The Church of England Pensions Board has signed a three-year contract with Sanctuary Group to manage repairs, maintenance and improvement works on its portfolio of more than 1,200 properties occupied by retired clergy.

Under the new contract, which begins in January, Sanctuary will provide a customer-focussed service available to residents 24-hours a day, seven days a week. Sanctuary will deal with remedial maintenance issues, major repairs, heating system servicing, empty property maintenance, stock condition surveys and improvement works on the Board's property portfolio through a network of its own staff from the Group's Internal Maintenance Service (IMS) and partner contractors for specialist works.

Established in 1969, Sanctuary Group is one of the UK's leading housing providers, managing more than 78,000 homes across England and Scotland including general rented, sheltered and supported housing, student and key worker accommodation and care homes.

Shaun Farrell, the Pensions Board's Chief Executive, said: "We are delighted to be working in partnership with a leading housing association with a proven track record in managing a wide range of social and other housing.  The new arrangements will ensure our beneficiaries receive a comprehensive and cost effective service which will be available any time of day or night 365 days a year."

David Bennett, Sanctuary's Group Chief Executive, commented: "The launch of this service represents an exciting opportunity for Sanctuary and we are delighted to have secured this contract with the Church of England Pensions Board. Our successfully established in-house repairs workforce has a proven track record in delivering first class services to residents and we now look forward to extending this to retired clergy from the New Year."

Notes

The Pensions Board provides retirement housing for retired clergy through its CHARM scheme (Church Housing Assistance for Retired Ministers).

Assistance is provided in the form of property owned by the Board which is rented to retired clergy and a shared ownership scheme for retiring clergy who wish to invest some of their own capital in their retirement accommodation.

The contract with Sanctuary will, at the outset, cover the rental portfolio of 1,200 properties.

Overall the Board provides 2,700 retirement properties valued in excess of £400 million. It also runs seven supported housing schemes across England and a Nursing Home in Hindhead, Surrey.

The Pensions Board had previously managed this work from their head office via more than 50 firms of local surveyors.