Governance
Theme 9: Structure and governance
Criteria 25. Is Beyond Housing registered with the regulator of social housing?
Yes, our registration number is LH4401.
Criteria 26. What is the most recent governance and viability regulatory grading?
G1/V1 – Regulatory judgement, 27 March 2024.
Criteria 27. Which Code of Governance does Beyond Housing follow?
Beyond Housing has adopted the 2020 NHF (National Housing Federation) Code of Governance.
Criteria 28. Is Beyond Housing a ‘not for profit’ organisation?
Yes, Beyond Housing is a ‘not for profit,’ Community Benefit Society.
Criteria 29. Explain the Beyond Housing board manages organisational risk.
Beyond Housing has an established risk management framework in place which includes routine reporting and strategic risk reviews by the board and audit and risk committee. In addition, biannual board risk workshops (including risk appetite/tolerances) take place and stress testing is carried out and reported to the board quarterly.
Criteria 30. Has Beyond Housing been subject to any adverse regulatory findings in the last 12 months (e.g. data protection breaches, bribery, money laundering, HSE (Health and Safety Executive) breaches or notices) – that resulted in enforcement or other equivalent action?
No.
Theme 10: Board of trustees
Criteria 31. How does the housing provider ensure it gets input from a diverse range of people, into the governance processes?
Does the housing provider consider resident voice at the board and senior management level?
Does the housing provider have policies that incorporate Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) into the recruitment and selection of board members and senior management?
Customer Voice
Building on substantial progress in recent years, Beyond Housing is committed to further enhancing our customer-centric approach. During 2024/25, we will evaluate our existing methods for incorporating customer feedback and establish a dedicated customer forum within our corporate governance framework. This will enable us to effectively demonstrate our commitment to listening to customers and providing opportunities for them to shape our decisions.
A customer voice report is presented to board quarterly.
We considered the customer voice in all board reports, committee reports and policy reviews, and is included in the templates to ensure this is reflected.
EDI in recruitment
There is a strong focus on EDI in recruitment, with links between our recruitment policies and procedures with our EDI policy and statement of principles. We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds, including our own customers, and have interview guarantee schemes for both the armed forces and those with a disability. All applications are anonymised until shortlisting is complete to remove the risk of bias and all recruiting managers are trained on fair recruitment practices. We encourage applications from our own customers through our employability offer, offering them volunteering opportunities to build their skills, work experience and VIP days during our apprentice recruitment, along with our wrap-around one-to-one employability support service.
We also operate a stringent review of any appointments where the successful candidate already has a close personal connection with someone in the business to ensure a fair and unbiased process has been followed before the offer of appointment is made. We continue to develop our fair and inclusive recruitment processes, exploring better use of skills tests and inclusive practices for those who are neurodiverse.
- What % of the board are women? – 70%
- What % of the board are BAME? – 0
- What % of the board are residents? – 0
- What % of the board have a disability? – 0
- Average age of the board – 58.2 years
- Average tenure of the board – 4.6 years.
Criteria 32. What % of the Beyond Housing board and management team has turned over in the last two years?
| % | |
| Board | 0% |
| Management | 0% |
Criteria 33. How many board members on the audit committee have recent and relevant financial experience?
There are three members of the audit and risk committee with recent and relevant financial experience.
Criteria 34. What % of the board are non-executive directors?
Nine of the 10 board members (90%) are non-executive directors. The chief executive officer is the only executive director on the board.
Criteria 35. Has a succession plan been provided to the board in the last 12 months?
Yes, the board succession plan is presented quarterly to the governance and review committee and is used to inform future recruitment.
Criteria 36. For how many full years has Beyond Housing current external audit partner been responsible for auditing the accounts?
One – Beyond Housing’s external audit contract is for a term of 3 years, with the option for a further two years (in line with the adopted Code of Governance – maximum 6 years).
Criteria 37. When was Beyond Housing’s last independently run, board effectiveness review?
An independent governance review (including board effectiveness) will be completed in 2024 (3 yearly). The previous review was carried out in 2021.
Criteria 38. How does Beyond Housing handle conflicts of interest at the board?
There is a declaration and conflicts standing item on board and committee agendas. Conflicts/potential conflicts are dealt with by the board chair/senior independent director/audit and risk committee (whichever is deemed appropriate) – with reference to the Rules, agreement for services, Code of Conduct, Terms of Reference etc.
Theme 11: Colleague wellbeing
Criteria 39. Does Beyond Housing pay the real living wage?
Yes, Beyond Housing pays the real living wage, as defined annually by the Living Wage Foundation. This includes apprentices from year two. During year one they are paid at least the apprentice rate for 18+, regardless of their actual age.
Criteria 40. What is Beyond Housing’s gender pay gap?
Beyond Housing is committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion. Our 2023 gender pay gap figures demonstrate progress compared to the national average. The mean gender pay gap was 6.1%, and the median was 7.2%, significantly lower than the UK’s 13.2% and 14.3% respectively.
We believe in transparency and go beyond gender pay. Our annual general equalities pay gap report also covers ethnicity, religion, disability, and sexual orientation.
Criteria 41. What is Beyond Housing CEO/worker pay ratio?
The CEO ratio is calculated by comparing the CEO hourly rate to the whole company median hourly rate using the same reference data as the pay gap data. In 2023, this give a payment ratio of circa 6:1. Our median colleague was an electrician who is in receipt of a tool allowance and some standby and call out payments. Research conducted by The Guardian in August 2022 suggested the average CEO ratio in the UK was 109:1 [1].
[1] Pay of FTSE 100 chief executives rose an average of 23% in 2022 | Executive pay and bonuses | The Guardian – accessed 15 December 2023.
Criteria 42. How is the housing provider ensuring equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) is promoted across its staff?
Beyond Housing is a proud Investor in Diversity, accredited by the National Centre for Diversity (NCD) since October 2021. Currently ranked 62nd in the NCD’s top 100 most inclusive employers, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace.
Our EDI approach is underpinned by an annual action plan, informed by NCD recommendations. A dedicated EDI steering group, including Senior Leadership, oversees this plan, while a passionate team of volunteer EDI Champions drives its implementation.
The action plan includes an annual schedule of campaigns and activities to raise awareness amongst colleagues, tapping into national and local campaigns where possible. For example, Beyond Housing colleagues are active participants in Scarborough Pride, and Beyond Housing has a zero tolerance approach to bullying and harassment and offers a range of avenues to raise a concern or complaint, including the anonymous whistleblowing reporting tool and an established EDI ally scheme.
Transparency and accountability are key. Our annual EDI annual report, outlines progress and initiatives. EDI is embedded in our company values, code of conduct, and colleagues participate in regular training through their learning portal.
Criteria 43. How does Beyond Housing support the physical and mental health of colleagues?
- Employee assistance programme
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An excellent health cash plan with UK Healthcare which helps contribute to colleagues’ day-to-day health and wellbeing expenditure. The scheme offers 24 hour/7 days per week counselling, legal advice, bereavement assistance, general health and wellbeing advice, and access to medical professionals. The scheme also provides cash payback on a range of medical services.
- Health advocates
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Beyond Housing has a group of colleagues from across the business who are passionate about health and wellbeing and are instrumental in developing our positive well-being culture.
The group welcomes everyone to participate in and share their health and wellbeing achievements and provide information on upcoming health and wellbeing events and campaigns, health topics, fact sheets and external support group contact details.
- Mental health first aiders
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Beyond Housing has a number of trained mental health first aiders, promoted to colleagues on a rolling monthly basis. These volunteers support colleagues who are approaching or in crisis, enabling them to get immediate support from the right agencies when it is needed.
Mental Health First Aiders now conduct monthly random wellbeing calls, to proactively check on the wellbeing of colleagues to demonstrate the importance of good mental health, the commitment of the employer to this, and to prevent progression to crisis. Groups statistically at higher risk of suicide are prioritised in the roll out of these calls.
- Better Health at Work Award
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In 2023, the company was proud to achieve continuing excellence standard for the ‘Better Health at Work award’ a year after attaining gold, following a sustained programme of campaigns aimed at supporting the physical and mental wellbeing of our colleagues.
The team delivered a range of activities and initiatives including: cost of living workshops, steps challenges, mental health awareness week, alcohol awareness campaigns, free flu vouchers, on-site physiotherapy appointments; and tapped into national campaigns on issues such as men’s health week, skin cancer awareness month, cervical screening week, Samaritans talk to us month and world sleep day.
- Office remodelling
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In 2022, we started the remodelling of our office spaces. The new layouts promote agile working, creating a variety of spaces to encourage colleagues to move and mix more and include social spaces and wellbeing rooms. The remodelling of our office spaces is part of our commitment to creating a healthy and productive work environment.
The social spaces are designed to be informal and inviting, with comfortable seating and plenty of natural light. These spaces are perfect for spontaneous conversations, collaborative sessions, or just taking a break from work. The wellbeing rooms are equipped with relaxation amenities such as yoga mats and bean bags. These rooms provide a quiet space for colleagues to de-stress, recharge, and improve their mental health.
Criteria 44. How does the housing provider support the professional development of its staff?
All colleagues are offered an annual ‘be your best’ conversation with their manager, with quarterly check-ins to explore their objectives, performance, development needs and future aspirations.
Beyond Housing has its own learning platform, hosting a broad range of essential and optional e-learning modules, giving colleagues the ability to manage their own professional development.
Colleagues are encouraged to undertake relevant formal qualifications and those who wish to do this to support their career development can receive financial support with the course costs as well as time off to participate.
In 2023/24 all colleagues with people management responsibility participated in a centrally led leadership and management development programme to develop their skills as managers and support performance improvement.
Beyond Housing develops and maintains networks to enable the effective provision of professional development activities such as SHINE, a regional network looking at the most effective way to deliver against the forthcoming regulatory competence requirements, and The Skills Village to deliver practical skills training to trades colleagues.
Further investment in the professional development of colleagues has been made, with the introduction of an additional learning and development specialist role to further build on learning and development activities and frameworks such as induction for new starters and career journey maps and skills matrices to further help colleagues plan their career with Beyond Housing.
Theme 12: Supply chain management
Criteria 45. How is social value creation considered when procuring goods and services?
Since 2022, for all contracts where spend exceeds £50k in total contract value, contractors are requested to include in their tender bid, a social value offer of either a 1% levy of total contract value or equivalent goods and services will be paid back to Beyond Housing to support key third sector organisations. The aim is to provide valuable services to customers in our priority estates.
Our main materials supply contract, kitchen supply agreement, grounds maintenance and cleaning contracts all provide funding to be utilised on social value related works. Projects approved include breakfast clubs for local primary schools, sponsorship of ladies’ grassroots football clubs, warm hubs and community woodland areas.
Where contract values do not exceed this threshold, we will actively encourage suppliers, service providers and contractors to provide added social value for our customers such as work experience placements or offer their own time in the form of voluntary work to community and charity groups to improve local community spaces.
Criteria 46. How is sustainability considered when procuring goods and services?
What measures are in place to monitor the sustainability of your supply chain when procuring goods and services?
All contractors are required to outline their quality standards including ISO and other sustainability awards as part of the Beyond Housing contractor approval process. During the tender process, each contract is assessed on an individual basis as to whether appropriate quality questions can be included to encourage the contractor to reduce their environmental impact which is included within any resulting contract as a scope or key performance indicators requirement.
National targets are in place for social housing providers to improve the energy efficiency of homes and reduce CO2 emissions. Beyond Housing is fully committed to reducing our impact on the environment. We are constantly exploring options and solutions to reduce reliance on gas and fossil fuels, improve energy efficiency, make better use of renewable energy, and create warmer healthier homes.
