The news that Surrey police authority is turfing out some career police officers from their tied accommodation is worthy of further comment. In a county with high house prices, it will be difficult for the families to find alternatives they can afford, they say. The authority’s response is that its policy is to reserve such housing for police at the beginning of their careers, when they may not have enough savings to pay deposits for rental or purchase.
Tied housing has traditionally been used across many sectors of society. Many tenant farmers live in the building that goes with the farm. Church of England ministers live in houses belonging to their diocese, and other denominations have similar arrangements. The families of those in the armed forces often live in accommodation owned by the military. Hospitals have rooms for resident doctors to stay in, though these are not for families. Boarding schools often have on-site houses for staff. Foresters and conservation officers sometimes must reside on the terrain they are conserving.
The long-term effect on family finances
What effect does this have on the family finances, long-term? Sometimes the value of the housing supplied can be counted as a perk of the job. It is untaxed value. But the salary is often low too, for instance, that of church ministers. Compared with those in other professions, church ministers often find themselves stuck for housing when they retire. The Church of England has been aware of this for some years and has a stock of housing for retirees, but it is competitive to get on the list for it. What can help a clergy family is if the clergy wife (or husband) can also earn a professional salary, thus building up savings for a retirement home in the location of their choice.
But at various times in their careers, the two professions of the married partners might pull them in opposite directions. This, of course, is not unusual for any married couple, but it has added complications when tied housing is involved.
The impact on children’s education
The Surrey police families are complaining that their housing move is going to disrupt their children’s schooling. There is some evidence that children who change schools outside the standard intake years perform worse in examinations. The 2013 RSA report also referred to the accommodation problems of lower-income families whose children perform more poorly because of worsening housing choices. This phenomenon is probably weighting the statistical evidence. Families with more stable careers might be able to give more support to their children, helping them to tolerate the house move better.
In our family, we moved hemispheres (to South Africa) when one daughter was 14. She was furious with me for forcing her to leave her friends. I was more worried about possible differences in curricula. Maths was her weakest subject. Knowing the order of the learning steps in Maths can be crucial, so I spent some hours comparing the English curriculum with the South African one, as both countries have national curricula that are slightly different. The teacher in England gave me a report of exactly where her class had reached in the curriculum, which I shared with her new teacher in South Africa. She still failed Maths three years later, but I do not think this was the fault of any of her secondary teachers.
Resilience, disruption and what employers owe families
Some young people thrive in spite of changes and shocks in childhood -see Alice Loxton’s book ‘Eighteen’ about 18 young lives of individuals who subsequently became famous for their achievements. Resilience can be learned through childhood changes.
What the complaints from Surrey police families suggest is that the HR team of that authority has not done enough to prepare the families from the start to plan for housing change. If this is an inevitable part of a professional long-term career, then the couple have to pay attention to it at the start of their planning for life together, and onwards as they make schooling choices for their children. The careers of both partners have to shape this planning.
If the partner is a good earner, there may be enough savings to assist with a move, but that move may entail a change in that earner’s job location. If the partner has a lower-earning job, it might be easier to get a job elsewhere, sometimes even with better prospects. A change is not always for the worse!
Friends of Bylines Network
There has never been a greater need for grassroots journalism that investigates the stories that really matter, holds power to account and champions the voices of everyday citizens. We are proudly powered by volunteers but what we do isn’t free.
STAND WITH US for independent, citizen-led journalism that makes democracy stronger, and you will even get some exclusive benefits.
The wider problem: entering the south east housing market
The fear of entering the ferocious housing market in the south-east of England, without enough savings to get good enough accommodation, is understandable. In the UK, too much of our wealth is now tied up in housing owned by individuals. We have lost the awareness of how to invest in and utilise communal properties.
From medieval times, even more than a thousand years ago, communal properties were built by churches, monasteries, and colleges. Some of these still exist, even though the institutions themselves sometimes have to survive by selling off their old houses and plots into the housing market.
In my childhood in a Kent village, there was the Vicar (living in a Vicarage situated near the Church and the village green), and there were two houses for the police. The doctor’s surgery was in the nearest market town. There was also a village school near the Green, but I do not know how the teachers were housed. The point is that professionals with public-serving careers needed to reside in locations near their work. This was especially true in the past when only muddy lanes connected villages.
Most workers now have cars, but they do not want to have increased commutes along clogged routes. When I attended an exhibition in Tenterden a few years ago about their housing plans, I heard about their problems that housing costs in that town deter the teachers and care assistants they need from taking up posts there.
A possible way forward: rent-to-save schemes for key workers
Actually, I think what might be needed is for concerned parishes, perhaps under the new reformed local government, to designate affordable rent-to-save housing for their local professionals.
There should be a regulated national finance body that can receive the housing savings of the public-facing professionals on the move, so that it becomes easier for them to move locations during their careers.
It is in the interests of both the public employing body (the health authority, the police, education, the churches), AND the local community to make the necessary family moves of the professionals easier. And when they move out of such reserved accommodation, either for retirement or a career change, it should be easier for the family to gain financial credit.
They cannot be part of a rent-to-buy scheme for one house, so they need a scheme that is big enough to cover any move they might need to make.
CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO OUR CROWDFUNDER
HELP US BECOME STRONGER SO THAT WE CAN CONTINUE TO DELIVER POWERFUL CITIZEN JOURNALISM!
