards to work with PhD students in collaboration with the National Maritime Museum, Howard League for Penal Reform, and Salvation Army International Heritage Centre.

Lance Batchelor

Lance Batchelor is the Chairman of several UK based technology and services businesses. Prior to this he was CEO of a number of well-known companies including: Tesco Mobile, Domino’s Pizza plc and Saga Cruises. Earlier in his career he served in senior marketing roles for P&G in Cincinnati, and was then head of marketing for Amazon.com in Seattle. He holds a Harvard MBA.

Lance is the lead external director on the Royal Navy’s board. He served as a submariner in the Cold War and now holds the honorary rank of Captain RN.

Lance previously spent eight years as a trustee of the National Gallery, where he was also the Chairman of the National Gallery Company. He is a keen student of history, having recently completed an undergraduate certificate history course at Cambridge University. He is a Younger Brother of Trinity House, an RYA Ocean Yachtmaster, and a keen sailor.

Sir Stephen Deuchar

Stephen Deuchar’s career in UK arts and museums began at the National Maritime Museum in 1985 when he was appointed Curator of Paintings after completing a PhD in the History of Art at the University of London. Later roles in his 13 subsequent years at Greenwich included his organisation of the major Armada (1988) and Titanic (1994) exhibitions and directorship of the Neptune Court Project, prior to his becoming founding Director of the Tate Gallery of British Art (later Tate Britain) from 1998 to 2010, shaping its new role on the national and international stage. From 2010-20, he was Director of the Art Fund, the national charity for art, doubling its membership through the introduction of the National Art Pass and leading a significant expansion of its grants programme, especially in support of curatorial innovation across the UK museums sector. In parallel, the Art Fund ran a number of successful public appeals to help secure important works of art for the nation including the Staffordshire Hoard of Anglo Saxon treasure for the West Midlands, the Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I for Greenwich, and Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage for Creative Folkestone. He was appointed CBE in 2010 for services to the arts, and was knighted in 2021. He was made an Honorary Commodore of the NMM in 2016.

Murdoch MacLennan

Murdoch MacLennan has held a series of senior leadership roles within the British and European newspaper sector, representing the industry on several international media bodies, including as President of IFRA, the global technical association for newspapers, Vice-President of the World Association of Newspapers and twice Chair of the Newspaper Publishers’ Association.

Murdoch chairs PA Media Group, Mediahuis Ireland (part of Belgium’s Mediahuis NV Group) and the Scottish Professional Football League.  He also sits on the Board of the Competition Markets Authority and chairs their UK’s Office for the Internal Market Panel.

He was CEO of the Telegraph Media Group from 2004-2017 and thereafter served as Deputy Chairman and subsequently as member of the board until 2019. An honorary professor at The University of Glasgow’s Adam Smith Business School, he is Vice-President and Appeals Chairman of the Newspaper Press Fund, President of the NewstrAid Benevolent Fund and sits on the board of the SPFL Charitable Trust.

William Nye

William Nye is the Secretary General of the Archbishops’ Council and the General Synod of the Church of England.  From 2011 to 2015 he was Principal Private Secretary to TRH The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall.  Previously, he was a civil servant in various roles in HM Treasury, the Home Office and the Cabinet Office, specialising in national security.

Professor Andrew Thompson

Andrew Thompson is Chair of Global and Imperial History at the University of Oxford and a Professorial Fellow of Nuffield College. He is Co-Director of the Oxford Global History Centre. He was previously the Executive Chair of the Arts and Humanities Research Council where he worked closely with many of the UK’s leading museums, galleries, libraries and archives, securing significant new funding to promote the use of digital technology to create a unified national collection. He was awarded a CBE in 2021 for services to research.

Trustees of the Royal Museums Greenwich are not remunerated. This appointment has been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments. The appointments process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Under the Code, any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years must be declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation, or candidature for election. Professor Clare Anderson, Lance Batchelor, Sir Stephen Deuchar, Murdoch MacLennan, William Nye and Professor Andrew Thompson have declared no activity.




Highstone Housing Association Limited grading under review

Press release

Providers being investigated for an issue regarding their compliance with the Governance and Financial Viability Standard are added to the regulator’s GUR list.

The Regulator of Social Housing reports that Highstone Housing Association Limited has been placed on its gradings under review list today (14 July 2022).

The regulator is currently investigating a matter which may impact on the provider’s compliance with the Governance and Financial Viability Standard.

The regulator’s gradings under review list is available on its website.

For press office contact details, see our Media enquiries page.

For general queries, please email enquiries@rsh.gov.uk or call 0300 124 5225.

Notes to editors

  1. The GUR lists providers where we are investigating a matter that might result in them being assessed as non-compliant in relation to the regulator’s Governance and Financial Viability Standard.

  2. Highstone Housing Association owns fewer than 1,000 social homes and therefore does not have governance and financial viability grades.

  3. The regulatory standards can be found on the RSH website.

  4. The Regulator of Social Housing promotes a viable, efficient and well-governed social housing sector able to deliver homes that meet a range of needs. It does this by undertaking robust economic regulation focusing on governance, financial viability and value for money that maintains lender confidence and protects the taxpayer. It also sets consumer standards and may take action if these standards are breached and there is a significant risk of serious detriment to tenants or potential tenants.

Published 14 July 2022