Welcome.

Summer has been a busy two months for Communities that Work, with progress across our partnerships, policy engagement and wider advocacy.

We formally launched our new joint steering group with BME National, continued to champion the role of housing providers in supporting local growth through engagement in Greater Lincolnshire, and secured national coverage in BusinessGreen highlighting social housing's vital role in delivering the UK's green jobs ambitions.

We have also confirmed our new Board Champions, who will help drive forward our key mission areas as we develop our next three-year Business Plan.

CtW Activity and Updates

Launching the CtW and BME National Joint Steering Group

Communities that Work formally and publicly launched its new national joint steering group with BME National, following a productive first meeting of the group the previous month.

The steering group brings together housing providers and community organisations to strengthen the voice of black and minority ethnic communities within social housing, and to explore shared priorities around employment, skills and opportunity. Lynsey Sweeney, our Managing Director, and Mushtaq Khan of BME National have been driving the partnership forward, including a conversation about a possible research strand supported by MTVH's migrant funding work.

You can read more about the group here: https://communitiesthatwork.co.uk/our-work/ctw-bme-national-joint-steering-group

Championing housing and employment in Greater Lincolnshire

This month, Communities that Work and Acis Group wrote jointly to Mayor Andrea Jenkyns of the Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority, introducing our work and the role that housing providers play in bridging housing, employment and government policy in the region.

The letter, from Lynsey Sweeney and Claire Woodward, Director of Community Investment at Acis Group, set out the case for housing providers as anchor institutions within local economies, pointing to initiatives already underway in Greater Lincolnshire - including the Campus in Mablethorpe and The Grange Collective - that are helping to improve health, wellbeing, skills and employment outcomes for residents.

Lynsey and Claire have offered to meet with the Mayor to explore how this work could support her ambitions to build skills, boost jobs and grow the region's economy, and look forward to working with Jenkyns and her team moving forward.

Social housing: the missing piece in the UK's green jobs strategy

We're delighted to share that our Managing Director, Lynsey Sweeney, has been published in BusinessGreen, making the case for social housing's central role in delivering the UK's green jobs strategy.

The opportunity came about after PLMR secured interest from BusinessGreen's editor in an op-ed from Communities that Work, building on the Alliance's work. Lynsey's piece was drafted and signed off in July, and published on 21 August.

In the article, Lynsey argues that social housing residents are not only beneficiaries of greener, more energy-efficient homes, but are “an essential part of the workforce needed to deliver them.” The piece highlights a significant mismatch between the number of skilled workers needed to retrofit homes to net-zero standards and the labour supply currently available, and makes the case for social housing tenants to be recruited and trained into these roles as part of the wider Warm Homes Plan and net zero transition.

You can read her full piece here: Social housing is the missing piece in the UK's green jobs strategy | BusinessGreen Opinion

Confirming our Board Champions

This month, Communities that Work confirmed its Board Champions across four key mission areas, marking an important step as we move into the 2026/7-2028/9 company plan.

Karen Kenmare, Helen Phoenix and Tracey Walsh have been appointed Board Champions for JobsPlus, spearheading our continued advocacy for the pilot programme and its expansion. Nic McGrath and Tracey Walsh will champion The Alliance; Ellie Patience, James Howell and Lucy Dixon will lead on Public Affairs and Comms; and Joanne Pownall and Jenny Jackson will champion Membership.

Each Champion will meet quarterly over the next two years to help shape priorities, strategy and activity in their area, building towards a new CtW Business Plan at the AGM in November. Look out for individual posts on our social channels introducing each Champion and their mission over the coming weeks.

Reports

Local labour market buoyancy holds the key to solving the UK's NEET 'crisis'
City-REDI (August 2026)

This report analyses NEET rates across 179 UK regions and finds that local unemployment is a far stronger predictor of youth NEET rates than poor qualifications or health. The findings challenge the effectiveness of national, skills-only interventions on their own, and instead make the case for regionally tailored strategies that combine employment support with local economic development.

Rethinking property-led regeneration
CLES (August 2026)

This report critiques conventional property-led regeneration and sets out alternative models that generate greater social, economic and environmental value for local communities, including a viability tool for councils, practitioners and communities to evaluate development options.

Pay pals
Centre for Cities (August 2026)

This report compares how G7 countries vary the minimum wage geographically. While the UK's national minimum wage is largely uniform, its "local bite" varies significantly by region, from 50% of median earnings in Reading to over 80% in Doncaster, raising questions relevant to regional labour market policy.

A city that works for everyone
G.15 (August 2026)

This report examines the role of social housing in supporting London's economy, communities and public services. It argues that social housing should be viewed as a core part of the capital's economic and social infrastructure, highlighting that social housing residents contributed an estimated £27.8 billion to London's economy in 2024, while 65% of employed residents work in key worker occupations such as health and social care, education, retail and transport.

Download: Greener homes and good local jobs
Ashden (2026)

Procurement guidance for housing associations and local authorities on using social value to tackle the green construction skills challenge, strengthen retrofit delivery and create good local jobs.

PPN 026: The Social Value Model (HTML), 8 August

The government has formally announced changes to how it assesses organisations bidding for government contracts, sharpening the focus on social value in central government procurement. It is defined as "taking account of how a supplier will work for communities to provide good British jobs, skills and opportunities in every postcode." It forms part of the Prime Minister's drive to use procurement as a route to national economic growth and to tackle the rising number of NEETs.

Key changes:

• The weighting for local community benefit rises from 10% to 20% for contracts of £5m or more (minimum 10% for £1m-£5m).
• Bidders are rewarded for creating local jobs that pay above the legal minimum with fair working conditions, including 45 days of work experience and targeted NEET support, while other social value criteria such as net zero and high streets are reduced or removed.
• The threshold for social value rules rises to contracts over £1 million, easing the burden on SMEs and social enterprises.

Changes apply to central government departments, their executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies. Departments will publish annual progress reports measuring suppliers against their commitments. Further guidance is due in Autumn 2026, with the new model commencing January 2027.

Prime Minister launches national drive to get everyone in for Christmas, 18 August

Andy Burnham announced a £442 million national initiative to offer everyone experiencing rough sleeping a route off the streets by Christmas, including emergency accommodation, practical support with housing and health needs, and funding for over 1,000 settled homes across England over three years. Government will also host a national summit in autumn to mobilise leaders from business, charity, health and faith sectors, with particular emphasis on trauma-informed, single-sex accommodation for women experiencing homelessness.

Learning and Work Institute, 15 September

Delivering local solutions to a national challenge: Lessons from Cambridgeshire and Peterborough's Youth Guarantee Trailblazer

An online webinar on identifying, engaging and supporting young people at risk of being left behind, drawing on evaluation findings from the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Youth Guarantee Trailblazer.

Centre for Cities, 16 September

Adding up: What fiscal devolution will mean for England's mayors

Explores how tax-sharing and fiscal devolution could give mayors greater control over local revenues - relevant to the JobsPlus 2.0 funding conversation with mayoral and Strategic Authorities.