The Shareholder Committee of Westminster City Council met on 17 July 2025 to discuss the performance of Westminster Community Homes, Westminster Builds and Westco, and to appoint a new director for Westminster Community Homes. The committee reviewed the end-of-year performance for 2024/25 for Westminster Community Homes, Westminster Builds and Westco, and approved the appointment of Councillor Judith Southern to the board of Westminster Community Homes.

Westminster Community Homes Performance Review

The Shareholder Committee reviewed the performance of Westminster Community Homes (WCH) for the year 2024/25. The committee was asked to note and comment on the year-end performance of landlord metrics, financial metrics, the delivery of the 2024/25 management plan, and the priority focus for Quarter 1.

Key highlights from the report include:

• Overall resident satisfaction with landlord services was 71% against a target of 85%.
• Satisfaction with the overall repair service was 51%.
• 85% of non-emergency repairs were completed on time.
• 99% of emergency repairs were completed on time.
• Rent arrears ended the year at 7% against a target of 3%.
• 100% of all complaints were dealt with on time for Quarter 4.
• 100% compliance in all Health and Safety areas.

WCH is predicting an operating deficit of £0.534m for the year ending 2024/25, which incorporates £0.939m of one-off costs relating to the Stock Refresh Programme. However, this is an improvement of £1.380m from 2023/24, where a £1.9m deficit was reported.

During the year, WCH sold two properties, a part share in a shared ownership property which resulted in a slight loss of £0.011m, and a full sale of a further property which resulted in a profit of £0.162m. They also purchased 12 properties totalling £7.716m for the Church Street regeneration site and the Ebury site.

The board approved a baseline interim strategy and operational management plan for the year 2024/25, based on four strategic pillars:

• Be an outstanding Landlord by doing the basics brilliantly.
• Regeneration- Making it Happen.
• Provide more Homes and remain financially strong.
• Support WCC by maximising RP status¹.

Key elements of delivery during the year include:

• Delivering an EPC² rating of C or above for 86% of all applicable homes.
• Reduced the number of repair orders in progress form 250- 50.
• Improved financial reporting to enable profitability by tenure and service to be monitored.
• Improved oversight of health and safety compliance and partnership working with WCC
• Delivering 100% Decent Homes compliance for all applicable homes.
• Investing c£2m in our Healthy Homes programme to ensure all our homes are free from hazard, outstanding repairs are completed and are decent homes compliant.
• Supporting the Regeneration activity at Church Street and Ebury Estates.
• Supporting Corporate Property manage short term property interests.
• Secured £4.5mm of GLA³ grant to support the MOT yard development at Harrow Road.
• Completed demolition of the former MOT yard to enable construction works.
• Supported WCC deliver schools breakfast clubs by providing £45k of funding.

A revised service level agreement (SLA) between Westminster City Council (WCC) and WCH for housing services has been negotiated, with the aim of ensuring a full cost recovery model, KPI standards that align with existing WCC standards, a reflection on the requirements of an independent RP, standards that reflect the strategic ambition of the Board and customer expectations, and a commercial approach to contract monitoring. Progress on outlining the service standards required from WCH have been presented to officers who have responded accordingly with a revised operating model and cost envelope which increases the annual fee from £260k to £511k.

Appointment to the Westminster Community Homes Board

Councillor Judith Southern was appointed to the Board of Westminster Community Homes, following the resignation of a previous board member. The Shareholder Committee holds delegated authority to act on behalf of the council for a number of key decisions, including the nominations of Directors to be appointed to the Board of a subsidiary. The new appointee will become a board member of Westminster Community Homes and a Director of the company. The role of Director is not subject to any remuneration.

Westminster Builds Performance Review

The Shareholder Committee reviewed the performance of Westminster Builds for the year 2024/25 and considered key activities for 2025/26, noting the report. Westminster Builds managed 101 intermediate rent homes at the end of March 2024/25, purchased from Council developments. In Q1 2025/26, WB will acquire 7 homes at Luxborough and in Q4 will acquire 31 homes at Westmead. Following these purchases, WB will own and manage 139 properties.

The draft final position reported is an operating profit of £0.531m, against a business plan assumption of £0.600m. The key variance is mainly due to higher-than-expected service charges. Income from Investments of £2.418m is the in-year cash profit received from the Luton Street sales. As of March 2025, there was one remaining home unsold at the end of 2023/24.

The company has continued to work closely with WCC Housing who let and manage homes on the company's behalf. Since letting commenced in December 2021, 101 properties have been let and occupied by the same residents. The rental levels, location and high specification of build make the properties very popular within the community. The first round of 2-year renewals were recently processed and all eligible tenants renewed.

The business plan assumes the delivery of Ebury Phase 2 through Westminster Builds. An Outline Business Case was approved by Capital Review Group in April 2025 which endorsed and reaffirmed Westminster Builds as the preferred delivery route. Future governance around drawdown of development loans will be presented to Shareholder Committee towards the end of 2025 when the main construction contract is signed and delivery transferred to Westminster Builds.

As at 31st March 2025, WHIL had total interest-bearing debt of £12.260m of which £11.047m were acquisition loans owed to WCC. Total assets at the same date were £34.538m. The company is also due a final tranche of profit from the LLP for of the sale of homes at the Luton Street development, forecasting £0.912m of 25/26 WHIL profit (60% of total profit as per LLP agreement). During 23/24 and 24/25 a total £10.068m has been received by WB.

Westco Performance Review

The Shareholder Committee approved the Westco business plan, but the details of the discussion are restricted.