Welsh GovernmentCommunity Benefit Good Practice Workshop
Wednesday 15 June 2016
Conference Room, Welsh Government, Llandrindod Wells
NPT Homes – Community Benefits Case Study
One of the key objectives for NPT Homes since its inception has been to maximise the economic benefits flowing from the investment programme linked to the major works required to achieve WHQS. It has been important to capture both the targeted recruitment and training and community benefit outcomes. The Value Wales Toolkit has proved invaluable in meeting these objectives.
NPT Homes has comprehensively included social clauses as part of the main improvement programme which has utilised to the full the investment potential for community benefits. NPT Homes will continue to include social clauses in all major contracts and will also use contract conditions for smaller contracts.
The use of targeted recruitment and training, as well as the community benefits menu of options across all NPT Homes’ procurement activities, is utilised on all contracts valued at £100,000 or more. Furthermore, there will be an expectation that a minimum of 52 person weeks of targeted recruitment and training is delivered per £1m of spend, as a core requirement, in addition to any other community benefits.
Contracts under £100,000 are required to deliver one or more activities, as detailed in the i2i Community Benefits Menu of Options. This gives a wider range of options for contractors, especially smaller companies, to provide added value at a manageable cash/in kind cost to their business without the longer term commitment of training and apprenticeships. However, contracts under £100,000 may also partake in targeted recruitment and training if the contractor so wishes by utilising Cyfle Building Skills, formerly known as South West Wales Regional Shared Apprenticeship scheme.
This will also help develop smaller contractors’ knowledge and understanding of community benefits and targeted recruitment and training allowing them to compete with larger contractors; not just with NPT Homes but also other social housing providers.
NPT Homes requires contractors to measure and monitor the community benefits delivered as part of any contracts awarded and this information is requested on a quarterly basis and/or during client meetings.
Since the commencement of the investment programme NPT Homes has achieved a local multiplier of £1:99, achieving £2:00 over the last 12 months. This means that 97% of staff and labour costs have been spent on staff living in Wales, 78% of goods, services and overheads have been spent on SMEs in Wales and 111 individuals have been directly employed(exceeding the target of 1 person per £1 million pound spent). We have created 46 apprenticeships equating to 2,036 apprenticeship weeks.
Whilst the focus has been on the economic benefits we also recognise the benefits to local community groups provided by contractors. Contractors have donated £22,183 in cash and £64,853 in kind to community projects.We have recycled 95% of waste.
The toolkit has enabled NPT Homes to make informed decisions around its ability to ensure economic benefits are retained in the community which will be reflected in the future environmental and external work.