Case Study | Folkestone & Hythe

Single housing system project assurance

Folkestone & Hythe District Council

Following the disbanding of East Kent Housing (EHK) in 2020, Socitm Advisory supported Folkestone & Hythe District Council in the assurance on the supplier financial and contractual proposals for a new system to replace the previously shared Single Housing System. This work resulted in the council confidence via an in depth and impartial assessment report.

The challenge

In January 2011, Folkestone & Hythe District Council, with three other councils, established East Kent Housing (EKH) which took delegation
of the management of the four council’s housing stock of approximately 17,000 homes. EKH took responsibility for their systems which were made up from at least four separate systems previously operated by each council independently. EKH then consolidated this approach and began the introduction of the Single Housing System.

In February 2020, a decision to break up EKH was made by councillors at all four councils following a consultation with tenants across the East Kent area. Part of this break up and subsequent move to bring operations into each of the four councils included a change to the way the Single Housing System was hosted and managed by transferring services over to the system provider, leaving each council with their own version of the system.

Socitm Advisory was requested to provide assurance on the supplier financial and contractual proposals to give Folkestone & Hythe District Council officers and councillors the confidence to select the right choice and way forward.

“The assurance report was highly persuasive and never questioned nor its conclusions challenges. The outcome reflects how strong it was. Many thanks for an excellence piece of work.”
Tim Madden, Director – transformation and change, Folkestone & Hythe District Council

The approach

Socitm Advisory undertook consultations with Folkestone & Hythe senior management, reviewed all supplier plans, proposals, and timelines, and undertook market testing and analysis. Over the course of the project, Socitm Advisory challenged and assessed multiple version of the supplier proposals.

Finally, we assessed the entire scope of the supplier proposals and provided a tiered assessment and assurance statement. Following sign-off, the report was put to Folkestone & Hythe cabinet, who subsequently approved the project given the assurance statement provided.

The outcome

The outcome for Folkestone & Hythe was an assurance report that provided an impartial and independent assessment of the subject matter. This gave the councillors the evidence of assessment, and the confidence the project proposals put forward by council officers and the system supplier.