Category: Press Releases

The press release issued by the Mayor of London on 4 November 2022.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, today launched a new £130m fund which will help Londoners to get the skills they need to progress into jobs in key sectors such as digital, hospitality and the green industry.

From today, adult skills providers in London, such as colleges, will be able to bid for grants of up to £5.4m over three years to provide training to around 80,000 Londoners who are unemployed or in lower paid work with a particular focus on those who are underrepresented across key industries.

As the cost of living continues to rise, it is more important than ever that Londoners can access secure, well paid jobs in future-proof industries like the health, creative and digital sectors. The Mayor is going further by introducing a ‘good work’ outcome payment within this new Jobs and Skills for Londoners Fund, ensuring provision leads to fair employment that supports the needs of Londoners and businesses.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said: “Many Londoners are making tough choices in the run up to winter with the increase in inflation and energy bills leaving them with less money in their pocket.

“This funding will support low income Londoners and those who are unemployed to gain skills that will allow them to earn more or get better paying jobs and help ensure that we are building a better London for everyone – a safer, fairer and more prosperous city for all Londoners.”

“Adult education providers play a huge role in supporting London’s communities and I urge providers to bid for this funding so they can help even more Londoners get the skills they need.”

The press release issued by the Mayor of London on 1 November 2022.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has pledged to work with the new Prime Minister to create the high-wage, high-quality jobs Londoners deserve, saying he’ll always be prepared to put differences aside and work in the best interests of the capital and the country.

However, in a keynote address to an audience of influential leaders at The Centre for London’s flagship London Conference today, the Mayor will also warn that ‘Austerity 2.0’ is not the way forward or the route to sustainable growth and prosperity.

As the city faces multiple challenges from the fallout from Covid, the upheaval of Brexit, the climate emergency, growing inequality and the cost of living crisis, Sadiq will set out his vision for a London economy “firing on all cylinders” through “more devolution, a race to the top – not the bottom, and sustained investment”. The Mayor will point to how he is championing the London Living Wage and investing heavily in skills and retraining programmes, a Green New Deal for London and City Hall’s Anchor Institutions programme.

All of these initiatives are about creating the high-wage, high-quality jobs Londoners deserve, benefitting local communities and businesses, while at the same time helping to address longstanding inequalities and accelerating London’s shift to net-zero by 2030.

Sadiq will say he has a serious, sustainable, inclusive growth plan for London, which isn’t ‘Singapore on Thames or Austerity 2.0’, but about investing in London’s communities to help make sure the city works for everyone.

The Mayor will warn against “swingeing cuts” in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement later this month and encourage him to abandon his predecessor’s notion of trickle down economic gains from cutting taxes for the wealthiest and removing regulations. Instead, Sadiq will call for Government to deliver “a better Brexit deal, a more flexible approach to immigration so we can access talent, greater funding for green infrastructure and an end – once and for all – to the divisive anti-London approach of recent years.”

Sadiq will also say “the London promise – the idea that if you work hard, you get a helping hand, and you can achieve anything – is under serious threat as economic forces are rapidly eroding any expectation that the next generation will be better off than the last.”

Sadiq will once again demand the Government act now to mitigate the impact of the cost of living crisis, which is set to hit the most vulnerable Londoners hardest over the winter. His message to Ministers is clear: “give me the powers to freeze private rents in London for two years, as well as increase welfare benefits in line with inflation and roll out free school meals to all primary school pupils.”

It is only with this support that the Mayor can build on what he has already achieved – record affordable homebuilding, greener and more affordable transport, cleaner air, introducing a public health approach to tackling crime – and continue to continue build “a better London for everyone, a city that is fairer, safer, greener and more prosperous for all our communities.”

On the need for economic growth, the Mayor is expected to say:

“It’s my firm belief that in order to help our communities through this terrible cost of living crisis – and get growth back into our economy – what we need is, more devolution, a race to the top – not the bottom and sustained investment, not swingeing cuts.

“That’s why as Mayor, I’m championing the London Living Wage, which has led to a quadrupling of living wage employers in London, and investing heavily in our skills and retraining schemes, in a Green New Deal for London and in our Anchor Institutions programme.

“All of these initiatives are about creating the high-wage, high-quality jobs Londoners deserve. And they are about promoting good growth, which benefits London’s communities, boosts local economies, businesses and supply chains, tackles longstanding inequalities and accelerates our shift to net zero.

“This is a serious, sustainable, inclusive growth plan, not Singapore on Thames or Austerity 2.0.

“It’s one that’s designed to help make sure our city works for everyone.”

On levelling up, the Mayor is expected to say:

“You can’t level up the country by levelling down London.

“So my message to the new Prime Minister today is work with me and invest in London if you want to grow the national economy, level up other regions and raise living standards – not just in London, but right across the country.

“Because the UK only works when London works – and vice versa, and I’ll always be willing to put party politics aside in the best interests of our capital and country.”

On the need for greater devolution, the Mayor is expected to say:

“We must get our economy firing on all cylinders. This means devolving more powers, funding and resources to London not only so we can ensure our city works for all our communities, but so we can help power the national recovery.

“We have the most centralised democracy in the Western world and unlocking the potential of London – and our other great towns, cities and regions – would aid our country’s fortunes, not hinder them.”

The press release issued by the Mayor of London on 1 November 2022.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is today calling for London’s 292,000 social housing tenants and shared owners to receive a Government-funded rebate to compensate for looming social rent increases next April.

Sadiq believes the cost-of-living crisis demands the same focus that saw the Government and housing providers collaborate during the pandemic, ensuring the most vulnerable in society were protected and supported.

A quarter of a million households in London pay for their social rent from their own pocket, meaning any substantial increase in rents would drag more households into poverty and, for some, drive new benefit applications.

Ministers are currently considering a new cap limiting annual social rent increases at either three per cent, five per cent or seven per cent. The Mayor is calling on the Government to go further by providing an effective rent freeze for residents. This would be achieved by giving social housing residents – including shared owners who are currently not covered by the Government’s plans – a rebate on any increases that landlords make next year. It could be fully paid for by housing benefit savings that Government will make, whichever level of rent cap it decides on.

The Mayor is also calling on the Government to scrap the benefit cap, which unfairly targets larger families. The benefit cap sets a limit to the maximum amount households where no one is at work can receive in benefits. If households’ entitlement hits this maximum amount – which is more likely to happen with higher rents – then deductions are made from their housing-related benefits. Therefore, social rent rises, even if capped, could mean some households who access housing benefit will have to cover increases themselves, with limited capacity to do so given other cost of living pressures.

By arguing for a rent rebate rather than a conventional rent freeze, the Mayor’s proposal would prevent the complete choking off of new social housing supply and essential maintenance work. Councils and housing associations wouldn’t contribute a penny more than what is set out by Government in response to their rent cap consultation. The Mayor believes it is crucial that the Government provides the investment that enables social landlords to continue to focus on building new genuinely affordable homes, and on investing in maintaining the quality and safety of all social housing. For social landlords, recent evidence shows the cost of building new homes is rising 12 per cent a year, and the cost of repairs and maintenance materials are up 14 per cent annually. Any cap on the rent increases that they are able to implement will have a significant impact on providers’ business plans and ability to invest in London’s social housing stock which are already very stretched due to inflation and increasing borrowing costs.

For Londoners waiting on housing registers, slowing down the new development of social housing is unacceptable. It is not in the interests of current tenants to scrap or pause efforts to invest in the quality and safety of their homes. And with an ever more urgent climate crisis, it is also not in the interests of the housing sector or society to reduce investment into making homes more energy efficient and achieving net zero. A rent freeze, via rebates for all social housing residents who are out pocket, would protect investment plans of social landlords alongside the household budgets of tenants and shared ownership leaseholders.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: “Londoners living in social housing are on the front line of the cost of living crisis, facing ever increasing bills and costs. That’s why I am urging Ministers to implement a rent freeze for social housing tenants via a rebate to compensate for any upcoming social rent increases.

“I have called repeatedly for a rent freeze for London’s private renters. Those in social housing and shared owners should also get the benefits this would bring too.

“We are now building council homes in London at a rate not seen since the 1970s, but the Government needs to help ensure that inflation doesn’t render these homes unaffordable for those who need them. A social housing rent freeze is the only sensible solution as we continue to build a London that is fairer for everyone.”

Dinah Roake, Chair of the London Housing Panel said: “As the Chair of the London Housing Panel, I welcome the Mayor’s position that government should implement a rent freeze, via a rebate scheme, for social housing tenants (including shared owners) whose rents are not covered by benefits and who will be dealing with immense pressures already in the current cost-of-living crisis. The panel also recognises the need for more government investment in existing and new social housing. The need for more new high-quality social housing is only increasing in the current context. For the majority of Londoners who are currently homeless, living in temporary accommodation, or living under precarious housing conditions, social rented homes are the most secure and affordable tenure – and desperately needed.”

The proposed rebate could be fully funded through whatever rent capping scenario the Government chooses, because the funds the Government would have spent through housing-related benefits under the current rent settlement would be reduced via imposing a new cap. This money could then be re-routed to social housing residents who pay rent from their own pockets.