ADD2779 Direct award contract to Future of London for the delivery of the Council-Led Housing Network

1.1.    The Council-Led Housing Network (CLHN) supports council housing delivery; and the building of capacity, skills and expertise amongst councils. This work supports the Mayor’s commitment to deliver 40,000 new council homes by the end of 2030. The CLHN meets three Mayoral housing mandates: building more homes; making best use of land; and improving London’s housing stock. Supporting the next phase of the CLHN also meets commitments made in the London Housing Strategy to deliver ‘a package of investment, skills and expertise from City Hall to enable councils to build more homes’.

 
1.2.    The current phase of the CLHN engages with council housing development teams and is built around four key programme pillars: 

•    Expert panel – councils can seek advice (twice a month) on pressing housing delivery challenges from a team of multi-disciplinary experts.
•    Housing development peer groups – councils can access a peer network of other councils; and come together to discuss pressing development issues. Examples include peer groups focused on design and small sites. 
•    Resource library – the CLHN offers access to an extensive library of resources to help councils navigate the complexities of council-led housing development. The library includes best-practice case studies on council-led delivery, and summaries from expert panel sessions.
•    Twinning – connects a small number of councils addressing similar project challenges. 

1.3.    In 2022-23, nearly 11,000 new council homes were started; and local authorities in London built twice as many council homes as the rest of the country combined. However, councils are now struggling to increase delivery due to various factors, including higher costs associated with responding to the temporary accommodation crisis. The CLHN helps support delivery and capacity-building amongst councils in the current challenging delivery environment.

1.4.    The CLHN is currently funded through a combination of GLA expenditure (as set out in Mayoral Decision 2914) and revenue received by Future of London (FoL) from private-sector sponsorship. FoL notes that private-sector sponsorship alone is insufficient to support the delivery of the CLHN; the additional GLA funding is key. The current iteration of the CLHN has been funded with £72,000 of GLA funding; and over £50,000 of private-sector sponsorship, with partners selected by FoL. 

1.5.    FoL is requesting GLA funding of £55,000 to deliver the next phase of the CLHN: a significant reduction from the £72,000 supporting the current iteration. This is due to project infrastructure already being in place; and an increase in private-sector sponsorship for the next phase (from £50,000 to £60,000). FoL has given the GLA assurance that it will secure this £60,000; and has thoroughly engaged with potential sponsors who have expressed a strong interest in supporting the CLHN. 

Procurement risk and compliance

1.6.    On 30 August 2022, the GLA directly awarded a £72,000 contract to FoL to deliver the current iteration of the CLHN. This contract expires in January 2025. The GLA verbally agreed an extension with FoL on the CLHN launch date. This resulted in FoL continuing to deliver the CLHN until November 2025. Approval is sought, under this decision form, to grant FoL a new contract to continue the delivery of CLHN up to May 2028; and ensure continuity in support for councils.

1.7.    The Ealing Procurement Framework has been confirmed as accessible to the GLA, permitting a direct award to FoL. Therefore, this procurement route is compliant with Section 9 of the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code (the Code), and no exemption is required.

1.8.    FoL has successfully delivered the CLHN to date. Its work includes over 50 sessions; 30 peer group meetings; and 17 expert panel sessions. They offer established relationships with councils; credibility; and a tailored proposal for the next phase, based on council feedback. These factors demonstrate their capacity to continue delivering value.

1.9.    FoL has shown continued involvement and alignment with the strategic objectives of the GLA’s Housing and Land directorate – particularly in successfully setting up and running the CLHN. Given this – as well as FoL’s ability to provide value for money, and the need to move at pace to ensure continuity in support for councils – the GLA will proceed with a direct award via the Ealing Framework. This route ensures compliance with procurement requirements, while enabling timely delivery of the next phase of the CLHN.

1.10.    The total expenditure for the delivery of the CLHN is £55,000, from December 2025 to May 2028. This breaks down as follows:

•    2025-26 – £22,000 
•    2026-27 - £22,000
•    2027-28 - £11,000.

1.11.    The £22,000 spend to deliver the CLHN in 2025-26 has been allocated from the GLA Housing and Land’s annual Operational Budget within the Investment and Operations unit. Budget lines from the remaining spend in 2026-27 and 2027-28 will be committed to annually, and drawn from the Housing and Land budget.
 

2.1.    The key objective is to support the Mayor’s commitment to increasing council-led housing delivery. This aim of this work is to meet commitments made in the London Housing Strategy; and support the outcomes set out in the delivery plans for building more homes, making best use of land and improving London’s housing stock. 

2.2.    The next phase of the CLHN will be adapted according to FoL’s experience of running the CLHN, and feedback from councils. FoL aims to meet the following objectives in the next phase:

•    Helping councils identify how best to enable development – including by identifying optimal organisational policies and working practices across the wider council, beyond development teams. 

•    Explore how peer-to-peer learning can be expanded to facilitate inter-disciplinary working between housing development teams, planning, procurement and finance teams within councils. The expansion of peer-to-peer learning will address internal barriers to councils accessing learning and development due to resource constraints. 

•    Expanding the resource library to look at how efficiencies can also be driven for councils by creating routes for councils to share key documentation (for example, employers’ requirements) in the resource library. 

2.3.    To meet these objectives, FoL will adapt the existing CLHN approach (the four pillars) by:

•    continuing to run the expert panel and themed housing development peer groups
•    creating new peer groups for planning, procurement and finance teams to share their development enabling approaches
•    focusing the function of the resource library on enabling efficiency, by collecting and sharing standard documentation and producing baseline templates
•    drawing on peer group insight to develop the concept of ‘a development enabling council’, which can be shared as best practice towards the end of the programme. 
 

3.1.    Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, the Mayor and GLA are subject to the public sector equality duty, and must have due regard to the need to:

•    eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation
•    advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not
•    foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not. 

3.2.    The protected characteristics are age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation and marriage/civil partnership status. The duty involves having appropriate regard to these matters as they apply in the circumstances, including having regard to the need to: remove or minimise any disadvantage suffered by those who share or are connected to a protected characteristic; take steps to meet the different needs of such people; encourage them to participate in public life or in any other activity where their participation is disproportionately low. This can involve treating people with a protected characteristic more favourably than those without one.

3.3.    FoL is committed to ensuring that diversity and inclusion are embedded throughout all of the programmes and initiatives they deliver. For example, FoL runs programmes such as the Emerging Talent Programme, which supports people from ethnically diverse backgrounds to start a career in the built environment. It also delivers the Speaker Diversity Network, which aims to facilitate more diverse speaker representation at industry events. In relation to the CLHN, FoL has sought to ensure expert panels are diverse; and all resources produced in the resource library are accessible. In the next phase of the CLHN, FoL has also committed to tracking diversity data related to participation in the programme. 

3.4.    The greatest housing need in London is for low-cost rented homes (particularly social rented homes), and councils play a significant role in delivering these. Increasing councils’ capacity, and supporting them to tackle pressing delivery challenges, is expected to have a positive impact on their ability to provide new homes. The delivery of low-cost rented homes is also likely to bring positive equalities benefits to Londoners in housing need, who are more likely to be negatively affected by higher housing costs, poverty, unsafe or poor-quality housing. The following groups disproportionately make up those in housing need: 

•    households that contain children – including households where one member displays the pregnancy and maternity characteristic 
•    Deaf and disabled households
•    Black and minority ethnic households. 

3.5.    Therefore, it is expected that the CLHN will have a positive equalities impact for Londoners with protected characteristics, particularly those in housing need. 
 

4.1.    Risks and mitigating actions are outlined in the table below: 

4.2.    As noted, the delivery of CLHN links with key commitments made in the London Housing Strategy and Mayoral commitments to support council-led housing delivery. The CLHN also links with three Mayoral housing mandates: building more homes; making best use of land; and improving London’s housing stock. 

4.3.    No conflicts of interest have been identified for any officer involved in drafting and clearing this decision. 

5.1.    This decision seeks approval, from the Director of Investment and Operations, to spend £55,000 via the direct award of a contract, through the Ealing Procurement Framework, to FoL to deliver the next phase of the CLHN. The delivery period will run from December 2025 until May 2028. The spending breakdown is as follows: 

•    £22,000 in 2025-26
•    £22,000 in 2026-27
•    £11,000 in 2027-28.

5.2    As the Ealing Procurement Framework is accessible and permits direct award, no exemption from the Code is required.

5.3    The funding for this contract is proposed to be from Housing and Land’s annual Operational Budget within the Investment and Operations unit. This budget is included in the planned budget for 2025-26 to 2027-28, approved via the 2025-26 budget-setting process. However, this is subject to final budgets being approved for 2026-27 and 2027-28. Therefore, to mitigate against risk of insufficient funding, a break clause should be included in the contracts being funded from GLA programme budget, should funding change for future years.

5.4    This contract is to be managed by the Strategy and Policy team within Housing and Land. 
 

6.1.    The project will be delivered according to the following timetable: