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Increased funding for social housing is needed to meet ambitious government building targets, according to experts.

Representatives of England’s housing associations estimate they need funding for affordable homes to be nearly doubled to £4.6bn a year alongside other funding and policy measures.

Ahead of this week’s budget, the Treasury has teased a £500m boost to the current affordable homes programme, which is currently under target and out of funds.

This will bring average spending on the programme, which ends in 2026, to around £2.5bn a year across its five-year total run.

Responding to the announcement, the National Housing Federation said it welcomed the “vital” short-term top-up.

But the sector will have to wait until the spring for clarity on future funding arrangements.

In a letter obtained by Sky News, representatives of the Chartered Institute for Housing, the National Housing Federation, and homelessness charities Crisis and Shelter warn Rachel Reeves that without “significant new investment” in social housing the government’s long-term housing plans will fail.

They have each made their own funding recommendations to the chancellor and agree that “ambitious” public investment is essential because the private sector can’t meet the building target alone.

“While the government’s 1.5 million homes target is warmly supported, our organisations have emphasised that this can only be achieved via a major increase in output by both the private and social housing sectors,” the letter states.

It cites a recent report by Savills suggesting the government will fall short of its target by almost a third without boosting the social sector and supporting first-time buyers.

Letter signed by leaders of several housing organizations
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A letter signed by leaders of several housing organisations, shared exclusively with Sky News

The National Housing Federation estimates that housing associations have the capacity to contribute 200,000 social homes towards the government’s overall building target but estimates this will require a funding package of £6.6bn a year from the next spending review.

That’s £4.6bn to build social housing plus an additional £2bn a year required to cover increasingly expensive building upgrades and maintenance costs, which have sucked money out of current budgets.

This would be a major increase on current spending and doesn’t include other potential costs for the government like the recently announced Brownfield Land Fund.

But in historic terms, it’s a small fraction of what has been invested previously.

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Growing pressure on housing system

In 1976, housebuilding accounted for almost all government housing spending, at £22.7bn in inflation-adjusted prices.

This was around the last time England built homes at anything like the scale now being proposed, but back then nearly half of housebuilding was funded by government directly.

Since then, building has been left increasingly to the private sector and the balance in building vs benefits spending has reversed. In 2022, spending on building was down to £3.9bn a year, overshadowed by a £28.6bn benefits bill to support people through various types of housing subsidies.

Shifting spending away from building towards benefits can work when there is enough housing supply, as these subsidies can be more flexible to people’s changing housing circumstances.

But soaring spending on benefits in recent years is symptomatic of growing pressure on the housing system.

Despite attempts to control expenditure through cuts and benefit freezes under the previous government, a lack of available affordable housing has meant spending has repeatedly surpassed official forecasts.

Shrinking social housing sector

A record 117,000 homeless households are now in temporary accommodation, while the social housing waiting list has grown to 1.6 million in England, driven by rising housing costs while social housing stock has been diminished by a decrease in new building combined with right to buy sell-offs.

The proportion of social houses has reached a new low, nearly halving in the past 50 years from 28% of housing stock in 1973 to 16% by 2023.

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Gavin Smart, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing, told Sky News: ”We completely support the government’s goal of building 1.5 million homes.

“But that goal will be missed without supporting investment by the government.

“Boosting the supply of social rented housing is critical to tackle homelessness, enabling local authorities to move people more rapidly out of expensive temporary accommodation and reduce these costs that are currently crippling public finances. We need a sustainable housing system that supports a vibrant economy.”

In response to the letter, the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government said it remains committed to fixing the housing crisis and to targets, including “the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation”.

A spokesperson said: “We will set out details of future government investment in social and affordable housing at the next spending review, so social housing providers can plan for the future and help us to achieve this.”

It remains to be seen how much this future investment may be, with the generational increase suggested starting from a low base.

Bristol embodies the housing crisis

Bristol is at the forefront of England’s housing crisis. At 49% of income, average rents are higher compared to earnings than anywhere else in the country, up from 41% in 2015. House prices have risen to nine times average earnings over the same period.

While building more homes for the private market is welcomed by the local sector, they stress that there needs to be buyers for them.

Estate agent Sean McCarthy, Land and New Homes Director at C J Hole. Pic: Sky News
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Estate agent Sean McCarthy

Estate agent Sean McCarthy, land and new homes director at C J Hole, told Sky News: “The change in interest rates has impacted a lot of the buying power of purchasers, especially first-time buyers, and has definitely taken some buyers out of the market.

“That’s probably been one of our biggest challenges on the new homes market, certainly in the last 12 months.

“More housing is great, but we also need more housing at an affordable level so people can get on the ladder. And any assistance with regards to a government-backed incentive that would enable people to get out of renting and into homeownership would be very welcomed by us.”

Meanwhile, the social housing waiting list in Bristol has increased by nearly 13,000 households since 2015.

Sky News met nurse and travel agent Esther Umambo, a single parent to four-year-old daughter Annabelle.

Esther Ymambo
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Esther Umambo

They have been waiting for social housing for four years, since Annabelle was born, but Esther says she holds out little hope of securing a tenancy while the number of people in need continues to grow.

“There’s loads and loads of people in front of us. I think a lot of people are in the same situation. Single parents, but also couples,” she said.

Bristol has one of the largest social housing waiting lists in the country for its population size, with now more than 20,000 households waiting for accommodation.

“Rent has increased massively over the past five years. It’s very difficult to afford, I came into Bristol about 15 years ago and the rent is just going up and up.”

Rent for her one-bedroom flat is £1,200, and she gets by for now by juggling two jobs and relying on Universal Credit. But she and her daughter share a bedroom, and there will come a point soon where this is no longer viable.

Esther's daughter Annabelle
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Esther’s daughter Annabelle

“We manage at the moment. I consider myself lucky to be honest, just by being able to work two jobs. Some people are not able to work. But as she grows up, she needs her own room as well,” she explained.

It leaves her feeling frustrated at the situation. She said: “They need to build housing that is affordable for people like me. I’m just a normal person, but the rent can’t keep going up and up and up. I mean, who’s going to be able to afford to live in Bristol in the next 10 years?”

Ed Kehoe has been homeless for five years in Bristol, moving from “pillar to post” while he has grappled with mental health and addiction struggles. For now, he has been placed in temporary accommodation while he awaits more permanent housing, but it’s not easy.

“The system is not working. We’ve got a massive, massive homeless problem in this city. And people are not allocated to the correct property and the correct services,” he said.

“It’s really difficult. It’s harsh out there, you know, people are ending up on the streets because of it. The system needs to change.”

Ed Kehoe
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Ed Kehoe outside his temporary home in Bristol

Targets are ‘too crude’

Bristol is an example of an urban area with an acute housing crisis where proposed housing targets have, counterintuitively, been downgraded.

They’ve been revised from 3,400 additional homes a year down to a proposed 3,000. This is still a larger number than has been achieved in recent years however, which was around 1,800 additional homes a year from 2021 to 2023.

House building site in Bristol

The government has reinstated mandatory building targets for local authorities, with a new formula devised to calculate how many homes each area should be aiming towards. This has shifted focus away from urban areas and puts more building pressure on the north of England.

Targets have been put forward for consultation with local authorities in proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework. These targets are not an entirely new concept but had been scrapped by Michael Gove under the previous Conservative government.

Other areas have had large uplifts in their building targets. In Westmorland and Furness in the North West, for example, where targets have been increased by 530% from current targets and 341% of current building rates with an ask to add 1,430 new homes per year. However, data suggests that this already among the most affordable areas in England, with rents at 21% compared to average incomes.

The maps below show how new targets relate to housing affordability and social housing waiting lists in England.

The areas with the highest housing costs and greatest demand for social housing waiting lists on the left, are not the areas with the biggest uplift in building targets, shown on the right.

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“There are issues around the targets. I think they’re too crude,” said Glen Bramley, Professor of Urban Studies at Heriot-Watt University.

“They are too high for London, given actual experience and acceptable standards for density and greenspace, and also too high in some of the economically weaker parts of the north of England where there isn’t going to be enough buyers who can buy market housing at a viable level for private developers to be that interested,” he explained.

This can lead to issues with poor planning and haphazard development where small numbers of homes are completed “miles away” from services or adequate infrastructure.

“Some of the targets for the most prosperous areas where demand is greatest, where the labour market is very tight, and where there are real affordability problems could be more ambitious,” he added, including areas across the south which are already well served by transport and other infrastructure.

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Builders can only build if buyers can buy

The addition of 1.5 million homes, equivalent to 300,000 a year, would be unrivalled in historic terms.

Even when housebuilding peaked at over 350,000 in 1968, high rates of demolition meant that net additions were below 200,000. 

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“The new government’s approach on planning is very positive thus far,” said Steve Turner, executive director of the Home Builders Federation (HBF), which represents private housebuilders in England.

“There’s a clear commitment to deliver more homes and, as we’ve seen on the planning side, to take difficult policy decisions that the industry wholeheartedly welcomes.”

Roadblocks to success

These measures include the reintroduction of housing targets for local authorities and tackling the thorny issue of building on England’s greenbelt by proposing development on poor quality or previously developed land, newly defined as the ‘grey belt’.

But while most of the policy announcements so far have been focussed on unblocking the planning constraints which have been blamed for England’s sluggish housebuilding in recent years, there are a number of other potential roadblocks to success.

“While the planning reforms are very helpful, they don’t address the demand side of the equation,” a senior executive of one of England’s largest private housing developers told Sky News.

For commercial sensitivity reasons, he has requested to remain anonymous.

“We know the biggest driver of demand for new housing is affordability. With mortgage rates where they are, the cost of mortgages for new home buyers and first-time buyers is high and therefore that is limiting demand for new homes,” he added.

“Recent trading statements from the biggest housebuilders show a drop in the number of active building sites as a result. The number of housing completions is actually set to drop over the next couple of years. So, in terms of delivering a significant increase in output, they’re starting from a low base.”

Plan for mortgage guarantee scheme

The government has proposed a mortgage guarantee scheme but there are no current plans for buyer support schemes like Help to Buy, which have been controversial in the past for their potential contributions to raising house prices.

And issues of affordability are unlikely to be resolved even with increased building supply.

Sky News analysis of changes in house price affordability compared to rates of housebuilding illustrates that areas in England that increased housing stock the most since 2015 have also become proportionally more expensive compared to earnings over the same period.

Sevenoaks in Kent added 11 homes per 1,000 population from 2015 to 2023, but still saw the biggest increase in house prices relative to earnings, increasing from 5.9 to 10.9 as a multiple of average earnings.

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This is in part because of pent-up demand, and also because new build properties are more expensive than houses on the second-hand market.

Further challenges ahead

There are a number of other challenges ahead when it comes to ramping up planning processes and building supply, according to Steve Turner from the HBF.

He explained: “We estimate that the nutrients issue where there’s currently a moratorium on housebuilding in 74 local authority areas is currently blocking around 160,000 homes.

“The government has said it will bring a solution on that, and we need to see that come forward.

“There’s also a clear issue at the minute in terms of local authority planning department capacity.”

The government has said it will recruit an additional 300 planners for local authorities, which while a “welcome recognition of the issue”, only amounts to roughly one additional planner per local authority, and could represent a big drag on the capacity to accelerate planning approvals.

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Workforce capacity in the construction industry is also a looming issue.

“We’re going to need tens of thousands of new people to be able to build those homes. The newly created Skills England needs to work closely with industry so that grant funding for that is used in a way that means we’re bringing enough of the right kind of people through into training,” added Mr Turner.

“I think we also need to look at how you provide access to foreign labour.”

And developers are also waiting for stability in housing associations’ finances in order to be able to start building projects, where there are requirements for housing associations to take on a proportion of the homes as affordable housing.

“Housing associations are not in the market at the moment for taking on additional stock as they’ve got huge financial pressures on them to upgrade their existing stock, but also in terms of building safety issues,” said Mr Turner.

“That’s creating an issue, both in terms of affordable housing provision, but also holding up the developments of private housing as well. Government needs to find a way to ensure that housing associations are adequately funded such that they can continue to take on additional affordable housing.”

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With additional reporting and production by Michelle Inez Simon, visual investigations producer.


The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling, we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

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Post Office scandal: At least 8 convictions may be linked to second IT system used by Post Office

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Post Office scandal: At least 8 convictions may be linked to second IT system used by Post Office

At least eight convictions predating the Horizon Post Office scandal are being looked at by the body investigating potential miscarriages of justice, Sky News has learned.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has confirmed it is examining multiple cases of former sub-postmasters affected by Capture software.

The computer accounting system was used in the early 1990s, prior to Horizon being introduced to Post Office branches from 1999 onwards.

Horizon was at the centre of the Post Office scandal and saw hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly convicted of stealing from their branches.

The Kroll report, commissioned by the government earlier this year, found that Capture had bugs and glitches and there was a reasonable likelihood it had caused cash shortfalls too.

Lord Beamish, the former Labour MP Kevan Jones, has been supporting victims and is calling for the government to extend current legislation to automatically quash convictions.

The Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act was passed in May but does not include Capture victims.

More on Post Office Scandal

Lord Beamish told Sky News he has raised the issue with the Justice Secretary and called for a House of Lords debate.

“The government are going to have to take this seriously,” he said. “We can’t have a situation where we have a two-tier system where people get exonerated from Horizon and the Capture cases are either forgotten or have to go through a very lengthy legal process to get their names cleared.”

Chris Roberts whose mother Liz Roberts who was convicted in 1999 of stealing £46,000 from the Post Office and spent 13 months behind bars. Her conviction relates to the use of Post Office Capture software (precursor to Horizon) which is being investigated in connection with potential miscarriages of justice
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Chris claims his mother was wrongly jailed because of accounting problems with the Post Office software Capture

He added he had “little faith” in the CCRC’s “ability to deal with cases”, after multiple Horizon cases were referred to the body years ago.

“The problem with these cases is the lack of evidence… that has been destroyed or lost so actually proving some of these cases through that process will be very difficult.

“Therefore I think a blanket exoneration like we had with Horizon I think has got to be discussed and considered for these cases.”

The CCRC told Sky News it has five cases under review “in which the Capture IT system could be a factor”.

It also said it is “seeking further information” on eight cases referenced in the Kroll report.

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The CCRC added that the time taken for a case review to be completed was dependent on the “complexity” of each case “and how readily available information about it is”. In a statement, it admitted: “The availability of information can be a particular hurdle in older cases.”

Chris Roberts and his mother Liz Roberts who was convicted in 1999 of stealing £46,000 from the Post Office and spent 13 months behind bars. Liz was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease and died in 2024. Her conviction relates to the use of Post Office Capture software (precursor to Horizon) which is being investigated in connection with potential miscarriages of justice
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Chris’s mother died earlier this year following a battle with Alzheimer’s and never got to clear her name

Chris Roberts’ mother, Liz Roberts, was convicted in 1999 of stealing £46,000 from the Post Office and spent 13 months behind bars.

Liz, who was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease, passed away earlier this year.

Chris said she was jailed four days before he turned 17, and he used to have “nightmares” that she was “going to die in there”.

“There was no evidence of any financial gain because they went through everything. And obviously the money wasn’t in our accounts because it didn’t exist,” he added.

Despite being offered “three deals” by the Post Office to plead guilty, Liz refused and was sent to prison.

Liz Roberts who was convicted in 1999 of stealing £46,000 from the Post Office and spent 13 months behind bars. Liz was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease and died in 2024. Her conviction relates to the use of Post Office Capture software (precursor to Horizon) which is being investigated in connection with potential miscarriages of justice
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Liz Roberts during happier times before she was jailed for theft – her son insists she was innocent

Chris believes that the 2019 High Court win by Horizon victims was a missed opportunity for the Post Office to look back at Capture cases.

“It would have been worth something then because my mum would have died knowing that everybody else knew she was innocent,” he said.

“My dad would have died knowing that the love of his life wasn’t vilified as a criminal.”

Chris wants his mother exonerated and “those actively responsible” to “stand up in court… and justify themselves”.

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Sky’s Adele Robinson examines Britain’s biggest miscarriages of justice

A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said: “We were horrified to learn about the issues with the Capture system and are working closely across government to thoroughly examine Kroll’s independent report and consider what action should be taken.

“We continue to listen to postmasters and others who have been sharing their views on the report’s findings since its publication last month.”

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Hooligans face two years in jail as ‘respect orders’ target anti-social behaviour

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Hooligans face two years in jail as 'respect orders' target anti-social behaviour

Hooligans face two years in jail for breaching newly unveiled “respect orders” designed to crack down on anti-social behaviour.

Courts could also hand out unlimited fines, order unpaid work or impose a curfew on those who break the rules.

The measures – set out in Labour’s election manifesto as part of a bid to “return law and order to our streets” – aim to nip the worst behaviour in the bud, the Home Office said.

Too many neighbourhoods are “plagued by anti-social behaviour”, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said, which “can have a devastating impact on victims”.

“This cannot be allowed to continue,” she added.

If the plans – part of a Crime and Policing Bill – pass, councils and police will have the power to ban persistent offenders from town centres, with officers free to arrest anyone breaching their order.

To address the root causes of their behaviour, perpetrators could also be told to attend anger management classes or receive drug and alcohol treatment.

Officers would not need to give a warning before seizing vehicles, a move the Home Office said will help police tackle the “scourge” of off-road bikes in parks and e-scooters on pavements.

The measures will be trialled if the bill passes, before the rules are enforced across England and Wales.

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Harvinder Saimbhi, chief executive of victim support charity ASB Help, said the group welcomes “the approach of addressing the root causes of the anti-social behaviour”.

“We are keen to see how the respect orders will be implemented,” he added.

In the year to September 2023, about a million anti-social behaviour incidents were reported to police.

Deputy Chief Constable Andy Prophet, who leads the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s work on anti-social behaviour, said respect orders will “give the police and councils the ability to crack down on those who persistently make our streets and public spaces feel unsafe”.

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King’s coronation cost to taxpayer revealed in new report

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King's coronation cost to taxpayer revealed in new report

Official accounts have revealed for the first time how much the King’s 2023 coronation cost UK taxpayers.

According to the accounts, the government spent £72m on the coronation – the first in Britain since Queen Elizabeth II’s in 1953.

The figure includes £50.3m of costs attributed to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), which coordinated the coronation, and £21.7m in costs for the Home Office for the policing of the event.

By comparison, Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral and events during the period of national mourning cost the government an estimated £162m – £74m for the Home Office and £57m for the DCMS as well as costs to the devolved governments.

The figures come from the culture department’s recently released annual report and accounts.

The department said it had “successfully delivered on the central weekend of His Majesty King Charles III’s Coronation, enjoyed by many millions both in the UK and across the globe”.

People walk past a souvenir shop following Britain's King Charles' coronation, in Windsor, Britain, May 8, 2023. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
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People walk past a souvenir shop during the coronation. Pic: Reuters

It described the event as a “once-in-a-generation moment” which provided an occasion for the “entire country to come together in celebration”.

Both the King and Queen were crowned at Westminster Abbey in May last year, in a ceremony attended by dignitaries from around the world.

A star-studded concert at Windsor Castle, featuring Take That and stars such as Olly Murs, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie, took place the following night.

It had been described ahead of the event as being a “slimmed-down affair” – with the country still in the grips of the cost-of-living crisis – and accounts show an “underspend” related to the coronation of around £2.8m.

Olly Murs performing at the Coronation Concert held in the grounds of Windsor Castle, Berkshire, to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. Picture date: Sunday May 7, 2023. Yui Mok/Pool via REUTERS
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Olly Murs performing at the Coronation Concert. Pic: Reuters

Did coronation boost the economy?

Despite talk of a coronation boost, the UK’s economy actually contracted in the month of May 2023.

However, experts said that was mostly due to the cost of the additional public holiday for the event, which weighed on output.

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Each bank holiday costs the UK economy around £2.3bn, with the extra bank holiday for the late Queen’s funeral estimated to have cost around £2.4bn, according to government figures.

With the extra coronation bank holiday, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed negative growth of 0.1% during May 2023.

However, that was slightly better than economists had predicted ahead of the event.

Prior to the event, economic forecasters, the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), had predicted a boost of £337m for the UK’s economy due to the coronation – including £104m in extra pub spending and an estimated £223m spend from tourism to the UK during the period.

Hotel revenue was also said to be up by 54% compared to the same point in the previous year, while bookings for UK-bound flights for the coronation weekend jumped by 149% within 24 hours of the day being announced, according to TravelPort.

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