NEW HOUSING PROGRAMME AIMS TO KEEP SKILLS NEEDED IN KEY PUBLIC SERVICES A new £690 million 'Key Worker Living' programme to help keep the skills needed in key front line public services, such as in education, health, and community safety, has been launched by the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott today. The announcement was supported by Secretary of State for Education, Charles Clarke and Secretary of State for Health, John Reid. The new programme builds on the success of the Starter Home Initiative, which is on track to place over 9,000 key workers into home ownership by 31 March 2004, with a further 1200 expected to complete purchases in the first few weeks of the new financial year. 'Key Worker Living' offers four simple options, including home ownership packages and intermediate rental solutions and will be marketed by one-stop-shops located in London , the South East and the East of England, where house prices are high and recruitment and retention is difficult. Eligibility varies across the regions depending on local recruitment and retention priorities. The Deputy Prime Minister said housing is at the top of this Government's agenda, along with jobs, schools, health and the fight against crime. "We are determined to make a difference in the performance of our schools and hospitals and help those working in community safety. The 'Key Worker Living' programme offers housing solutions to those in front line roles in key public services in London , the South East and the East where recruitment and retention is particularly difficult." Those eligible for help include nurses and other NHS clinical staff, teachers in schools and in further education and sixth form colleges, police officers, prison service and probation service staff and social workers and in London, local authority planners will be trialed on a pilot basis. Education Secretary, Charles Clarke said he was delighted that workers in the education sector are included in the 'Key Worker Living' programme. "We know that housing costs are a significant reason why school and FE teachers and children's social workers leave London and the South East. This threatens our commitment to raising educational standards and improving public services. We need to retain experienced staff in London and the South East to provide high quality services and ensure young people fulfil their potential. I hope key workers in education will take advantage of this scheme." Health Secretary John Reid said, "This new scheme will ensure that much needed NHS staff in London and the South East are able to get a foot on the property ladder. These areas do have greater problems attracting staff to the NHS and this is in part due to the high cost of property. This new scheme will help the health service to attract and retain staff. We have already started to turn the corner and now have more staff in the NHS than ever before, but we need to work harder to recruit even more and this is just one of the ways that we are able to do this." The Deputy Prime Minister has also unveiled today the unique website address www.odpm.gov.uk/keyworkerliving and regional telephone numbers. Key workers who want to find out more can visit the dedicated ODPM website or call the helpline number in their region for full details of the type of help available, including: - equity loans of up to £50,000 towards buying a home;
- higher level equity loans of up to £100,000 for some London school teachers who are leaders in their field;
- shared ownership of newly built properties;
- intermediate renting at subsidised rates.
Notes to Editors
About the Key Worker Programmes: 1. The Starter Home Initiative (SHI) , the first dedicated home ownership programme for key workers, has been helping people onto the property ladder since September 2001. By the end of this month, from the original budget of £250m, around 9,000 key workers will have been helped to buy their first homes; people who, without assistance would have been unable to afford home ownership and may have left the area where their skills are most needed. We are making available additional funding to help up to further 1200 key workers to complete the purchase of their first homes. Whilst house prices in the lower quartile range in London , the south east and east, have risen 59% during the lifetime of the programme, the average grant needed to exceed our target has increased by only 20%. 2. A change has been made to the Starter Home Initiative scheme. Key workers helped under the Starter Home Initiative whose housing needs have changed and require a larger home can benefit from the new key worker programme. Providing they meet the eligibility rules, they may take their SHI subsidy forward with them. 3. The Deputy Prime Minister announced the outline of a new key worker programme to replace the current Starter Home Initiative in October last year. At this time, he made clear that the priorities to be adopted would reflect the importance the government attaches to tackling recruitment and retention problems in the key public services of health, education and community safety. 4. In line with this, the new programme, Key Worker Living is targeted at public services in London, the South East and the East of England where the high cost of housing is contributing to serious recruitment and retention problems. Resources are finite, so must be targeted on retaining essential skills and experience, along with the wider need to create thriving sustainable communities. 5. Key Worker Living builds on the foundations laid by the Starter Home Initiative, but extends housing assistance to key workers at different life-stages; providing home ownership for first time buyers, larger properties to meet the household needs (e.g. family sized homes) of existing home owners, shared ownership schemes and properties for rent at affordable prices. 6. Four products will be available to key workers seeking assistance: - Equity ('Homebuy') loans of up to £50,000 to buy a home on the open market or a new property built by a registered social landlord
- Higher-value equity loans of up to £100,000 for a small group of London school teachers with the potential to become leaders in their field
- Shared-ownership of newly built properties.
- ‘Intermediate renting' at subsidised levels
8. Key Worker Living aims to keep key workers in the jobs they have trained for, retaining the essential skills needed in frontline public services. If a key worker leaves the qualifying employment, they will have to repay the assistance within 2 years, subject to some sensitive exclusions (e.g. ill-health retirement). This will be recycled to assist further key workers. 7. Zone Agents have been appointed to market and administer the programme, providing a one-stop-shop for applicants. Key workers should contact the Zone Agent in their area of employment to see what types of assistance they might be eligible for. Zone agent telephone numbers and web site addresses can be found at the Key Worker Living section of the ODPM website 8. Budget £690 million will be spent through the new programme. This includes £604m in 2004/05 and 2005/06 plus employer contributions, and expenditure in 2006/07 to finish schemes. A total of £667m has been allocated to schemes by the Housing Corporation. Further allocations up to a total of £690m will be made in the light of employer contributions. 10. Eligibility Key workers who may get help are: - nurses and other NHS clinical staff;
- teachers in schools and in further education and sixth form colleges;
- police officers and some civilian staff in some police forces;
- prison service and probation service staff;
- social workers, educational psychologists, planners (in London ) and occupational therapists employed by local authorities; and
- whole-time junior fire officers and retained fire fighters (all grades) in some fire and rescue services (currently only in Hertfordshire).
Eligibility will vary across regions depending on local recruitment and retention priorities. | 
