Bosses of the company which oversees the running of 14,000 social homes in Salford have come under fire from the city mayor and MPs over ‘excessive executive pay’. Mayor Paul Dennett has written an open letter to ForViva Group saying it needs to ‘focus on repairs, improvements and building new social housing stock, not excessive executive pay’ after it was downgraded by the Regulator for Social Housing (RSH) over its governance.
ForViva, based in Eccles, is comprised of ForHousing and Liberty. They manage and maintain social homes in the North West.
In the letter, Mr Dennett, Rebecca Long-Bailey (MP for Salford and Eccles) and Barbara Keeley (MP for Worsley and Eccles South) expressed concerns over the downgrading by the RSH. “The RSH investigation found issues with the way ForHousing is run, including a lack of independence in its decision-making and a lack of accountability in the group structure,” their letter said.
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The mayor pointed to the RSH ruling, which said: “A number of ForViva Group executive contracts, incentive schemes and severance arrangements being agreed that were not aligned with its codes of governance and the standards expected of a registered provider.
"Evidence seen by the regulator in the course of its investigation has shown that the group decisions have subsequently compromised ForHousing's independence and its decision making resulting in poor outcomes."
Mr Dennett’s letter goes on: “We are aware that the issue of excessive executive pay has been raised previously by local politicians and trade unions. In fact, information received in response to this was that the chief executive taking over from their predecessor would be taking a pay cut. However, the latest ForViva accounts for 2021/2022, seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, show the highest-paid director receiving £443,000, up from £420,000 the prior year.
A ForViva spokesperson said this figure related to Group Chief Executive, Colette McKune, who left the association last year.
"We wonder how many social rent homes the approximate £12million (including about £2.5milion for the highest paid director) spent on executive directors in the last five years could've been used for. We are demanding that ForHousing gets back to the basics of building new social housing propertiesc repairing and refurbishing existing stock, and delivering quality services to our residents and communities.
"Resources should be prioritised on the basics - improving void standards, improving the level of repairs which aren't pushed onto tenants as their responsibility (particularly damp and mould) and refurbishing thos properties with old kitchens/bathrooms etc."
Mr Dennett said the ‘hard work and dedication of frontline housing workers, management and tradespeople within ForViva was acknowledged’.
In response to the claims, 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.
“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 focused 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.”
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