of our less energy efficient rented homes up to at least a band C. By year end, energy efficiency improvements had been completed to PAS 2035 standards in 52 properties in the North of England and a further 50 properties had works on site, which included cavity wall and loft insulation, window and door replacements, upgraded electrical heating systems with ventilation and low energy lighting. The affordability of our rented homes, defined as being units with a rent lower than the Local Housing Allowance, fell from 93% in 2022 to 89% in 2023 and 80% in 2024. This resulted from an increase of 7.0% in social rents for existing tenants under the Rent Standard, set against a Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rate that was held flat under government policy. Since the end of the financial year, the government has announced an increase in LHA rates limited to 2025, and as a result the affordability of our homes will reflect an improvement.
We expanded the impact of our resident wellbeing and colleague diversity initiatives in 2024, delivering a broader range of initiatives under both programmes and exceeding 2023 delivery. We have looked at how we measure these benefits. We have been measuring engagement in these programmes at each contact point and are now seeking more in-depth measures to ensure that we are evaluating the benefits experienced as fully as we can. More information on our social and environmental impact is provided in our Directors' Report and Anchor demonstrates further positive ESG impact through its annual Sustainability Reports. We adhere to the Sustainable Reporting Standard for Social Housing in preparing our reports, with our next report due in Autumn 2024.
ESG KPIs
Business Plan link
Target
2024
2023
Additional homes Number of new units reaching practical completion (any tenure) Affordability of homes Proportion of rented units with affordable rent defined as being below Local Housing Allowance Energy efficiency of rented homes Percentage of rented homes with an Energy Efficiency (EPC) rating of C or better Energy efficiency of new homes Average EPC score for all new units reaching practical completion in the relevant year Wellbeing services Number of resident lives impacted positively through our wellbeing projects Colleague diversity 1 Number of colleagues’ lives impacted positively through our diversity projects
More and Better Homes More and Better Homes
573
480
82
80%
87% 100% EPC C by 2030 85
89%
More Efficient
86%
83%
More Efficient
85
82
10,000
12,615
10,999
More Efficient
More Opportunities for Colleagues
500
728
621
1 The Colleague Diversity KPI has been restated for 2023 following a review of how the impact of some diversity projects were measured.
20 Anchor Hanover Group Annual Report & Financial Statements 2024
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