To start with, Mears has two affordable housing subsidiaries called Omega Housing and Plexus UK (First Project). I tried to contact them but there was no reply for hours. Moreover, Mears understands the importance of supporting each person whilst living in its accommodation and to ensure that as a company it works with the communities in which it delivers services. There is a Mears guy up in Newcastle who has told us he is responsible for 500 properties and has no record of the landlords. Another landlord with eight asylum houses on the G4S contract told me of longstanding tenants contacting him, frightened because Mears repair staff had been in a property and disconnected the fire alarms and smoke detectors and told tenants that someone would return to repair them. It had hoped to take over the contract to run much of the Ministry of Defences main accommodation estate in 2018, after Carillion went spectacularly bust. In its last annual report, for 2017, Mears work brought in revenues of 900 million. Contact Information . Company Watch (no relation to Corporate Watch), a financial analysis firm used by the government, recently described the business models of outsourcing giants Serco, Capita, Interserve and Mitie as bankrupt. Experience of managing around 17,000 homes in collaboration with landlords across the UK. In one hotel we all refused to eat the out-of-date sandwiches they gave us they were very smelly as we opened the packs. Muslim women with the headscarf were really terrified and very afraid for their children.. Asylum seekers are also having to spend longer in asylum housing or hotels waiting for interviews and decisions. Asylum Help UK For more information on the new asylum housing contracts see our recent article. Most of the rest, 194 million, were made up of goodwill. "An inspection was carried out at this property in Newcastle and . Finally, Mears has also started to develop and build houses itself, particularly as part of regeneration schemes. According to local press, Mears agreed to end the contract after heavy criticism about its council housing repairs and maintenance work. Call Childrens Panel if youre a child in the UK on your own and applying for asylum. Well send you a link to a feedback form. See All Operating Companies. Mears current Chief Operating Officer, John Taylor, was Chief Executive of Orchard & Shipman when they won the deal working with Serco. Mears did not respond and three days later her ceiling collapsed. If Mears does, at some stage, have to accept that it overpaid for its home care businesses, its overall worth could be significantly reduced. For welfare rights and money advice please visitWelfare Rights. To find out how to apply for a council or other housing association home and to see properties that are available to rent please visitYHN, Private Rented Housing - For advice about renting a house privately you can contact the Private Rented Service at [email protected]. In some cases, for example in Manchester or North Lanarkshire, Mears works through joint venture companies set up together with local authorities. Investors reckon the companys shares are worth 3.30 each and 363 million when they are all added together (market capitalisation, in the jargon). Heber City, UT I think the most frightening thing I saw was when there were over a hundred of us in a hotel in November, with families and some children under five, and we were all told to stay in the hotel for a week because on social media someone political had threatened us. Mears goodwill comes from their acquisitions of housing and care companies. Western Avenue Asylum Support Application UK. For example, a website may provide you with local weather reports or traffic news by storing data about your current location. We look forward to hearing from you soon. I have never had any money. The company says it is still trying to grow its home care business but only with contracts that can provide clear and sustainable margins (in other words turn a profit). One important trend in the UK housing world is the convergence of private and social sectors. Nowadays, Murphy sits on the boards of large public sector organisations as well as private companies. For general enquiries contact our office at: Serco Limited Enterprise House . One, now in the bag, covers major Home Office asylum housing contracts for Scotland, Northern Ireland, and North East England, Yorkshire and the Humber. They dont make decisions on asylum applications. To contact the LAASLO team, pleaseemail [email protected]. All rights reserved. 2019-12-21 19:00:03 . Mears rules out controversial policy imposed by previous asylum housing provider Serco Libby Brooks Scotland correspondent Thu 25 Jun 2020 09.46 EDT First published on Thu 25 Jun 2020 09.45 EDT Murphy started his career as a Treasury civil servant in the 1980s before heading into the private sector working with German investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort. A private "social housing" business, Mears Group, is about to become one of the UK's biggest refugee landlords, winning three ten year asylum accommodation contracts from the Home Office worth a total 1.15 billion. Mears Group PLC 1390 Montpellier Court Gloucester Business Park Brockworth Gloucester GL3 4AH. Use the branch locator to find a contact number for your local branch. All rights reserved. Outside the properties there were piles of rubbish near the street entrance. You do not have any money at all to buy anything extra to what you are given. It has been particularly involved in Mears governance in the last year as it successfully led a move to oust long-term chairman Bob Holt (see the people section). Today on the protest there were people stuck in these conditions for 5 months the Home Office contract says that Mears should keep people in Urban House only for a few weeks. Would love your thoughts, please comment. I take them from the cleaners trolley and give to the women. Mears has been awarded three new government contracts to provide accommodation and support for asylum seekers., The contracts are to provide accommodation as well as supporting each service user. Mears financial health at first glance appears solid. TECH: A Guide to the Politics and Philosophy of Technology. Blogs. For information on organisations that can help please visitNewcastle Support Directory Family Reunion. I am pretty sure they are starving during the night. But, at least, providing this service must give it a real familiarity with the planning system and how it works across the country. Advertising networks usually place them with the website operators permission. Click on the heading below to go straight to a section: Mears is one of the UKs biggest maintenance and repairs contractors, working on over 650,000 homes for councils and housing associations. After asylum seekers register their asylum claims at the Home Office in Croydon, they may stay with relatives or friends to await the outcome of their claims, signing at reporting centres, or (which happens to the vast majority) may be sent to IACs (Initial Accommodation Centres) and from there to asylum housing. These items help the website operator understand how its website performs, how visitors interact with the site, and whether there may be technical issues. Gas Engineer. When you visit websites, they may store or retrieve data in your browser. Mears is still employed as repairs contractor but now under council management and with its work clearly badg[ed] .. as undertaken by Mears Group PLC to remov[e] confusion for tenants. Mears likes to boast about this scheme. The National Audit Office (NAO) is currently also investigating the new asylum housing contracts; it is calling for evidence from asylum tenants and anyone involved in the contracts. Call Freephone: 0800 170 7008 or email: [email protected] The national portal is set up by the governments Ministry of Homes, Communities and Local Governments. Campaign group says 91-room hotel was used by social care provider Mears Group They told me they were paying in this hotel 150 for every person every week. Asylum accommodation and support services; News News. We are honoured to be a recognised City of Sanctuary; part of a network of towns and cities throughout the country that are proud to be places of safety, and which include people seeking sanctuary fully in the lives of their communities. To give a few examples, non-executive director Julia Unwin is a high-flyer in the charity sector who also has a foot in the privatised water business. Borrowing too much from banks and other lenders is a major reason why construction and maintenance companies go bust, Carillion most recently. Mears do not want to take responsibility for the lack of repairs (in my case it is ceilings falling in, kitchen floor caved in, windows nailed shut, bath rotting) and they offered me another of their overpriced properties only when I started suing them. In 2017, Stroud Council, in Mears own county of Gloucestershire, cancelled its 4 million maintenance contract with Mears after just one year. These items allow the website to remember choices you make (such as your user name, language, or the region you are in) and provide enhanced, more personal features. While this is a big new income source for Mears, asylum landlords have not always had an easy ride financially. Corporate Watch We would also love to hear from you if you have any positive or constructive feedback to offer. Have been in Mears-managed temporaryaccomodation for 8 years now. Right now a window has burst open in the middle of night and we cant close it as it was held shut for 8 years by 1 nail only. News stories, speeches, letters and notices, Reports, analysis and official statistics, Data, Freedom of Information releases and corporate reports. In West and South Yorkshire there was a 13 percent increase in asylum seekers in accommodation, from 5,198 to 5,865, in around 1,500 properties. We provide and manage 17,000 homes for local and central Government and are also responsible for keeping 750,000 of all social housing in the UK in good repair. Wed like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services. 2727 North Loop West At the end of 2017, Omega managed around 1,000 properties, and Plexus over 1,700. This storage is often necessary for the basic functionality of the website. If you are in receipt of benefits it may be a requirement of the Jobcentre Plus that you look for work. Newcastle upon Tyne News. At Quanta its not a job its a career. A Mears think tank brochure from 2016 flags up ideas for a mixed market approach involving bond finance, private sale, and scope to create [a] subsidiary vehicle that could deliver funding over 30-40 year term. These officers will support the move on process if you are granted refugee status and will offer advice and signposting if you receive a negative decision on your asylum claim. Unite the Union accused Mears of penny pinching stupidity, saying it should just pay for better dust masks that can cover beards. We look forward to hearing from you.Find contact details for care, repairs or management queries on our list of local branches. Its flagship regeneration contract in Milton Keynes may be collapsing amid allegations of overcharging for repairs, while it has recently been dropped from a big repairs deal on its home turf of Gloucestershire. In short: allegations have flown thick and fast around the Mears Scotland contract, and there is no doubt that the council leader was close to Mears executives. Both Serco and G4S complained of losing large sums of money on the previous deals. 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Check benefits and financial support you can get, Find out about the Energy Bills Support Scheme, youre an asylum seeker and youve just arrived in the UK, youve just received the decision on your asylum application, youve been successful in your asylum application and are building a new life in the UK, dealing with agencies, eg social services, building a life in the UK if youre given permission to stay here, threatened or harmed by someone because of your race, threatened or harmed by a member of your family. The Home Office said: "The number of people arriving in the UK who require accommodation has reached record levels and has put our asylum system under incredible strain. Like those companies, Mears is operating in low margin businesses, facing competition for contracts that, for the most part, do not allow for significant amounts of profit to be made. When you visit websites, they may store or retrieve data in your browser. When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. Mears is committed to ensuring that asylum accommodation is safe, habitable and fit for purpose and will meet all contractual and regulatory standards. I hope you can get Mears to come quickly. Further complaint has been sent., Asylum housing tenants and others have told me of Barnsley HMOs which Mears had not cleaned for months and where basic hygiene repairs had simply not been done. G4S lost all its asylum housing contracts in 2019 after a sustained campaign over six years by asylum tenants with the courage to complain and challenge the international security company as their landlord. Mears Group is a market-leading housing and care company that provides bespoke services to our clients. It deals in information. But it was soon clear that the Placemakers at Mears were thinking well beyond just doing repairs.