Whilst women make up 13% of the construction workforce, only 1% of manual trade workers are women[1]. In the context of a skills shortage in construction, which will only get worse following Brexit, this is a serious loss of potential talent to the construction and maintenance industry.
As part of our work to improve lives, communities and society, we have therefore been delighted to support the “Tradeswomen into Maintenance Project” through writing a free “Legal Guide” for social landlords, ALMOs and local authorities that want to address this imbalance through their procurement and contracting processes.
The “Legal Guide” explains relevant equality and procurement legislation (including the “Social Value Act”) and sets out the steps clients can take to promote the creation of opportunities for women to take up and thrive in maintenance careers. It includes template clauses for each stage of the procurement and contracting process. These are “open access” for copyright purposes, meaning that they can be freely copied and used. A copy of the legal guide can be found here. This Legal Guide is one of a number of good practice guides which aim to support landlords and other businesses working in the social housing and public sector to increase the number of women working in construction trades. The other guides include:
These can be downloaded from Mears website.
Please contact Andrew Millross.
[1] CITB figures for 2016
As we continue to emerge from lockdown measures and deal with local measures and the short and long term economic impact of Covid-19, local authorities will need to re-assess how services will be delivered for years to come.
The Government first announced plans for a shared ownership right to buy in October 2019. At the time the sector raised concerns about the impact the plans would have on housing associations ability to borrow. An election and a pandemic later the Government announced, during the CIH Housing Festival last week, the return of the right to shared ownership as part of its Affordable Homes Programme (AHP).
Two final pieces of the possession jigsaw have been published on 15 September 2020. Mr Justice Knowles’ working group on possession proceedings has issued its guidance on the “overall arrangements” for possession proceedings.
One change proposed by the Building Safety Bill is the introduction of a duty holder regime, which will see statutory responsibility for the safety of higher risk buildings placed on key individuals
Throughout this pandemic, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been publishing various “Statements on Coronavirus” (Statements) which provide guidance on consumer rights during this time.
A recent increase in COVID-19 cases in the UK means new measures are being put in place in an effort to reduce the risk of a second wave. Whilst the impact of COVID-19 continues to be felt, it is important to remain focused on the sector’s road to recovery.
Sometimes half an hour at a conference gives you the reality that has been staring you in the face all along. That was my experience watching “Change is on the Horizon”
Following our recent e-briefing on Possession Notices, Helen Tucker and Emilie Pownall from our housing litigation team discuss the impact of the changes on social landlords.
Not only has the possession stay been extended until 20 September, the notice periods to be given to tenants has been extended in certain circumstances with some important exceptions.
The Court has confirmed that a party cannot withhold its consent in order to re-write the original bargain.
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