Special report: average staff pay rises 2.4% across UK HAs

England

Social Housing’s report looks staff pay and costs among the 60 largest HAs (by number of units) for both traditional and LSVTs.

This year, North Star Housing Group recorded the largest rise (20 per cent) in average staff pay, which stood at £41,470. This was due to the combination of a fall in staff numbers and a rise in total wages and total staff costs.

At the same time, the North East-based HA’s total number of units grew by 1.2 per cent to 3,830, while the number of units managed per staff member increased by nearly 10 per cent to 46.

In the group’s company accounts for the period, it noted how the pandemic had “accelerated” its approach to technology and home-working, which it has continued to develop, with a hybrid working policy in place that met the needs of the company and its staff. It also won ‘UK employer of the year’ for organisations employing between 50 and 249 people at the Investors in People Awards in 2021.

Estuary Housing Association’s average pay was up 16.7 per cent to £31,034. At the same time, its number of FTEs dropped by 20.7 per cent to 261. So too did its staff costs, which were down 7.8 per cent to £9m, or £1,959 per unit. 

In its financial accounts for the period, the group said that its ongoing exit from the care sector was having a “notable decrease” in agency staff costs. Over the period, the HA deregistered three of its nursing homes and continued to convert all of its five registered care homes to supported living homes. 

It said: “The decision to deregister nursing homes and convert registered care homes to supported living homes was not an easy decision for the board or executive team, however these services were becoming an increasing risk to the association and were putting additional strain on the association’s operational resources. This resulted in the services being subsidised by other social housing activities, an area where cost margins continue to be a challenge.”

It added: “2021-22 reflects the beginning of this change, with the three nursing homes [deregistered] by March 2022. As a result, it is difficult to yet identify what effect this has had on the association. However, there has been a notable decrease in void losses and agency staff costs – an area that care and support has previously struggled with.”

The group anticipates having all the homes fully converted during 2022-23, which it said “will create operational efficiencies which can be reinvested into supporting the association’s customers”.

GreenSquareAccord saw a rise in its staff costs of 33.7 per cent, but it formed in April 2021 from the merger between GreenSquare and Accord, so its 2022 figures are for the merged entity, while the 2021 figures are pre-merger and for Accord only. The figure using restated 2021 data for the merged entity would be a 15 per cent increase.

Riverside’s staff costs also rose but it too undertook a merger with One Housing Group in December 2021, so only the 2022 figures reflect the merger. Its staff costs and units both rose by around 30 per cent, while average pay was up by 16.3 per cent.

Network Homes saw a drop in its staff costs of nearly 10 per cent. In its accounts, the London-based association said it had implemented a hybrid working policy, where colleagues were expected to be in the office two to three days a week. This could have reduced staff costs. 

Clarion, for example, flagged how hybrid working had reduced its staff costs, in its financial accounts for the period. However, the HA’s total staff costs were up by 1.4 per cent to £171m. 

It said: “Lower levels of recruitment, training and travel costs, due to our now embedded hybrid working arrangements, continue to drive down staffing costs. This reduction, however, has been offset by a net increase in service charge expenditure. Overall, we have seen a net £8m increase in management and service charge costs.”

Network Homes said it has implemented “a new, more equitable and clear pay structure for colleagues”. Average staff pay at the organisation was down 5.5 per cent to £43,365. 

Housing 21, which specialises in care and retirement living, saw a 0.5 per cent increase in its average pay, which stood at £24,131. It is worth noting here, however, that care and supported housing organisations typically require more staff per unit, which drags down the average pay and increases staff costs.

This comes through in the data, which showed that the average number of units managed per staff member totalled eight, while staff costs increased by 3.7 per cent to £77m, working out to a cost of £3,481 per unit.

Housing 21’s accounts say that it decided the National Living Wage was insufficient to attract the type of staff it wanted, particularly care workers, so it set its pay at least 10 per cent above that level.

Out of the LSVTs, ForHousing recorded the biggest increase in staff costs. These were up 27.6 per cent to £23m in total and to £981 on a per-unit basis. At the same time, its average staff pay increased by nearly 15 per cent to £35,996. 

In its financial accounts, the HA reported a rise in wages and salaries (£19m, up from £15m in 2021), as well as its social security costs (£2m, £1.5m in 2021) and pension costs (£1.6m, from £1.4m in 2021), which all factor into employment costs.

In contrast, South East HA Golding Homes saw the largest decrease in staff costs of 6.4 per cent to £9m, as well as a 14 per cent drop in average staff pay to £30,230. In its accounts for the period, it showed drops across wages and salaries from £8.2m to £7.5m, as well as its social security costs from £834,000 to £787,000. Its pensions costs increased from £895,000 to £1m.

The organisation also noted that the cost of agency staff was not included in its employee cost figures. These separately totalled £313,000, which was down on last year from £927,000.

Fairhive – formerly Vale of Aylesbury Housing Trust – had the highest average pay of the LSVTs at £40,845, up six per cent. The organisation had a similar percentage rise in the number of FTEs. Fairhive’s number of FTEs for 2021 were restated from 267 to 258.

Havebury Housing Partnership’s FTEs decreased by 5.2 per cent to 182. In its accounts for the year, it said that reflected 44 leavers during the year. 

“The increase [in staff turnover] is consistent with the current market, and we expect other providers, once benchmarking data is available, to have experienced a similar shift,” it said.

“Sector analysis shows that 56 per cent of people in housing are planning to move roles in the next six months. We have tackled this challenge through changing our terms and conditions, undertaking a review of reward and benefits in early 2022-23 and have the bi-annual salary benchmarking later in the year.”

Ongo had the lowest average pay at £27,293, which remained largely unchanged from last year (a 0.1 per cent decrease). Its staff costs were up 13.7 per cent to £9m, which worked out as £810 per unit. 

In its annual accounts, the group said: “We reviewed our pay and benefits to ensure that staff are paid fairly for the role they undertake. Our new approach to benchmark each individual role achieves this by ensuring that we pay the market rate, which replaces an old job evaluation and grading structure. We have increased our annual leave entitlement to 30 days a year so this was consistent to all staff and we continue to embed an agile way of working to improve work/life balance.”

Scotland 

Out of Scotland’s traditional associations, Sanctuary Scotland had the highest average wage at £43,118. This compared with the lowest average wage of £22,576 at Hillcrest.

Despite that, Sanctuary Scotland recorded a near-11 per cent drop in its average pay. At the same time its staff costs were up 27.7 per cent, totalling £920,000, which worked out at £112
per unit.

Castle Rock Edinvar, which is part of Places for People, had the largest fall in staff costs of 4.6 per cent to £7.2m. There was a larger fall in staff of over 10 per cent to 176.

Hillcrest, meanwhile, which had the lowest average wage following an 18.5 per cent decrease, also had the largest decreases in the number of units managed per staff member. This was down nearly 16 per cent to nine units. At the same time, its number of FTEs increased by nearly a quarter to 1,138. 

Commenting on wages in its accounts for the period, Alan Russell, chair of Hillcrest, said: “We are proud to say that all the companies in Hillcrest are now ‘Real Living Wage’ employers. This is a voluntary accreditation, which is linked to an independent calculation that ensures that all employees earn enough to have a decent standard of living.”