Salford Mayor, Paul Dennett, three MP’s and 20 councillors have sent an open letter of complaint to the interim CEO of ForHousing, Mike Parkin.
The letter cited concerns within the “lack of independence in its decision making and lack of accountability in its group structure” as well as the excessive amount directors are being paid.
ForHousing, part of the larger ForViva group based in Eccles, provide social housing across Salford in Eccles, Irlam, Cadishead, Little Hulton, Walkden and Swinton.
It was revealed in the complaint that “the latest ForViva accounts show the highest paid director recieving 443,000”, with a £615,000 loss of office payment made to executive officers in 2019.
Over the last five years £12m has been spent on executive directors, including £2.5m going to the highest paid amongst them.
The open letter said: “We wonder how many new social rent homes the approximate £12m spent on executive directors in the last five years could have been used for.”
The strongly worded correspondence was rounded off by “demanding” that “ForHousing gets back to the basics of building new social housing properties, repairing, refurbishing existing stock; and delivering quality services to our residents and communities.”
Lewis Nelson, Labour Candidate for Cadishead and Irlam, wrote on Facebook: “The Mayor, MPs and councillors have written to the CEO of ForHousing regarding excessive director pay and a need to get better at the basics. ForHousing tenants deserve much better.”
The letter mentioned its concern about ForHousing’s recent downgrade by the Regulator of Social Housing to a G3 grade after only being downgraded to a G2 grade in 2019.
This came as a result of the regulator’s investigation which found: “Legacy decision-making, coupled with insufficient oversight in ForHousing’s governance arrangements and a lack of accountability in the group structure.”
It added: “This resulted in a number of ForViva Group executive contacts, incentive schemes and severance arrangements being agreed that were not aligned with its codes of governance and the standards expected of a registered provider.”
Paul Kennedy, Chair of the ForHousing Board said “We fully accept and understand the outcome of the recent assessment from the Regulator of Social Housing.”
He added: “The Regulator found that legacy decisions and the group structure, had impacted on outcomes for ForHousing and we needed to improve our governance. The current Board has already taken action to address executive pay and contracts and remain committed to working with the Regulator, strengthening our governance and continuing to make improvements.
“The current Board and Executive Team remain focussed on improving tenants’ homes and our services and we will continue to work in partnership with stakeholders to positively impact the lives of social housing tenants.”
ForHousing is responsible for social housing across the North West in Salford, Knowsley, Oldham, Cheshire West, Chester and Fylde.
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