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Short on time? Wednesday’s housing news in five minutes
A round-up of the top stories this morning from Inside Housing and elsewhere
Top story: Watchdog bans government’s Universal Credit adverts for being ‘misleading’
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Universal Credit adverts, paid for by the government in the Metro and Mail Online in May, have been ruled misleading by the advertising watchdog.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said that the campaign, titled ‘Universal Credit uncovered’, included misleading claims such as the assertion that the job centre can pay claimants in advance and pay rent directly to landlords.
Zacchaeus 2000 Trust, the charity that initially lodged the complaint, also argued that the adverts were not clearly displayed as having been produced by the government. While the ASA said that the print adverts were “obviously identifiable as marketing communications”, it argued that this was not the case for the online ones.
A representative from the Department for Work and Pensions said that the department “consulted at length” with the ASA when creating the adverts and is “disappointed” with the decision.
Grenfell survivors react with anger over Rydon’s inclusion on government framework
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A group of Grenfell survivors have questioned whether the government intends to learn the lessons of Grenfell, after news broke that it included the contractor that carried out the tower’s deadly refurbishment on a procurement framework for high-rise buildings.
Rydon, the lead contractor on the refurbishment that fixed combustible cladding to the walls of Grenfell, is one of 12 contractors on a new framework that allows government departments and public sector bodies to select contractors for publicly funded projects.
Last week, the Grenfell Tower Inquiry found that the cladding was the primary cause of the vertical fire spread and that it did not comply with building regulations.
The next phase of the inquiry will look further into the 2016 refurbishment of the tower and ask why decisions about materials were made.
Lunchtime long read
As the dust settles on last week’s Grenfell Inquiry phase one report, Inside Housing presents a timeline of some of the key events and missed warnings that ultimately led to the fire.
Starting in the 1960s, the timeline spans a period of more than 50 years and touches on the introduction of the ‘stay put’ policy, Margaret Thatcher’s 1984 Building Act and cladding fires dating back to the 1990s.
Quote of the day
Picture: Jon Heal
“The key message from both the Hackitt Review and the inquiry is that change is coming – and we need to prepare for it now.”
Debbie Larner, head of practice at the Chartered Institute of Housing, has written about nine steps social landlords should take following the Grenfell Tower Inquiry phase one report.
Click here to read the full article
In the papers
The Guardian has written about left-wing thinktank Fabian Society’s proposals to end in-work poverty, which include freezing the thresholds at which people pay tax and national insurance.
Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen is facing backlash for sticking up for Jacob Rees-Mogg following comments made yesterday about the Grenfell Tower fire, the Evening Standard reports. Mr Rees-Mogg, who has since apologised for the comments, said he would have ignored the fire brigade’s advice and evacuated himself from the building as doing so was “common sense”.
Meanwhile, The Independent reports on a campaign pledge for Labour to eradicate food bank use, rough sleeping and in-work poverty in Britain in the next five years.
Local news
Up to 30 businesses in Gateshead will be asked to move as part of a £90m regeneration of the town centre, the BBC reports.
Also on the BBC, Trafford Council has revealed plans to build 750 homes next to Old Trafford Cricket Ground.
According to the Yorkshire Post, nearly 600 new homes in the Yorkshire Dales remain unfinished or unbuilt despite the number of planning approvals running at a record, with only 25 homes expected to be completed this year.
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