Leaders warned of 'lack of trust' among employees as quango is criticised over 'vanity show' conference
, is relying on to “supercharge” urban regeneration had become a consultants’ “gravy train”, dogged by secrecy and a “horrifying lack of focus” verging on the “immoral”.has learned of discontent among staff currently working at Homes England who fear that a “severe budget position” might mean job losses and claim that many would want to leave.
“I struggle to disagree with a lot of the cultural points made in the article,” said one. “We enjoy our roles but the organisation has become heavy on oversight and management rather than delivery.” “There were guest speakers, a staff awards ceremony, and all these people on stage, congratulating each other,” they said. “It wasn’t anything that you couldn’t have done online.Homes England paid £239,704 to hire Coventry City’s football ground as a venue, a figure that also covered “associated costs”. Another £77,268 was spent on staff accommodation for the two-day event, and a further £78,260 on staff travel.
But some staff have questioned the appropriateness of such spending.
Suzanne Muna, co-founder of Social Housing Action Campaign, a network of housing workers, activists, and tenants, said: “What was the point of this kind of corporate navel-gazing when it hasn’t increased its effectiveness? Spending that amount of money doesn’t seem to have done it much good.it all looks like a huge mismanagement of their budgets.
“Our 2022-3 conference and excellence awards enabled staff to come together to recognise and acknowledge their hard work in delivering on the agency’s mission to support the creation of vibrant and successful places that people can be proud of. We make no apologies for this. Staff events are always delivered in the most cost-efficient ways possible.”’s finding that Homes England had spent tens of millions on consultants and on Evolve – an opaque £96m internal IT “transformation” project.
The review is positive about the need for Homes England, the way in the which it has been set up and some aspects of its work. But it also criticises the agency and calls for some significant changes .“Engagement survey results highlighted a lack of trust in senior leadership and lack of respect and dignity,” said one post, apparently backed by significant numbers of staff.
A Homes England spokesperson said: “Homes England actively encourages and creates opportunities for its 1,200+ staff to share views freely and frankly. This is good practice in any organisation and is aligned to the agency’s culture and values. But the report, has also been described by a housing expert as showing that Homes England has been “dysfunctional”.
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