i So-called net debt, which financial analysts calculate by subtracting a companys cash and other easy-to-sell (liquid) assets from the total value of the debts it owes to banks, lenders, suppliers and other third parties. The contracts are for ten years., The contracts are part of the way in which the UK Government meets its duty to provide asylum for those seeking international protection in the UK., To deliver the contracts, Mears will draw on their outstanding 30 year track record of providing housing, housing maintenance and care services all across the UK, with a strong footprint in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the North East and Yorkshire.. David, the teenage son of the family who met me at the house, said, We have an electric shower, so we go and have a shower when we need to warm up. David was concerned about his sister: She has something like asthma, and the cold in the house means she has had colds and infections and time off school and had to go to hospital. In November, lone mother Ruths boiler failed for the first time. Both are wholly owned by Mears and are registered with the governments Social Housing Regulator as social housing providers. All of which could be very profitable for Mears and other private sector partners. As of 2017, the last year for which full financial results are available, Mears had not increased its levels of borrowing, even with its move into housing development rather than simply maintenance. We also found that while staff pay at Mears may have compared well to that at other major home care companies, it was still barely above minimum wage. Mears offers car & limo service, airport & cruise transfers in Orlando & worldwide, bus charters in Orlando & select cities, taxi & shuttle services in Orlando. Two months later, there was still no heating or hot water, and Mears staff had not visited the property. Almost 3,000 of these are run by Mears two non-profit subsidiaries Omega and Plexus (see section below). What exactly does this mean in practice? Mears Group PLC 1390 Montpellier Court Gloucester Business Park Brockworth Gloucester GL3 4AH. I hope you can get Mears to come quickly. Mears buys up properties, does them up and sells them on to a long-term funding partner, perhaps after a few months. In Scotland, Mears takes over from the previous manager, Serco, after a strong local campaign against that companys attempts to evict 300 refugees from their homes in Glasgow. As many authorities closed or sold off their DLO maintenance departments, the winners were contractors like Mears. For general enquiries contact our office at: Serco Limited Enterprise House . However, the sooner you start working with usthe better, so please make contact as soon as you receive your letter telling you that your asylum support and accommodation is due to stop. If you have had a positive decision on your asylum claim and have received refugee leave or some other form of leave to remain then you will be required to leave your asylum accommodation. Mears claim to provide rapid response repairs but all they do is avoid responsibility and sparing on repair costs. North of England Refugee Service (NERS) Newcastle has been welcoming asylum seekers for many years. c/o BASE Community Co-operative For example, subsidiary vehicle that could deliver funding over 30. To describe its new business approach overall, Mears likes to use a current regeneration buzzword Placemaking. The Mears home care business struggles to break even and to keep care workers, unsurprising given the infamously low rates of pay in the sector. Its critical that ministers recognise this crisis and act to ensure some of the most vulnerable people in our society are protected. In early November, the Independent reported on Mears cases in Halifax, Leeds and Sheffield where Asylum seekers (were) left in houses with no heating in rat-infested homes. But we have no way of knowing the true scale of harm or dangerous situations resulting from the new contracts. In January Cllr Paul Wood chair of Sheffield City Housing told SYMAAG 'I intend to instruct officers tomorrow (16 January) that the policy of Sheffield City Council is that we want this asylum housing contract to revert to the Council. Alternatively, you can contact our Customer Success team using the Contact Us form on the page. The roles of national and local governmentSupport for Asylum SeekersSupport after a decision on your asylum claimSupport for Refugees If you have no other means of support you will be provided with accommodation on a no choice basis by one of UKVIs contracted accommodation providers; in Newcastle the housing provider is Mears. The majority of the IRRs work is free to access. More acquisitions followed most notably Care UKs home care division in 2015 and by 2015 Mears had become the second biggest home care provider in the UK. The overcharging came from another company sub-contracted by Mears but the councils audit review found that it had not been picked up because of insufficient control mechanisms operated by Mears. The councils report also acknowledged a general break down in trust between the council and Mears. To increase margins, Mears is trying to break out into wider management roles. Mears contact info: Phone number: +44 8706071400 Website: www.mearsgroup.co.uk What does Mears do? From its beginnings in pipeline engineering, it has grown to be a leader in corrosion engineering, pipeline integrity management . 11:43, 25 JAN 2023. Barnsley has been inspecting all the licensed HMOs which Mears has been using. If you have claimed asylum and are awaiting a decision you can apply for financial support and housing from the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) which is part of the Home Office, a department of UK Government. Almost 100 million of the goodwill is for the home care businesses Mears has bought (see the section on home care above for details). In a recent June survey, a majority of asylum seekers in hotels have rated the food provided either okay, good or very good. www.mearsgroup.co.uk. Taxicab Dispatch. It has been like that for at least two months.. Find out about call charges. Mears is being hit by multiple scandals. (replace [at] with @). 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. I went to see Terry, an asylum seeker from the Middle East, at his hotel in West Yorkshire. Corporate-critical news and research since 1996, Mears Group: scandal-hit council housing profiteer turns asylum landlord. This experience, combined with our expertise in housing repairs and maintenance, means we are a strong partner for the government to deliver asylum accommodation and support that is safe, habitable and fit for purpose. 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 privaterented@newcastle.gov.uk. Gas Engineer. Until the 1980s, social housing was very largely the responsibility of elected Local Authorities. In some cases, for example in Manchester or North Lanarkshire, Mears works through joint venture companies set up together with local authorities. In 2017, Stroud Council, in Mears own county of Gloucestershire, cancelled its 4 million maintenance contract with Mears after just one year. They complain that the contracts with Mears are less favourable than the previous ones with G4S, giving them fewer rights and paying them less, which is one reason Mears have been able to procure only a few new properties in South Yorkshire, with none of the large landlords with many properties signing. Mears financial health at first glance appears solid. We must not give up fighting back and scrutinizing this company. Ruth and I then separately rang the national number demand was low at 1.30 am on Christmas morning, and we got through. This division still makes up over three quarters of Mears housing business. You cant just put them in the house and say get on with it like an average council tenant., Hundreds of asylum seekers in hotels in West Yorkshire. Mears current Chief Operating Officer, John Taylor, was Chief Executive of Orchard & Shipman when they won the deal working with Serco. I wish you good luck and the very best in your fight for a decent place to live According to Mears 2017 accounts, the value of its long term assets add up to 237 million. Mears agreed to buy Mitie Property Management, the social housing management wing of outsourcer and detention profiteer Mitie, for 35 million. The midwife told Mears that the woman had a serious iron deficiency and suggested food she should eat nothing was done about this by the Mears man. Privacy is important to us, so you have the option of disabling certain types of storage that may not be necessary for the basic functioning of the website. Have been in Mears-managed temporaryaccomodation for 8 years now. Rockledge, FL According to the union, workers at Manchester Mears and Manchester Working (a joint venture with the council) were being paid up to 3,500 less than colleagues for undertaking the same work. According to its published accounts, the new activities in its housing and care businesses have not been funded by taking on lots of extra debt. There is no suggestion that Mears uses the nationwide planning data it manages to gain an unfair advantage in its own developments. Social housing specialist Mears Group PLC has been handed contracts worth 1bn from the UK government - a sizeable deal for a company with market capitalisation of less than 400mln. We aim to provide excellent customer service, but recognise that sometimes we might fall short of your expectations. John, 2020 Institute of Race Relations, All Rights Reserved. Women in particular never get shampoo and toiletries normal for guests. He then worked from 2004-15 as a partner and senior advisor at Gleacher Shacklock, a corporate finance consultancy set up by another ex-Dresdner banker. Performed by ANSI and NACECertified NDE Specialists. Mears shared are listed on the London Stock Exchange. You can report issues to us here, Address:Innova HouseInnova ParkKinetic CrescentEnfieldLondonEN3 7XH. Robina Qureshi, PAIH's director, said: "We were getting messages in WhatsApp saying they were . When you receive your notification please get in touch with the LAASLO team who will work with the Refugee Move on Team at Your Homes Newcastle, to help you to: Your housing provider may already have referred you into the LAASLO Team and someone from the team may contact you. This is the living room. David showed me damaged furniture and a decaying wall cupboard, then a storage area with stained and damaged wall and dirty stair carpets. We provide affordable homes to renters and shared owners across the UK - from individuals in need of a temporary home, to families looking to put down roots in an area longer term. These items are used to deliver advertising that is more relevant to you and your interests. It finally turned a very small profit on home care in 2017, after it had closed a fifth of its branches, mostly in the north of England. The Citizen reports council leader Peter Marland saying: The council received a whistleblowing allegation regarding spending on our housing repairs contract. Learn how your comment data is processed. This will include identifying support needs, managing community cohesion issues, and developing strong partnerships with local authorities and in communities.. In one house with six residents the landlord discovered that Mears workers had taken out a faulty boiler which was still under warranty and were in the process of doing checks to install a new boiler, leaving the residents without heating or hot water. Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm box of lies online generator list of hotels housing asylum seekers in scotland Founded in 1996, Mears is . But whereas G4S or Capita have profited from the sell-off of national services, Mears has thrived in the smaller and less visible world of local government privatisation. Mears is an outsourcing company working in two sectors: housing management, and home care. At the end of our discussion he told me: I intend to instruct officers tomorrow (16 January) that the policy of Sheffield City Council is that we want this asylum housing contract to revert to the Council. The Milton Keynes deal is not the first time Mears has had to deal with overcharging allegations, or with whistleblowers. Well send you a link to a feedback form. Lenexa, KS 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. But there is no evidence of any illegal wrongdoing. [1] We will try to sort things out quickly and informally, but if you wish to log your issue as a formal complaint, we will investigate it accordingly. Asylum housing tenants simply do not complain, and are often frightened about challenging any official, including their landlord. These items are required to enable basic website functionality. In January 2019 Mears won its biggest deal yet 1.15 billion worth of asylum housing contracts with the Home Office. If you try to submit a local council planning application online, you will probably be redirected there. (See our 2018 company profile of Mitie here.) Tel: 0191 245 7301www.refugee.org.uk, West End Refugee Service (WERS) Asylum Support Application UK When the contracts start in September 2019, Mears will run asylum seeker housing in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and in Yorkshire, the Humber and the North-East of England. In a June 2018 presentation, Mears identified four major housing maintenance competitors: Wates, Fortem, Kier (click here for our profile of them), and Mitie Property Maintenance, which it has since bought. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. In 2016, the Brighton Argus reported residents complaints of being charged up to 30,000 at twice the cost advised by independent surveyors. And in October 2017 the council started a new investigation into further overcharging discrepancies with electrical work carried out directly by Mears. Good that you have a tenants organisation to stand up for your rights.It is always a bitter struggle against landlords like Mears.They are a huge company with massive resources and now a huge lucrative contract for asylum housing. The Home Office operate a number of regional contracts to facilitate this. They are responsible for your accommodation. The Guardian understands that the private housing provider Mears, which is subcontracted by the Home Office, has moved more than 300 people from mainly self-contained apartments into hotels over . In the five years between 2013-2017, Mears paid out 52 million in dividends, with the amount rising each year. NE1 4AX These Direct Labour Organisations (DLOs) made no profit and recruited and trained people to maintain the housing stock. To start with, Mears has two affordable housing subsidiaries called Omega Housing and Plexus UK (First Project). 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. Mears Group is a market-leading housing and care company that provides bespoke services to our clients. Asylum seekers are also having to spend longer in asylum housing or hotels waiting for interviews and decisions. Dripping Springs, TX Park Inn: What do we know about asylum hotel at centre of Glasgow attack? opportunity that fits your companys profile, a representative will reach out to you for . He also chairs the investment committee at University College London hospital. The properties here are to be demolished at a later time. An asylum housing landlord strike in South Yorkshire, Mears depends on entering into leases with private landlords to provide houses, flats and HMOs (Houses in Multiple Occupation). Mears is committed to ensuring that asylum accommodation is safe, habitable and fit for purpose and will meet all contractual and regulatory standards. Roy Irwin was the Chief Inspector for housing of the Audit Commission, the official body which audited local councils finances until it was scrapped in 2012, with its functions privatised. In Sheffield, in October, I visited a family with a 7-year-old daughter, who had reported a boiler failure back in August, when Mears was taking over their house. While those seeking asylum have no choice over where in the UK they are dispersed to, we take great pride in the fact that so many refugees chose to settle here once their claim for asylum is determined. The landlords had an informal meeting and decided that they would prefer to give notice on their existing leases and get their properties back., Mears are totally incompetent, they claimed. Mears Living includes Plexus and Omega Housing and Mears Student Life. In October a letter to then Home Office minister Victoria Atkins, signed by more than 100charities, warned that the new repairs reporting and advice system was causing needless suffering among those it is meant to protect, and called on the government to take urgent action to address the situation. Mears shares some of the characteristics the analysis pointed to as potential problems. Image Library. 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 But it was soon clear that the Placemakers at Mears were thinking well beyond just doing repairs. No report was sent to the landlord. Another contact alleged that None of us know how Mears is working. Western Avenue Mears is a public limited company (PLC), meaning its shares can be bought and sold on the London Stock Exchange. Use the branch locator to find a contact number for your local branch. It is not unusual for IACs to seek very temporary overspill places in hotels when there are spikes in the number of asylum seekers entering the UK; there was such a spike in 2019. The contract began in 2016 and was set to last for up to 10 years. And if people are in hotels instead of being dispersed, nobody has any money to buy even the basic necessities. additional documentation. Following the money. According to the Scottish Herald, Mears had just secured substantial concessions in its housing repairs contract with the council costing the authority some 25m, while a report from the councils own auditors, accountants Scott-Moncrieff said councillors had not had full facts before deciding not to re-tender the deal. An SNP councillor then asked the Commissioner to investigate whether McCabe had failed in not declaring his personal friendship with managing director Willie Docherty. For more information about Newcastle:City of Sanctuary and the partners involved please visit City of Sanctuary. Other areas where complaints about Mears have made the news for the wrong reasons include the London boroughs of Walthamstow and Islington, where they work for Family Mosaic housing association (now part of Peabody Group), and also Cornwall. The finance director, C.M. Telephone: 0808 801 0503. The group, formed of housing, community, human rights and legal organisations, wants the Home Office and contractor Mears to improve living conditions. Don't forget, if you need to log a repair and it is not an emergency, it's much easier and quicker to do it online. 112-114 Pilgrim Street. Executive Offices. The company agreed to raise and equalise wages after 80 days of strikes. A spokesperson for Mears, which provides asylum seeker accommodation on behalf of the Home Office, said it is working to reduce the use of hotels "wherever possible". As a result Mears has had to scale back its ambitions. Houston, Texas 77008. The Institute of Race Relations is precluded from expressing a corporate view: any opinions expressed are therefore those of the authors. 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. In Yorkshire and the North East, Mears is replacing G4S whose asylum housing has been notorious for squalor, infestations, and scandal when racist vigilantes attacked homes whose doors had been painted an identical red colour. But the contract will come up for renewal or retender in 2019. Lettings and management services included. In practice, the accommodation is rented from a wide range of housing associations and smaller private landlords, with Mears acting as the overall manager. We have a great opportunity for an experienced Gas Engineer to join out growing Asylum Accommodation and Support Contract team on a full-time permanent basis covering the Yorkshire area. Advertising networks usually place them with the website operators permission. Urban House is very unpopular with asylum seekers. Mears strategy involves networking across the blurring boundaries of high finance and charitable housing provision. Mears Group, which is being paid by the Home Office to tend to asylum seekers, denied the claims. Mears has 6,500 employees and a footprint across the country. . It is important that you seek specialist support to help you consider your options. The company employs 12,000 people. For more details visit www.breathe-cleanair.com. They were paid 294,000 and 248,000. We will discuss this point further below. NE4 8SR For example, a website may provide you with local weather reports or traffic news by storing data about your current location. These contracts involve providing housing for thousands of asylum seekers who have been dispersed to those areas by the Home Office while they apply for refugee status. A Mears spokesperson said: "Mears is carrying out a programme of improvements to properties used to accommodate asylum seekers. The council also announced it would change the structure, operation and senior management of Your MK. Also in 2019, the charity Migrant Help won the 100 million contract to run a new Home Office system called Advice, Issue Reporting and Eligibility (AIRE) services, which includes the reporting of repairs in asylum housing. A council spokesperson said Mears were unable to maintain the high standards we demand of our contractors, and also found elements of the contract commercially challenging.. . Newham council have done little to remedy this & we continue to campaign. The managing director is Willie Docherty, whose wife Sadie Docherty was Lord Provost of Glasgow between 2012 and 2017. But it is run privately by a joint venture which is 75% owned by Terraquest. The company employs 12,000 people. If something goes wrong and you are not happy with our service, please contact us to let us know. Published: January 8, 2019. Concerns have been raised about a letter sent to thousands of asylum seekers in Glasgow advising them not to take part in policed protests during the .