Clarion Housing Group reports increased investment in new homes and a strong financial position

Clarion Housing Group has today published its Annual Report and Accounts for 2018/19. Against a backdrop of political and economic uncertainty, the Group reported a strong set or results and a robust financial position.

The accounts show a surplus for the year at £154m (2017-18: £157m), on a turnover of £816m (2017-18: £829m), while substantially increasing investment in Clarion homes.

The Group’s total investment in new homes grew by over £100m to £541m (2017-18: £426m) and the number of new homes under construction increased significantly to 2,663 (2017-18: 1,428), 85% of which are for affordable tenures.

Clarion also invested £124m (2017-18: £119m) on improving and refurbishing existing homes, with £20m (2017-18: £10m) spent on the Group’s fire safety programme.

Customer satisfaction

Clarion also reported on the growing success of its in-house repairs service – Clarion Response, which expanded its coverage to 90,000 homes, on the back of its successful in-sourcing programme.

This has delivered £700,000 of efficiency savings at the same time as achieving a customer satisfaction score of nearly 90%. This is part of an ongoing journey and investment programme to continuously improve the repairs service that residents experience.

More than 4,000 residents helped into work

The Group also confirmed that its sector leading charitable foundation – the award-winning Clarion Futures, has met and exceeded its founding expectations, including helping over 4,000 residents to find a job in 2018-19, with 81% supported to sustain their employment for at least six months.

By providing a wide range of support services across the country Clarion Futures has been able to deliver £125m of social value across Clarion communities, with individual success stories shared in the Clarion Annual Report and Accounts.

In addition to measuring the impact of the foundation, the Group has estimated the amount of money it saves individuals and the Exchequer by providing circa 90,000 homes to people at sub-market rent, a saving of around £350m.

Clarion refers to this as a social contribution, as both residents and the government are the beneficiaries. If Clarion Housing did not exist, both would have extra costs. This £350m social contribution significantly exceeds the Group’s surplus for the year and demonstrates the positive impact that Clarion has as a landlord.

Mark Hattersley, chief financial officer at Clarion Housing Group, said:

“I am very pleased to report that Clarion has delivered a strong set of financial results at the same time as improving our service delivery to our residents and delivering new affordable homes."

“Despite a challenging and uncertain external environment, our approach has enabled us to remain a financially resilient organisation and leaves us well placed to increase our investment in housing provision in the years to come when other elements of the market may begin to feel constrained."

“Our growth ambitions are supported by our investment programme with nearly £4bn of approved investment including a number of major regeneration schemes. This supports our strategy to create thriving and sustainable communities across the country, improving lives and meeting the needs of those poorly served by the market.”