On 17 July 2025, the UK government launched the Civil Society Covenant, a new framework of work that aims to bring closer the government and civil society organisations.

SJOG welcomes this initiative that recognises the importance of collaborating with governments and public bodies when shaping more equal and fair societies.  We, therefore, support the set of principles and commitments that will see people and communities at the heart of decision making.

Key principles involve:

Mutual understanding and respect - The Covenant emphasises the importance of recognising the distinct roles and contributions of both government and civil society. 

Independence and legitimacy - It includes a commitment to respecting the independence of civil society organisations to advocate and hold government accountable. 

Collaborative working - The Covenant encourages joint design, funding, and delivery of policies and services. 

Inclusivity and participation - It promotes inclusive and participatory approaches to decision-making, ensuring that diverse voices are heard. 

Accountability - The Covenant reinforces the importance of both civil society and government being accountable for their actions and decisions. 

In practice, specific commitments aim to:

Protect the right to protest- The Covenant includes a commitment to protecting the right of civil society organisations to engage in peaceful protest. 

Avoid 'gagging clauses' - It aims to prevent practices that restrict civil society organisations from speaking out on behalf of their beneficiaries. 

Co-production of policy - The Covenant promotes collaborative policy development and implementation. 

Address financial challenges - It recognises the financial pressures on many charities and the need for sustainable funding models. 

SJOG's role in shaping the Covenant

In 2024, NCVO and ACEVO led a major engagement exercise with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) hearing from over 1,000 civil society organisations, including SJOG.

Our feedback contributed to better defining the actions needed to improve the relationship between public bodies and civil society organisations, to innovate solutions for tackling societal problems together, and to draft the framework principles. 

In particular, based on our experience in engaging with public bodies on consultations and procurement exercises (e.g. market engagement and evidence-based practice and recommendations), and notably, in delivering the Homes for Ukraine programme from 2022-2024, we expressed our commitment in continuing successful collaboration.

However, on some occasions, we notice that decision making processes can be slow, and this can impact on the support we provide to people in the services. We also notice an increased turnover of staff in public bodies over the past 18 months. This can contribute to longer decision making. The lack of funding is also impacting the ability of public bodies to commit to support civil society's work.  

We suggested therefore that access to opportunities for engagement in open discussions, evidence-sharing initiatives and campaigns, in transdisciplinary research and projects, and in practical steps to create impact at local level, are important actions that would consolidate this partnership.

The full report can be found at: https://ncvo-app-wagtail-mediaa721a567-uwkfinin077j.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/ncvo-acevo-civil-society-covenent.pdf

What happens next?

As part of the Covenant's launch, the government has confirmed:

•  A new Joint Civil Society Covenant Council, which will bring together civil society and senior officials to oversee how the Covenant is implemented.
• A Local Partnerships Programme, designed to support better working relationships between local authorities, public bodies and civil society.
• A developing VCSE-HM Treasury forum, providing a regular space for engagement on economic and financial issues affecting the sector.

SJOG will continue working with government, infrastructure bodies and organisations across civil society whenever possible for better representing the needs and voices of people we support and for contributing to innovative solutions that address certain societal or individual problems.

Read the full Society Covenant at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-society-covenant

August 2025

When we recently needed to purchase new tools for our property teams around the country. SJOG's repairs and maintenance manager, Matthew, reached out to the team at George Boyd in Darlington, local to our head office. 

Thanks to the generosity of branch manager, Bob Rought and his team, we received an incredibly generous donation towards each of the 4 sets of tools we bought. 

Established in 1848, George Boyd is the UK's leading specialist in architectural ironmongery, offering a wide range of products, including tools and accessories.  

For a national charity like ours, that's a huge help. It means we can direct more resources to where they're needed most - supporting more people and meeting more need.  

Thank you George Boyd Darlington for your generous discount and donations. 

August 2025

I joined SJOG as head of homeless services in May this year. It's a welcome return for me back into working in homelessness after a 2-year sojourn into social housing. I learnt a lot during that time about the significant regulatory burden and cost pressures faced by a housing sector still reeling from years of rent reductions imposed by the coalition government. Our social housing stock is aged and crumbling and, in some cases it's unsafe, and organisations don't always have the resources to fix this. The solutions are never as simple as they might seem and I'm more convinced than ever that increasing the rate of house building is not what is needed to sort out the housing affordability crisis or impact on rising rates of homelessness.

SJOG has been widely recognised for the impact we have on people's lives and often this is involves working in partnership.  We develop partnerships that have real purpose and deliver real benefit. For example, we've been providing accommodation and support to street homeless men and women with TB at our award-winning service, Olallo House, since 2008, working with the pioneering Inclusion Health Team based at University College London Hospital. We've saved lives and money.

You can read more about that work here: Outcomes of a residential respite service for homeless people with tuberculosis in London, UK: a cross-sectional study - L Crosby, D Lewer, Y Appleby, C Anderson, A Hayward, A Story, 2023

Olallo House has recently expanded its reach, delivering an out of hospital care model (OOHCM) in partnership with North Central London ICB for people with physical and/or mental health needs, delivering huge cost savings for the NHS by providing support and accommodation to homeless people who might otherwise be in a hospital bed or facing unsafe discharge onto the streets with readmission at a later date almost certain. This is a service that is highly valued by our NHS colleagues, who will be leading on an evaluation of the model. It is one that we know would benefit other NHS trusts and that we are keen to roll out to other areas.

Over the next couple of months, I'll be drafting SJOG's homeless strategy, while continuing to talk to local authority and health colleagues about how we can support them to meet the needs of homeless people in their area. I'm really excited to be given the opportunity to shape something new.

We are a sector under pressure. Just this week, Homeless Link published its latest annual review, which highlighted a 47% reduction in accommodation services since 2008. Yet homelessness in all its forms is rising. In the last year there has been a 4% increase in statutory homelessness, 20% increase in rough sleeping, and a 12% increase in use of temporary accommodation (TA). Local authorities are buckling under the cost of providing TA.

And those of us who have been in the sector for a while are seeing the same people cycling endlessly through our services. While our psychological, trauma-informed approaches have improved delivery and secured better outcomes for some, there are people for whom this just isn't working. I want to work with SJOG and homeless sector colleagues to try to find some different approaches. Collaboration is particularly important in the financially straitened circumstances in which we currently find ourselves.

I don't often speak to colleagues about my own periods of homelessness, partly because I recognise the singularity of experience. I don't want to reflect my own experiences on to the people I work with. I've also carried a lot of shame about my past for a long time. But I'm getting on now and I'm getting over it and starting to recognise what my experiences have given me. One of those things is an unshakeable belief that everybody can recover and that everybody has something to offer. That drives me to deliver the best possible services and will guide the work I do in my new role.

SJOG has a long history of supporting people, and we have made huge progress, but there is still more to do. Please get in touch if you think you could support our work in any way.

July 2025

About the consultation

The consultation launched by the Government on the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act, closed on 15 May 2025.

The consultation sought views on how the Government will implement the Act, how to inform the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to work on licensing schemes to claim housing benefit in England, and how to define care, support and supervision in housing benefit regulations.

At SJOG we deliver support to people who claim housing benefits across our homelessness and housing management services. We are aware that the implementation of this legislation will have a significant impact on the way services are run.

Melanie Smith, SJOG's National Housing Manager explains: 'All supported housing residents deserve a good quality home and services, therefore the changes proposed by the Act are welcomed. There are areas however that require more clarity and strategic approaches on how the operating environment is going to support housing providers. For example, in its current form, it is difficult to assess potential costs of implementation and running a licence scheme, or how this will be operated by local authorities.  Similarly, the Act aims to introduce new regulatory criteria for 'support, supervision and care' for those in receipt of housing benefits. While it is suggested that 'care' will follow the definition as prescribed by the CQC in England, it remains unclear what 'support' and 'supervision' should look like for the housing providers.

By working together with the sector, we believe that we can collectively address these concerns.  Therefore, we contributed to joint consultations coordinated by Homeless Link and Supported Housing People (SHP).

The consultations were divided in 3 sections:

1.  National Supported Housing Standards and Principles: identified as person-centred support, empowerment, environment, staff and safeguarding, local need, responsible person, statement of purpose.

Some gaps in definitions were highlighted, including: the importance of confidentiality and data protection, the privacy around 'description of location' where this could pose safety risks, or the reformulation of 'complaints procedure' to 'comments, compliments and complaints procedure'. This implies that 'local needs' standards should be flexible and relevant for addressing complex local needs and that where there are residents who are deemed to 'lack capacity' under the MCA 2005, supported housing providers should be able to demonstrate how they support and facilitate people to make their voices heard and have their choices realised. In this direction, every effort should be also made to accommodate the way people make decisions and choices, which may be very different from what we are used to.

2. The Licensing Scheme

The implementation of a licensing scheme administered by local authorities (LA) has been advanced by the Act. The consultations bring to the Government's attention: clarity over exemptions; how will it be implemented through LAs; how it should interact with other licensing schemes (e.g. houses of multiple occupation) and regulations (e.g. Ofsted and CQC); how it will be enforced and what will happen if a service fails to gain a licence; what support providers will need to become licensed; who the 'licensee' would be in models where the landlord is not the same as the support provider.

SJOG supported the idea of licensing as a service rather than as a scheme, including the adoption of one licence requirement for any LA area.  In fact, while we support the idea of upholding standards in supported accommodation, we are concerned that requiring a separate licence for each individual scheme (e.g. each building or address) would imply excessive administrative and financial burdens, especially for providers operating multiple sites. Therefore, a licensing model based on projects or services, would better reflect the operational realities of providers and would promote consistency across regions, as it would ensure the focus on quality oversight without deterring provision for people with complex needs.

Moreover, we also suggested that a licensing scheme should be a passport for local authorities to be able to claim 100% of the subsidy back from central government. At present, LAs can only claim 100% of the subsidy back where it is a registered provider (this includes all  accommodation provided by LAs, county councils,  housing associations, registered charities or voluntary bodies that are providing 'care, support or supervision' to the resident in receipt of housing benefits), but it should be extended to any organisation or private landlord who is licenced as it shows that it is well run and provides quality accommodation.

3.     Proposed Housing Benefit Changes

This section aimed to explore the implications of housing benefit payments in relation to the new licensed scheme. Through the consultations, it was highlighted that although the Act claims how resident should be 'signposted or referred to specialist services where necessary', it isn't clear to what extend housing benefit will fund the support provided. In fact, it is important to better define what the criteria of 'care, support and supervision' should look like for those in receipt of   housing benefits, in order for services to by eligible to the scheme. In other words, funding should be able to cover all costs involved in complying with such requirements of care.

Additionally, as each housing benefit claim will need to be assessed individually, it is important to consider a person-centred approach that should not delay claims, as sometimes the amount of information being requested takes time to be collected and provided.

Conclusion

To conclude, we believe the new regulation has the potential to set up the right environment for more decent and safe accommodations, but it may also create significant financial and administrative burdens for organisations that are already underfunded, and would require additional resources to be able to implement the scheme.

For a full read of the Homeless Link submission, please check : https://homelesslink-1b54.kxcdn.com/media/documents/Full_SARO_Act_consultation_response.pdf

June 2025

We're not even half way through the year and SJOG is already celebrating a number of awards, nominations and commendations - another strong reflection of the exceptional people at SJOG and the high-quality services we deliver.

Housing with Care Awards - Senior Leader Award
Linda, SJOG's Head of Operations South was named a finalist and received 'highly commended' by judges. They praised her 'remarkable career defined by compassion and innovation', noting her tireless advocacy for improving supported living environments, pioneering inclusive community-focused care models for people with complex needs.

The Learning Disability and Autism Awards - People's Award

Matthew has been shortlisted in this category for his work at Woodhall as an expert by experience which includes Matthew's work on developing user-friendly support plans and the co-production of a dignity audit for the service.

Service Manager of the Year
Miggy, Service Manager at The Minims in Hertfordshire has been shortlisted in this category for her exceptional leadership and dedication.  She consistently goes above and beyond in delivering outstanding care and support to those in her service. 

And Here to Help, our suicide prevention programme, which already picked up a European Innovation Award, has also been shortlisted in the Learning Disability and Autism Awards.

In addition, Suzi our activity co-ordinator at St Paul's has been short-listed dedication to her role and 'bringing the service to life with her energy and her innovative ideas'.  The whole team at St Paul's have also reached the finals for the End-of-Life Palliative Care Team award - a recognition of their compassionate and dignified approach in this area.

Unsung Hero Award - Teesside Student Futures
One of our brilliant volunteers (and now a permanent member of the team), Meryem, has been honoured with the Unsung Hero Award for her work on our Here to Help project.
Meryem's commitment to supporting autistic individuals and their families has made a real and lasting impact.

As a volunteer, Meryem has gone above and beyond in our work around autism and suicide prevention, contributing through one-to-one support, drop-in sessions, and co-facilitating professional training.

Huge congratulations to everyone recognised so far this year!

June 2025
 

The Old Vicarage, SJOG's residential care service specialising in supporting people with autism, has been awarded National Autistic Society Autism Accreditation. This is the third service to be awarded accreditation, demonstrating SJOG's commitment to providing high-quality, autism focused personalised care where people thrive in capable environments.

Dr Lisa Alcorn, Chief Operating Officer, said, "The team has worked tirelessly to create a service that goes beyond meeting needs and focuses on people reaching their full potential by providing exceptional autism practice. This recognition is not just a badge; it's a validation of the work we do every day to ensure people receive the support they need to lead fulfilling and purposeful lives. The Old Vicarage team, led by Nicola Toth are to be commended for the outcomes people are achieving. We are very proud of the work they do."
 

May 2025