Welcome to this autumn 2021 edition of Foundations, our newsletter for the Social Housing sector. After eighteen months when our normal patterns of work, home and leisure have been turned on their heads, there seems to be a return to something like normality. However, it does seem that this ‘new normal’ will never be the same as before, and some fundamental changes in the way we live our lives are taking place.
Social housing providers need to adapt to the changing needs of their tenants, leaseholders, staff and other stakeholders. With the appointment of Michael Gove as the new secretary of state putting housing at the heart of the government’s ‘levelling-up’ agenda, it is clear that we are in for a period of great opportunity in the sector.
I am sure you are as exhausted as me of staring at your screen at virtual conferences and meetings. We are therefore really looking forward to holding our social housing conference on 24 November 2021 at our new London head office. Our theme will be the different approaches needed for the different times we find ourselves in.
Also, at the bottom of this page are links to our various recent webinars if you have missed these as well as our upcoming courses.
Change always brings both challenges and opportunities, and our newsletter examines many of these. Many organisations have looked to merge as a way to build development capacity and achieve efficiency savings. This can lead to an unwieldy corporate group but simplifying this is not always as easy as it seems – we look at the tax issues that need to be addressed early on.
I was delighted to be appointed to the SORP working party last year. Accounting rules continue to develop and I discuss the changes in the pipeline for lease accounting. We would welcome your views on whether the current Shared Ownership accounting works for your association so please get in touch.
Most organisations seem to be expecting a partial return to the office. For many this will mean a mixture of office-based, home-based and hybrid staff, with potentially new employment contracts. We examine how employment taxes need to be considered for these new ways of working. We also include a reminder of the need to check self-employed individuals for employment status, even if you are a smaller organisation.
We provide some updates on some VAT developments relevant to housing associations. Roller blinds and shutters can now be zero-rated. HMRC is examining the VAT treatment of temporary workers in the care sector and organisations in this sector should check their own arrangements carefully. Making Tax Digital for VAT is now in its second stage and there are links to further details of how this affects housing associations.
Sadly, the last eighteen months have seen a surge in fraud, and we know housing associations, their suppliers and customers have all been affected by these, with some stories reaching the national press. We discuss some of the most common examples we have seen, and the financial impact these have had.
We hope to see many of you at our conference and look forward to working with you through this period of change."
Julia Poulter, Partner, Head of Social Housing
