Special report: staff pay rises 3.2% in a year at UK’s biggest associations

Insight05 Jun 2020Chloe Stothart and Robyn Wilson

Social Housing’s analysis of data from audited accounts of 206 housing associations found that average staff pay was £31,787 – a rise of 3.2 per cent over a 12-month period. Chloe Stothart and Robyn Wilson report

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.@housingmagazine’s analysis of data from audited accounts of 206 housing associations found that average staff pay was £31,787 – a rise of 3.2 per cent over a 12-month period #ukhousing #socialhousingfinance

Special report: staff pay rises 3.2% in a year at UK’s biggest housing associations #ukhousing #socialhousingfinance

Staff pay across the UK rose 3.2 per cent over a 12-month period, according to latest available data from audited accounts. The overall average stood at £31,787. This data, taken from audited accounts to March 2019 – which is the latest available full dataset – covers 206 of the organisations with the most units in their category in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Social Housing’s research provides an insight into pay averages and the direction of travel for staff pay ahead of the COVID-19 crisis, which has seen a number of large associations redeploy parts of their workforce and in some cases turn to the UK government’s Job Retention Scheme.

The totals for average staff pay, number of units per staff member and total staff costs per unit exclude the 22 organisations that make more than a third of their turnover from care and support. The other totals are for all 206 organisations.

The 206 housing associations (HAs) had a total of 138,265 staff – recorded as full-time equivalents (FTEs) – up 1.4 per cent on the prior year.

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English HAs accounted for 150 of the organisations. These had the highest average pay in the UK, with £32,419, which was up 3.2 per cent when the 15 organisations that made more than a third of their income from care and support are excluded.

Of these, traditional HAs paid the most on average if the organisations that make a significant proportion of their income from care are excluded. But if those care providers are included then the HAs in the mixed category have the highest average pay, which is understandable given that this includes some of the country’s largest organisations, which typically have large development pipelines and are based in London and the South East.

Total average pay figures would drop if organisations that made more than a third of their income from care and support were included because care work tends to require more staff than would be needed to manage general needs homes and can be low paid.

The definition of traditional, mixed group and large-scale voluntary transfer (LSVT) HAs in England for this report is the one used by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) in its 2017 global accounts. The RSH defines an association as an LSVT when it obtained more than half its units on the date of transfer from the transfer deal, otherwise it would be classed as traditional. It would also be categorised as an LSVT if all its constituent entities were stock transfers.

Mixed groups contain stock transfer and traditional entities. In the past Social Housing’s mixed category was for HAs that either had a mix of LSVT and traditional associations in their group or had income from first tranche or market sales. However this definition would now cover almost all associations in this report because 90 per cent of the English HAs covered had income from first tranche sales in 2019.

Employees’ pay and total staff costs 2018/19: largest 206 HAs

		Staff				No. of managed units				Staff costs
England	No. of HAs	Average pay (£)	Change (%)	No. of FTEs	Change (%)	Total	Change (%)	Per staff member	Change %	Total £m	Change %	Per unit £	Change %
Mixed groups	31	32,423	3.1	33,391	1.4	1,007,401	1.07	30	-0.36	1,312.4	5.2	1,303	4.1
Traditional	59	33,798	3.6	62,702	1.1	1,262,001	1.69	30	1.92	2,097.6	4.1	1,293	0.9
LSVT	60	30,422	2.7	22,916	2.6	663,648	1.61	29	-1.00	898.1	6.4	1,353	4.7
Total England	150	32,419	3.2	119,009	1.5	2,933,050	1.46	30	0.32	4,308.1	4.9	1,312	3.1
Scotland
Traditional	20	29,894	3.2	4,179	-1.4	94,478	2.8	26	1.0	145.7	4.0	1,356	4.2
LSVT	5	30,284	6.9	915	-2.2	29,010	0.4	32	2.7	35.3	5.9	1,216	5.5
Wheatley	1	25,665	-1.7	2,680	3.1	50,635	1.1	19	-1.9	92.4	5.2	1,825	4.1
Total Scotland	26	28,279	1.9	7,774	0.0	174,123	1.9	24	0.2	273.4	4.6	1,476	4.2
Wales
Traditional	20	28,399	3.9	7,150	2.3	88,887	1.8	21	-0.9	202.7	8.2	1,636	7.0
LSVT	5	28,498	2.6	2,041	0.9	45,326	0.0	22	-1.0	78.4	3.9	1,729	4.0
Total Wales	25	28,443	3.3	9,191	2.0	134,213	1.2	21	-1.6	281.1	7.0	1,679	5.5
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland	5	21,246	12.9	2,291	-0.7	42,927	3.9	23	6.8	59.3	8.8	1,134	4.2

Total UK	206	31,787	3.2	138,265	1.4	3,284,313	1.5	29	0.3	4,921.8	5.1	1,331	3.2

Comparatively, Northern Ireland’s five HAs had the lowest average pay of £21,246 when organisations providing a significant amount of care and support are removed – although this was up nearly 13 per cent on the prior year (potentially affected by the 0.7 per cent decrease in staff numbers).

Of the Scottish HAs, LSVTs had the highest average with £30,284, which is slightly above that for traditional HAs when those making a significant proportion of their income from care and support are excluded. Average LSVT wages were over £5,000 more than the average wage at Wheatley Group, Scotland’s biggest HA.

The number of units in management in the UK rose by 1.5 per cent to more than three million. This led to a very small rise in the number of units managed per staff member of 0.3 per cent to 29, when organisations with significant care and support income are excluded.

Scottish LSVT HAs and the Northern Irish HAs saw the largest increases in stock managed per staff member, of 2.7 per cent and 6.8 per cent respectively. And in both instances, this appears to correlate with a decrease in staff numbers.

Elsewhere, the small increase of 1.4 per cent seen overall in the UK staff numbers was driven by England and Wales, which had rises of 1.5 per cent and two per cent respectively. Scotland, in contrast, saw no change, while Northern Ireland saw a 0.7 per cent decrease.

Mixed business RPs (England) 2018/19: employees’ pay and total staff costs

	Staff				no. of managed units				staff costs
Total	32,426	3.2	33,391	1.4	1,007,401	1.07	30	-0.34	1,312.4	5.2	1,305	4.1
Top 31 (by no. of units)	Average pay (£)	Change (%)	No. of FTEs	Change (%)	Total	Change (%)	Per staff member	Change (%)	Total (£m)	Change (%)	Per unit (£)	Change (%)
Bernicia	28,159	1.5	502	2.9	14,654	-0.17	29	-2.95	17.0	7.4	1,159	7.6
Citizen	30,165	1.2	943	-0.2	30,816	0.23	33	0.45	37.6	5.2	1,219	4.9
Clarion	38,012	4.7	3,662	3.8	125,881	0.00	34	-3.68	162.9	7.2	1,294	7.2
Cottsway	38,920	9.8	137	5.4	4,823	2.70	35	-2.54	6.2	15.1	1,295	12.0
ForViva	29,017	-3.6	1,583	14.6	23,365	1.22	15	-11.70	53.4	7.9	2,288	6.6
Grand Union	32,177	0.9	305	6.3	11,921	2.26	39	-3.78	12.9	6.7	1,078	4.4
GreenSquare	29,647	-3.2	580	11.3	12,056	1.51	21	-8.82	20.8	7.9	1,725	6.3
Hyde	40,789	-0.3	1,052	-5.4	48,796	-0.77	46	4.89	51.7	-7.0	1,060	-6.3
Incommunities	28,070	3.9	1,026	4.5	23,200	1.16	23	-3.17	41.7	8.9	1,798	7.7
Jigsaw	29,488	5.7	1,291	-5.6	34,679	1.45	27	7.42	46.6	-0.8	1,344	-2.2
Karbon	31,403	5.6	760	3.8	26,834	8.49	35	4.50	28.9	10.2	1,078	1.6
Longhurst	27,813	11.7	970	-0.4	22,778	0.92	23	1.33	31.0	14.2	1,362	13.2
Mosscare St Vincent’s	30,417	0.3	278	-4.1	8,520	0.59	31	4.93	9.9	-3.4	1,161	-4.0
North Star	34,310	5.0	84	1.2	3,686	1.18	44	-0.02	3.4	8.2	917	6.9
One Manchester	31,646	1.9	384	0.5	12,076	0.91	31	0.39	16.2	2.2	1,342	1.3
Onward Homes	30,424	-1.3	771	-11.3	34,786	2.67	45	15.71	31.8	-10.4	913	-12.7
Optivo	45,284	25.9	1,276	-16.1	47,255	1.84	37	21.40	70.0	5.7	1,482	3.8
Peabody Trust	34,099	-3.1	2,698	1.0	56,678	1.72	21	0.74	116.0	1.8	2,047	0.0
Places for People	31,985	5.4	6,256	3.6	197,712	-0.47	32	-3.89	230.0	10.8	1,163	11.3
Platform	28,015	2.5	1,100	1.6	44,317	3.02	40	1.43	39.5	3.9	890	0.8
Plus Dane	31,092	8.2	545	-1.6	13,681	1.89	25	3.57	21.0	8.5	1,536	6.5
Progress	31,629	1.1	491	8.9	10,252	-0.32	21	-8.44	18.1	10.1	1,766	10.4
Radian	33,656	-2.7	770	2.8	23,035	7.64	30	4.70	31.7	-0.2	1,378	-7.2
RHP	35,948	1.3	230	7.0	10,407	0.84	45	-5.73	10.0	9.5	964	8.6
Rooftop	33,594	3.5	155	4.0	6,674	-1.77	43	-5.57	6.2	6.8	928	8.7
Stonewater	34,056	2.4	694	6.6	32,354	3.81	47	-2.62	27.1	7.8	839	3.9
The Wrekin Housing Group	29,165	2.5	514	-0.6	13,339	-0.88	26	-0.30	20.9	5.1	1,564	6.0
Thirteen	28,450	0.4	1,470	7.9	33,858	2.05	23	-5.45	49.7	4.0	1,468	1.9
Torus	28,321	-0.3	1,487	1.2	37,561	0.57	25	-0.58	52.9	0.5	1,407	-0.1
Wythenshawe Community	28,607	1.6	499	-0.2	13,677	0.79	27	0.99	18.3	3.3	1,336	2.5
Your Housing Group	29,179	0.4	878	-3.6	27,730	-0.32	32	3.43	28.9	7.5	1,042	7.8

As in past years, total staff costs (which includes social security and pension costs as well as pay) saw a notable increase of 5.1 per cent. This was driven by rises in Wales and Northern Ireland, with the latter seeing costs jump by 8.8 per cent. Overall staff costs per unit in the UK saw a 3.2 per cent rise to £1,331 or £1,499 if HAs with high income from care are included. On a cost-per-unit basis, Wales was higher than its neighbours, with £1,679 if care providers are removed.

Seven out of the top 10 paying mixed HAs in England were based in London and the South East. Of these, Optivo had the highest average pay with £45,284. This was up by 25.9 per cent on the prior year, an average that could have been impacted by the 16.1 per cent decrease seen in staff numbers to 1,276.

At the same time, the number of managed units per staff member at Optivo had also increased by more than 20 per cent to 37. In its accounts for the year, the company said 153 of its employees earned more than £60,000. The bulk of these (71) earned between £60,000 and £70,000. At the other end of the scale, one employee earned between £260,001 and £270,000.

Traditional RPs England 2018/19: employees’ pay and total staff costs

	Staff				No. of managed units				Staff costs
Total	33,798	3.6	62,702	1.1	1,262,001	1.69	30	1.92	2,097.6	4.1	1,293	0.9
Top 59 (by no. of units)	Average pay (£)	Change (%)	No. of FTEs	change %	total	change %	per staff member	change %	total£m	change %	per unit £	change %
A2Dominion	41,551	5.6	1,006	3.6	38,133	2.38	38	-1.19	50.7	7.0	1,330	4.5
Accent	31,038	5.8	422	-1.9	20,623	-0.05	49	1.85	15.4	6.6	745	6.6
Accord^#	21,614	4.6	2,330	1.2	13,277	3.72	6	2.52	55.9	4.9	4,209	1.1
Aldwyck	36,545	5.3	435	-3.1	11,150	4.29	26	7.65	17.9	-3.3	1,607	-7.3
Anchor Hanover^#	20,982	-0.8	8,051	1.7	53,441	-1.10	7	-2.79	190.1	2.1	3,558	3.3
Bournville Village Trust*	28,897	2.2	262	-6.1	3,977	0.38	15	6.89	9.5	-1.1	2,383	-1.5
BPHA	32,787	-4.1	408	10.6	18,721	2.56	46	-7.24	16.7	4.2	893	1.6
Broadland Housing	29,293	-7.0	229	23.8	5,118	1.23	22	-18.22	7.9	18.3	1,540	16.8
Bromford	33,691	20.1	1,511	-1.9	43,674	12.57	29	14.80	60.7	8.4	1,389	-3.7
Castles & Coasts	26,570	9.4	179	8.5	7,056	0.03	39	-7.80	5.5	18.2	783	18.2
Catalyst	42,112	2.9	608	2.4	20,898	-3.01	34	-5.25	30.1	4.8	1,440	8.0
Colne	31,208	-1.8	48	11.6	3,288	1.42	69	-9.15	1.8	11.6	536	10.0
Connect Housing^#	27,629	-5.6	167	7.7	3,484	1.37	21	-5.92	5.2	3.0	1,505	1.7
EMH Group	27,009	4.9	870	-1.2	19,599	2.12	23	3.41	27.6	9.9	1,407	7.6
Equity	33,131	-3.9	130	5.7	4,862	3.23	37	-2.33	5.3	2.2	1,097	-1.0
Estuary Housing	28,855	9.6	290	-0.3	4,511	1.64	16	2.00	9.4	6.2	2,092	4.5
Great Places	31,655	9.2	539	-3.9	19,305	0.41	36	4.50	19.5	4.1	1,011	3.7
Habinteg	35,488	11.1	82	-16.3	3,391	1.65	41	21.48	3.3	-6.3	984	-7.8
Hastoe	42,330	1.4	97	-5.8	7,630	0.46	79	6.67	4.8	-3.4	632	-3.9
Hexagon	36,215	4.2	135	2.3	4,430	2.78	33	0.50	5.9	6.9	1,326	4.0
Hightown^#	31,426	2.3	687	2.8	6,383	6.35	9	3.41	24.1	6.1	3,774	-0.2
Home Group	28,213	4.0	2,426	-6.6	55,424	0.44	23	7.52	77.6	-2.2	1,400	-2.7
Housing 21^#	18,464	1.2	3,150	6.3	21,009	4.07	7	-2.08	64.9	8.4	3,088	4.2
Impact Housing^#	38,135	29.3	111	-19.0	3,067	0.69	28	24.27	4.8	2.8	1,560	2.1
Irwell Valley Housing	30,029	4.9	277	9.1	7,650	-0.39	28	-8.66	9.5	14.2	1,248	14.7
Johnnie Johnson Housing	27,977	7.8	173	2.4	4,921	-0.36	28	-2.67	5.4	10.6	1,094	11.0
L&Q	39,722	-7.2	2,442	5.5	95,539	3.17	39	-2.24	117.0	-1.7	1,225	-4.7
Leeds Federated	37,532	11.8	109	-7.6	4,304	3.24	39	11.76	4.6	4.5	1,064	1.3
LiveWest	33,604	4.5	1,242	-0.6	37,329	2.03	30	2.69	48.4	6.4	1,296	4.3
Metropolitan Thames Valley	36,332	-0.1	1,869	3.6	57,043	0.74	31	-2.76	73.9	4.1	1,295	3.4
Midland Heart	27,983	-0.8	1,351	13.7	33,454	0.56	25	-11.57	42.7	13.7	1,275	13.1
Moat	37,965	3.6	342	1.5	20,636	0.93	60	-0.54	15.4	6.6	749	5.6
Muir	32,191	1.6	157	-0.6	5,616	0.57	36	1.21	5.8	0.7	1,038	0.1
Network Homes	43,341	5.1	501	-3.7	21,235	5.36	42	9.35	24.8	1.2	1,170	-3.9
Newlon^#	24,097	-3.0	712	5.8	7,836	-0.14	11	-5.61	20.1	2.2	2,569	2.3
Notting Hill Genesis	35,647	4.2	2,031	-5.2	65,458	2.58	32	8.23	83.6	-0.4	1,277	-2.9
Nottingham Community HA^#	25,986	3.2	935	1.3	9,415	1.05	10	-0.25	31.9	15.5	3,387	14.3
Octavia Housing	33,276	7.1	352	2.3	5,087	1.60	14	-0.71	13.7	11.5	2,692	9.8
One Housing^#	32,403	5.9	1,448	10.6	16,308	-1.85	11	-11.27	54.2	20.3	3,321	22.6
Orbit	35,283	2.5	1,077	-8.7	43,470	2.48	40	12.19	44.1	-5.2	1,014	-7.5
Origin Housing	30,610	2.7	277	0.4	6,690	0.63	24	0.27	10.2	5.8	1,524	5.1
Orwell Housing*^#	22,364	-2.9	464	4.5	3,835	1.29	8	-3.07	11.7	2.6	3,039	1.3
PA Housing	33,047	-1.1	549	2.0	23,059	-1.90	42	-3.86	23.5	3.5	1,019	5.5
Paradigm	42,496	6.9	407	8.0	14,908	1.98	37	-5.53	19.7	14.0	1,324	11.7
Regenda	28,287	0.9	658	3.6	13,003	-0.92	20	-4.39	21.2	5.9	1,629	6.9
Riverside	29,750	4.6	2,765	2.5	56,089	5.94	20	3.34	94.5	6.2	1,685	0.3
Salvation Army HA^#	31,616	2.8	270	20.0	4,154	0.41	15	-16.32	10.0	24.7	2,404	24.2
Sanctuary^#	26,167	5.4	9,986	1.5	101,218	0.10	10	-1.37	291.0	7.3	2,875	7.2
Shepherds Bush	35,715	0.9	179	2.3	5,109	0.10	29	-2.14	8.0	13.3	1,558	13.2
Southern	33,598	4.2	922	6.6	28,334	2.25	31	-4.07	37.3	-5.2	1,315	-7.3
Sovereign	34,654	4.1	1,895	3.8	57,987	2.12	31	-1.60	76.6	8.8	1,321	6.5
Staffordshire^#	23,314	0.3	207	-11.9	3,142	0.42	15	14.00	5.8	-8.6	1,835	-9.0
Swan	43,071	-1.5	425	21.8	10,905	7.61	26	-11.63	20.6	20.1	1,893	11.6
South Yorkshire HA^#	24,530	-0.9	508	-13.6	5,753	1.11	11	17.03	13.7	-14.3	2,382	-15.3
The Guinness Partnership	33,681	8.4	2,301	-9.4	64,944	-2.75	28	7.31	90.0	-6.4	1,386	-3.8
Trident^#	19,692	-6.6	620	1.3	3,386	1.17	5	-0.14	13.4	-4.9	3,950	-6.0
Wandle	39,296	3.9	199	1.5	7,500	0.81	38	-0.71	8.9	5.2	1,187	4.4
Westward	28,826	4.7	293	-3.0	7,536	1.63	26	4.75	10.5	2.7	1,394	1.1
Yorkshire Housing	32,375	3.0	586	-12.0	16,697	0.55	28	14.27	21.5	-8.8	1,286	-9.3

Other mixed HAs with a high pay average for the period included Hyde, Cottsway and Clarion. Hyde’s average had reduced slightly by 0.3 per cent, with its staff numbers falling by 5.4 per cent. This helped to bring down its staff costs by seven per cent. Cottsway’s average had increased by nearly 10 per cent, at the same time as its staff numbers increased by more than five per cent, which saw its costs rise by 15 per cent.

North Star was the only Northern HA in the top 10, paying an average of £34,310, which was up five per cent on last year. Staff numbers had increased at the organisation by 1.2 per cent.

Traditional HA Impact Housing (which joined Riverside Group in August 2018 as an independent subsidiary) saw the largest increase in average pay within its category of nearly 30 per cent to £38,135. At the same time, the Cumbria and North Lancashire HA saw a decrease in its staff numbers of nearly 20 per cent to 111.

LSVTs (England) 2018/19: employees’ pay and total staff costs

	Staff				No. of managed units				Staff costs
Top 60 (by no. of units)	Average pay (£)	Change (%)	No. of FTEs	Change (%)	Total	Change (%)	Per staff member	Change (%)	Total (£m)	Change (%)	Per unit (£)	Change (%)
Acis	28,662	2.9	222	6.2	7,400	7.48	33	1.19	7.3	10.7	984	3.0
Alliance Homes	28,666	11.1	398	-1.5	6,610	-5.46	17	-4.04	13.5	11.0	2,038	17.4
Aster	33,529	3.6	1,144	-5.5	30,791	2.94	27	8.88	45.2	-0.9	1,469	-3.7
Believe	29,141	1.1	446	9.3	18,315	-0.47	41	-8.95	16.3	10.7	891	11.3
Beyond Housing	27,625	-0.8	691	1.3	15,097	-0.07	22	-1.37	24.3	-0.5	1,612	-0.4
Bolton at Home	28,218	-2.4	983	3.0	17,580	-2.00	18	-4.89	42.9	4.7	2,441	6.8
Broadacres	29,417	1.5	290	8.2	6,316	2.52	22	-5.26	10.6	8.3	1,680	5.7
Calico	37,102	4.8	166	-3.5	5,045	1.96	30	5.65	7.2	-5.1	1,423	-6.9
Cheshire Peaks & Plains	30,545	-1.7	189	-10.8	5,268	2.01	28	14.43	7.4	-6.7	1,396	-8.5
CHP	32,950	8.3	279	1.5	10,055	4.69	36	3.18	11.8	11.8	1,171	6.8
Cobalt Housing	30,070	5.1	129	2.4	5,942	-0.74	46	-3.04	5.3	21.9	887	22.8
Community Gateway	29,173	2.5	226	-3.4	6,632	7.51	29	11.31	7.8	-2.3	1,170	-9.1
Community HG	28,101	-0.5	455	-2.2	6,062	0.43	13	2.64	17.4	1.4	2,878	0.9
Connexus	25,782	-2.5	550	0.7	10,693	1.06	19	0.32	17.9	5.5	1,674	4.4
Cross Keys Homes	30,661	-0.2	307	15.8	11,464	2.27	37	-11.72	11.0	16.4	955	13.8
Curo	35,771	3.5	503	6.6	13,222	0.39	26	-5.80	20.9	11.3	1,583	10.9
First Choice Homes Oldham	28,400	3.4	407	4.9	11,445	-0.34	28	-4.99	15.8	6.1	1,382	6.5
Flagship	31,174	-8.9	931	32.1	28,207	24.23	30	-5.92	35.8	28.1	1,270	3.1
Freebridge	28,456	4.0	215	1.4	6,811	-0.03	32	-1.42	7.8	4.1	1,138	4.2
Futures	32,120	3.1	274	-2.8	10,010	6.96	37	10.08	11.2	-1.5	1,116	-7.9
Gentoo	29,479	7.9	1,095	-13.4	29,952	-0.40	27	14.98	51.7	4.6	1,726	5.1
Golding Homes	32,962	4.4	213	-2.7	7,579	2.35	36	5.23	10.0	14.4	1,315	11.7
Greenfields	31,165	3.3	242	0.0	8,740	2.14	36	2.14	9.0	2.8	1,031	0.7
Halton	31,237	6.9	312	4.0	7,295	0.33	23	-3.53	12.1	12.4	1,661	12.0
Havebury Housing Partnership	36,341	7.0	167	3.1	6,569	2.15	39	-0.91	7.8	9.4	1,190	7.1
Housing Plus	29,928	11.2	573	10.6	12,194	1.10	21	-8.60	20.2	23.2	1,659	21.8
Housing Solutions	40,586	12.0	145	4.3	5,713	-0.02	39	-4.15	7.4	13.6	1,301	13.6
Knowsley	29,429	13.0	112	0.9	13,251	-0.12	118	-1.01	3.7	14.3	281	14.4
Lincolnshire Housing Partnership	29,575	6.7	313	-1.9	12,552	-4.34	40	-2.51	11.7	6.2	930	11.1
Livin	32,195	-4.1	133	5.6	8,408	0.38	63	-4.90	5.2	-3.0	623	-3.4
Magenta Living	29,163	0.4	510	6.7	12,705	-1.32	25	-7.51	19.9	-0.2	1,563	1.1
Magna Housing	27,927	5.6	399	7.8	8,973	6.23	22	-1.49	14.1	13.0	1,567	6.4
One Vision Housing	28,248	10.7	165	-7.3	13,235	1.08	80	9.05	6.7	0.8	503	-0.3
Ongo	34,351	17.9	191	-1.0	10,182	27.74	53	29.08	10.7	20.3	1,047	-5.8
Phoenix	37,456	1.4	237	8.2	6,253	0.79	26	-6.87	11.0	10.2	1,754	9.4
Plymouth Community Homes	27,596	1.0	624	5.2	15,961	0.77	26	-4.24	20.6	5.1	1,289	4.3
Poplar Harca	17,974	-4.1	382	4.9	9,485	1.10	25	-3.67	11.1	1.3	1,173	0.2
Raven	33,824	4.7	227	3.7	6,757	1.55	30	-2.03	9.1	9.7	1,353	8.0
Red Kite	40,039	3.0	127	6.7	6,497	-0.14	51	-6.43	6.1	10.7	943	10.9
Rochdale Boroughwide Housing	27,117	4.1	548	-4.2	12,923	-0.61	24	3.75	18.5	-1.1	1,435	-0.5
Saffron	31,808	4.9	214	7.0	6,394	2.50	30	-4.20	9.9	12.2	1,543	9.5
Salix Homes	28,276	2.9	315	-9.5	8,716	-2.08	28	8.18	12.2	-12.1	1,396	-10.2
Saxon Weald	34,579	1.2	221	7.8	6,635	0.44	30	-6.83	10.2	4.7	1,537	4.2
Selwood Housing	26,152	1.7	297	2.1	6,560	2.50	22	0.43	9.4	3.7	1,432	1.2
Settle	37,456	-0.6	252	2.9	9,385	-22.00	37	-24.17	10.7	-0.2	1,136	27.9
Silva	34,932	6.8	192	-0.5	7,533	1.59	39	2.12	8.5	7.4	1,122	5.7
Soha Housing	34,972	-5.9	109	9.0	6,939	3.15	64	-5.37	4.5	4.5	655	1.3
Southway	31,622	6.4	209	3.5	6,201	0.47	30	-2.90	8.3	9.7	1,337	9.2
Stafford & Rural Homes	30,565	3.5	168	-0.6	6,365	1.16	38	1.76	6.2	2.7	978	1.5
Together	28,203	-0.3	1,289	6.6	36,512	0.43	28	-5.80	48.5	6.2	1,328	5.8
Town & Country Housing	35,303	0.1	195	4.8	8,962	0.47	46	-4.17	8.2	4.0	910	3.6
Trafford Housing Trust	30,233	-1.5	451	3.7	8,966	0.31	20	-3.25	17.5	1.1	1,951	0.8
Trent & Dove Housing	30,660	-0.1	188	12.6	6,154	2.91	33	-8.59	6.5	13.0	1,058	9.8
Vale of Aylesbury Housing	36,163	0.5	258	4.0	8,313	0.86	32	-3.05	11.2	4.5	1,349	3.6
Watford	28,051	-4.6	196	8.9	5,355	1.00	27	-7.25	6.6	4.7	1,232	3.7
WDH	31,666	6.2	1,281	1.8	31,439	0.46	25	-1.34	49.9	7.7	1,587	7.2
Weaver Vale	31,003	2.2	300	-1.0	6,248	0.05	21	1.05	12.4	4.3	1,986	4.2
West Kent *	32,456	3.6	239	0.0	7,308	1.23	31	1.23	10.3	4.8	1,408	3.5
WHG	32,594	1.8	687	5.2	21,065	2.04	31	-3.01	30.1	5.7	1,430	3.6
Yarlington	31,463	7.4	335	10.6	10,409	0.78	31	-8.84	13.2	17.3	1,271	16.4
Total	30,422	2.7	22,916	2.6	663,648	1.61	29	-1.00	898.1	6.4	1,353	4.7

Salvation Army Housing Association and One Housing saw the sharpest rise in staff costs overall of 24.7 per cent and 20.3 per cent, respectively. South Yorkshire Housing Association had the biggest decrease of more than 14.3 per cent. The latter HAs make a significant portion of their income from care and support.

Of the LSVTs, Housing Solutions had the highest average pay of £40,586, which was up 12 per cent on last year. The lowest average was Poplar Harca with £17,974, which was down 4.1 per cent.

Of the top 20 traditional HAs in Scotland (in terms of number of units), notable changes could be seen with Sanctuary Scotland, Port of Leith and Maryhill.

Wales and Northern Ireland HAs 2018/19: employees’ pay and total staff costs

	Staff				No. of managed units				Staff costs
Top 20 (by no. of units)	Average pay (£)	Change (%)	No. of FTEs	Change (%)	Total	Change (%)	Per staff member	Change (%)	Total (£m)	Change (%)	Per unit (£)	Change (%)
Wales
Ateb	29,013	6.0	96	0.0	2,792	3.8	29	3.8	3.3	9.0	1,189	5.0
Cadwyn	33,264	28.2	106	-9.4	2,051	3.8	19	14.6	3.9	11.7	1,902	7.6
Cardiff Community	34,023	8.0	86	-8.5	2,955	-0.7	34	8.5	3.4	1.1	1,140	1.8
Grwp Cynefin	27,914	1.8	233	0.9	3,824	-1.8	16	-2.7	7.5	3.5	1,970	5.4
Hendre	16,880	2.4	1,235	2.3	6,097	3.2	5	0.9	23.3	5.0	3,815	1.7
Linc Cymru	24,580	3.6	491	3.4	4,489	1.4	9	-1.9	14.0	7.9	3,114	6.4
Melin Homes	29,333	3.7	249	0.8	4,141	-0.6	17	-1.4	10.2	19.8	2,461	20.5
Merthyr Tydfil	28,592	0.9	37	-5.1	1,134	1.5	31	7.0	1.2	-3.3	1,090	-4.7
Mid Wales	29,425	4.6	73	15.9	1,792	7.3	25	-7.4	2.5	21.7	1,416	13.4
North Wales	26,819	2.6	144	-4.0	2,670	0.0	19	4.2	4.4	-0.5	1,635	-0.5
United Welsh	26,755	-0.2	327	5.5	5,879	1.2	18	-4.0	10.0	7.4	1,706	6.1
Bro Myrddin	26,246	-0.9	41	10.8	912	2.9	22	-7.1	1.2	7.3	1,342	4.2
Cadarn	27,932	-5.9	133	37.1	2,949	0.3	22	-26.8	4.3	28.8	1,468	28.3
Coastal	29,224	9.5	232	-2.1	5,814	1.8	25	4.0	8.3	8.0	1,427	6.1
Cynon-Taf	30,526	3.2	71	-1.4	1,864	-1.5	26	-0.1	2.5	1.6	1,363	3.1
Family (Wales)	22,078	5.1	218	1.9	2,855	1.9	13	0.0	5.5	9.4	1,914	7.4
Pennaf	19,781	8.3	718	4.5	5,998	3.5	8	-0.9	15.9	14.1	2,647	10.2
Pobl	25,543	2.9	1,948	0.8	17,297	2.2	9	1.4	57.5	8.1	3,326	5.7
Taff	25,701	-3.6	147	8.1	1,440	0.8	10	-6.7	4.4	1.1	3,082	0.2
Wales & West Housing	29,623	2.0	565	3.5	11,934	2.9	21	-0.6	19.3	5.4	1,616	2.4
Total	28,399	3.9	7,150	2.3	88,887	1.8	21	-0.9	202.7	8.2	1,636	7.0
LSVT
Cartrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd	30,560	3.1	268	8.5	6,303	0.2	24	-7.7	11.0	8.4	1,752	8.2
Bron Afon	30,975	2.7	432	-6.9	8,968	-0.3	21	7.1	17.5	-3.7	1,951	-3.5
Newport City Homes	28,388	-2.3	366	22.4	9,655	-0.3	26	-18.5	14.8	17.8	1,537	18.2
Tai Tarian	26,780	7.7	505	-1.4	9,537	-0.1	19	1.3	17.8	4.3	1,869	4.4
Trivallis	26,977	0.4	470	-6.0	10,863	0.4	23	6.8	17.2	-1.1	1,581	-1.5
Total LSVT	28,498	2.6	2,041	0.9	45,326	0.0	22	-1.0	78.4	3.9	1,729	4.0
Total Wales	28,443	3.3	9,191	2.0	134,213	1.2	21	-1.6	281.1	7.0	1,679	5.5
Northern Ireland – top five HAs (no. of units)
Apex	20,152	6.6	676	5.3	5,775	5.9	9	0.6	17.1	11.1	2,964	4.9
Choice Housing Ireland	24,894	10.2	395	-3.4	10,310	2.0	26	5.6	12.3	3.9	1,191	1.9
Co-Ownership Housing	39,379	12.9	62	0.0	8,766	3.9	141	3.9	3.1	13.6	354	9.3
Clanmil	20,037	7.2	271	1.5	5,035	9.0	19	7.4	6.3	8.4	1,260	-0.5
Radius	18,723	16.1	887	-4.3	13,041	2.7	15	7.3	20.4	9.5	1,566	6.6
Total	21,246	12.9	2,291	-0.7	42,927	3.9	23	6.8	59.3	8.8	1,134	4.2

Sanctuary Scotland cut its staff costs by more than 40 per cent, with staff numbers decreasing by 16.7 per cent to 15, while its average wage reduced by 35.6 per cent to £33,333.

Maryhill reduced its costs by 11.2 per cent, with both staff numbers and wages reducing by 1.1 per cent and 3.3 per cent respectively. Port of Leith in contrast saw its staff costs rise by more than 35 per cent, after a 12.4 per drop in average wage and a 22.5 per cent rise in staff numbers.

In Wales, the per unit staff cost rose by 28.3 per cent at Cadarn, which also saw its staff numbers rise by 37.1 per cent and consequently a nearly 27 per cent fall in the number of units per staff member. Cadwyn’s staff numbers had decreased by nearly 10 per cent, which brought up its average pay by 28.2 per cent to £33,264.

Out of Wales’ LSVTs, Newport City Homes saw an increase of 18.2 per cent in staff costs per unit to £1,537 and a similar percentage fall in units per staff member. Staff levels increased by 22.4 per cent, while average pay fell 2.3 per cent to £28,388.

The highest average paying HA in Northern Ireland was Co-Ownership with £39,379, which was up 12.9 per cent on last year. It specialises in shared ownership properties. This brought its costs up 13.6 per cent overall and nearly 10 per cent on a per unit basis. Its number of employees remained the same at 62.

Scotland HAs 2018/19: employees’ pay and total staff costs

	Staff				No. of managed units				Staff costs
Total traditional	29,894	3.2	4,179	-1.4	94,478	2.8	26	1.0	145.7	4.0	1,356	4.2
Top 20 (by no. of units)	Average pay (£)	Change (%)	No. of FTEs	Change (%)	Total	Change (%)	Per staff member	Change (%)	Total (£m)	Change (%)	Per unit (£)	Change (%)
Albyn Housing Society	33,078	4.3	77	0.0	3,339	5.9	43	5.9	3.0	4.7	901	-1.2
Bield Housing & Care^#	25,913	1.9	539	-23.8	4,614	-13.9	9	13.0	17.7	-19.2	3,840	-6.2
Cairn	28,861	-3.0	144	20.0	3,956	22.0	27	1.7	5.3	19.7	1,346	-1.9
Caledonia Housing	29,521	4.6	188	3.3	5,590	7.3	30	3.9	7.2	11.4	1,286	3.8
Castle Rock Edinvar	29,756	0.8	193	4.3	7,023	3.9	36	-0.4	7.1	11.3	1,008	7.1
Clyde Valley	34,045	1.5	63	12.5	3,961	8.5	63	-3.6	2.6	14.1	644	5.2
Govanhill	34,838	0.3	72	7.5	2,789	4.4	39	-2.9	3.3	15.6	1,173	10.8
Grampian	32,135	1.2	111	4.7	3,910	3.5	35	-1.2	4.2	5.8	1,065	2.2
Hanover (Scotland)^#	26,884	3.7	438	2.6	5,419	0.1	12	-2.4	13.5	6.7	2,490	6.6
Hillcrest	27,126	7.8	797	0.5	8,867	2.7	11	2.2	24.1	9.0	2,721	6.1
Home in Scotland	39,256	21.2	39	-13.3	4,187	5.2	107	21.4	1.8	6.0	421	0.7
Kingdom	27,961	1.9	361	4.6	4,670	6.1	13	1.4	11.4	7.2	2,437	1.0
Langstane	27,666	1.7	84	-5.6	3,031	0.8	36	6.8	2.9	-2.2	942	-2.9
Link	30,890	5.0	593	1.4	8,252	1.1	14	-0.2	21.3	6.8	2,585	5.6
Maryhill	33,450	-3.3	91	-1.1	3,054	0.0	34	1.1	3.7	-11.2	1,214	-11.2
North Glasgow	31,753	9.1	125	0.0	5,424	-0.5	43	-0.5	5.1	8.7	949	9.2
Port of Leith	31,786	-12.4	98	22.5	2,898	4.2	30	-15.0	4.7	35.7	1,634	30.3
Sanctuary Scotland	33,333	-35.6	15	-16.7	6,870	3.4	458	24.0	0.7	-40.3	98	-42.2
Thenue	34,709	-1.2	68	6.3	3,078	0.7	45	-5.2	2.9	7.0	935	6.2
West of Scotland	31,675	1.5	83	7.8	3,546	2.0	43	-5.4	3.3	15.4	937	13.2

Top 5 LSVT (excluding Wheatley)
Total Scotland	28,279	1.9	7,774	0.0	174,123	1.9	24	0.2	273.4	4.6	1,476	4.2
	Staff				No. of managed units				Staff costs
Top 20 (by no. of units)	Average pay (£)	Change (%)	No. of FTEs	Change (%)	Total	Change (%)	Per staff member	Change (%)	Total (£m)	Change (%)	Per unit (£)	Change (%)
Argyll Community	27,279	5.6	204	6.3	5,142	-0.3	25	-6.2	6.7	12.0	1,310	12.4
Dumfries & Galloway	32,711	4.8	190	1.6	10,339	0.4	54	-1.2	8.0	4.5	770	4.1
Hebridean Housing Partnership	29,461	13.0	43	-4.4	2,199	1.3	51	6.0	1.4	-6.0	618	-7.2
River Clyde Homes	31,646	10.0	305	-7.6	5,681	0.7	19	9.0	12.5	4.9	2,202	4.2
Scottish Borders	28,966	4.2	173	-4.9	5,649	0.2	33	5.4	6.7	6.2	1,188	6.0
Total LSVT	27,756	3.2	885	0.9	29,169	-0.1	33	-1.0	30.5	4.6	1,045	4.7

Wheatley	25,665	-1.7	2,680	3.1	50,635	1.1	19	-1.9	92.4	5.2	1,825	4.1

Notes for tables

Data represents accounts of the largest HAs according to type of business and country, a total of 206 HAs in the UK by category.

Average pay represents salary and wages, and excludes National Insurance and pensions contributions.

Year-on-year percentage changes include the expansion of existing HAs and HA groups.

Sizeable changes in staff data may be explained by a significant change in the size of an HA, or by an expansion in its activities.

Vivid, which stated only units and staff numbers and did not provide pay or staff costs figures in their accounts, have been excluded from all the figures apart from number of staff, number of units and units per staff member.

Changes to an organisation part-way through a financial year will also affect year-on-year comparisons.

Other symbols:

* = accounts year-end December 2018

# = a number of HAs have a significant level of care services or supported housing

FTE = full-time equivalents

Social Housing has identified 22 HAs using the following definition: at least a third of the HA’s turnover is represented by care or supported housing activities.

May include housing for older people, care for older people, nursing, social care, supported housing or Supporting People contracts.

These HAs typically employ more staff than would be necessary to manage general needs rental or leasehold units alone. For such HAs, average pay and the number of units per staff member may be lower than average, while total staff costs per unit may be higher than average.

In calculating bottom-line total average figures, data for these 22 HAs has been excluded from the calculation in these measures:

Average pay
Number of units per member
Total staff costs per unit

Source: Audited accounts for year-end March 2019, except * = December 2018

Social Housing special reports

Each month Social Housing focuses on a specific aspect of housing finance and collates and scrutinises the data for hundreds of housing organisations.

The reports below contain unparalleled commentary and analysis along with detailed sortable and searchable data tables.

Unit costs 2019 Our analysis of data from the English regulator has found that unit costs have risen among all types of housing association, with overall maintenance costs seeing the highest weighted average increase of nearly seven per cent

Impairment 2019 Housing associations’ impairments rise almost 40% in a year, driven by fire safety costs, contractor insolvencies and reduced land values

Global accounts 2018/19 Housing associations’ surplus for the year before tax decreased by five per cent to £3.76bn, driven by a 6.6 per cent drop in England

Affordable rent profile 2018/19 The level of affordable lettings dropped for the third year in a row

Staff pay Data from audited accounts of 206 housing associations shows that average staff pay in 2018/19 was £31,787 – a rise of 3.2 per cent over a 12-month period

Professionals’ league Our exclusive professionals’ league finds that activity continued apace in 2019, when housing associations increasingly looked to private placements

Sales proceeds Despite a 10 per cent rise in housing associations’ income from development sales in the last financial year, sales revenue is likely to remain flat over the coming years as a result of the property market downturn

Capital commitments The total capital commitments of 200 housing associations rose by 15 per cent in the past year, analysis by Social Housing has found

Reliance on sales surplus Social Housing finds that the total sales surplus of 150 English registered providers has dropped by nearly 10 per cent, as a result of lower market sales surplus

Stock dispersal How many council areas does your housing association operate in? How concentrated is its stock?

Accounts digest 2018/19 How does your housing association’s finances compare to others?

Housing Revenue Account part two How do councils compare in their 2018/19 Housing Revenue Account positions? Steve Partridge of Savills takes an in-depth look

Diversi fication of income We look at how housing associations are diversifying their income, and finds that they made 10.3 per cent more revenue from shared ownership and non-social housing activity

Impairment 2017/18 Social Housing takes a close look at the accounts of the 130 largest housing associations, and finds that impairments rose by nearly a third to £78.4m in 2018

Global accounts Social Housing’s analysis of the sector’s global accounts finds that housing associations’ pre-tax surplus fell last year – driven by drops in England, Scotland and Wales (August 2019)

Affordable rent profile We find that the number of affordable rent lettings recorded last year by housing associations in England has dropped for the second year in a row, suggesting that the sector is shifting away from the tenure

Capital commitments We scrutinise the capital commitments of the 208 largest housing associations in the UK (June 2019)

Housing Revenue Account part one Steve Partridge of Savills takes a look at the financial factors councils should consider in their Housing Revenue Account business planning (May 2019)

Reliance on sales surplus Our analysis reveals that profits form 42 per cent of 150 English housing associations’ total surplus (April 2019)

Sales proceeds We look at housing associations’ build-for-sale income and find a two per cent increase in 2017/18 (March 2019)

Shared ownership sales England, excluding London, has seen a four per cent rise in shared ownership sales – much lower than last year’s 16 per cent increase (February 2019)

Stock dispersal We show that housing associations’ general needs stock is becoming more concentrated within their local authority areas (January 2019)

Click here to find more special reports