No payment for Welsh Housing Board Members

Lesley Griffiths, Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty, has announced at CHC’s Governance conference today that she is not in favour of the principle of paying housing association board members. Having consulted with our members, the Minister said ‘while there were clearly strong views, both for and against’, there was no clear evidence to say that payment would attract a better calibre into the sector. The Minister said that, at a time when resources are squeezed, she felt now wasn’t the right time to consider payment of board membership.

Commenting on the Minister’s announcement, Stuart Ropke, Group Chief Executive of CHC said:

“As part of the Housing Supply Pact with Welsh Government, we have been working on reforming Schedule 1 which includes allowing housing associations to have the ability to pay board members if they so choose. A number of our members have indicated that, in a competitive environment, the ability to pay board members (as included within the guidelines of our Code) is another helpful tool to attract a mix of skills around the table to face the challenging environment ahead.

Our aspiration is for housing associations to be recognised as the best governed organisations in Wales. Today we launched our Code of Governance and Come on Board campaign, two key elements in achieving this objective. We are disappointed with the Minister's announement and believe our members, who are independent organisations, should be able to make that choice themselves."