| Social housing support and care consultancy

About Paul Kingsley

Paul Kingsley

The CV - Career HIghlights

Before setting out on my own as a consultant, I had a career spanning over 30 years in housing associations. As a director at L&Q, I founded and led its support division to many achievements, with over 150 staff, 2,500 support service users, £15m turnover and some 4,500 homes occupied by vulnerable people. It was commended by the Audit Commission during its audit of L&Q.

At L&Q I gained hands-on experience of various mergers including some high-profile organisations that had failed under challenging circumstances. I took over all the support and care operations of these organisations, working towards the onward assignment of contracts while urgently ensuring a basic safe level of service.

Before L&Q, my career included community arts before turning to social housing. I have the Chartered Institute of Housing qualification, and have been a Fellow (now Chartered Member) of the CIH for very many years.

I have sat on both sides of the boardroom and was formerly a board member and chair for some seven years of the Clapton Community Housing Trust, helping it recover from Housing Corporation supervision, complete its estate regeneration programme and steer it through to viability as a subsidiary within the Guinness Partnership.

Other board memberships have included the Housing Corporation’s advisory board on vulnerable people, representing support providers on the London Councils’ SP Lead Officers’ Forum, founding member and first chair of the G15 Support and Care Group. I have appeared on a number of platforms over the years, speaking on stock transfers, support, and organisational and service development.

Features

From Group Director to Consultant

I set up this consultancy in 2008 after 20 exciting years on the star excutive team that transformed the L&Q Group into a top-achieving housing association. In 2002 I set up a new sheltered housing and support division in L&Q to meet the challenges of Supporting People which went on to win a range of external accreditations and was held in high regard by local authority clients and service users. Most of my work with clients since 2008 has built on the expertise gained with older and vulnerable people's housing and support.

Wide Social Housing Background

My personal successes as an L&Q Group Director included leading a local authority stock-transfer (LSVT) from planning stage, through tenant ballot, to delivery of all promised stock improvements over the succeding five years. Prior to to that I led on housing development, management and maintenance as Group Regional Director in charge of general needs homes in L&Q's South East Region.

A common theme across all roles has been the forging of ambitious teams that proudly deliver services of high quality and win the respect of residents and stakeholders. For example, when my LSVT achieved the Charter Mark accreditation, the inspector noted “an insistent and persistent quest for quality” amongst its attributes.

Working with Local Authorities

Local authority differs markedly from housing associations and third sector in terms of governance and political process. I first gained an understanding of the sensitivities of the local authority environment from my time working with lead officers and members on a politically contested housing stock transfer. This was successful and ultimately gained the trust and approval of almost all politicians.

In a project management role, 2013 to 2016, I helped the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames develop and implement housing strategies for a range of vulnerable groups, working with senior officers, consulting residents groups and briefing lead members. All major projects eventually achieved buy-in and approval despite a midway change of political administration.

Inside the Boardroom

I've been a voluntary board member as school governor and on a local community interest company.

I have held posts on working parties of organisations including National Federation of Housing Associations and the sector's former regulator The Housing Corporation.

“I hired Paul to develop a housing strategy for older and vulnerable people within Kingston, including proposals for remodelling the sheltered housing service. Paul has been a pleasure to work with. He is personable, able to build effective relationships and gain people’s trust quickly. He is knowledgeable about this area of social housing and demonstrated a high level of expertise. Paul planned the project effectively and remained focussed on the brief throughout, checking back regularly to ensure that he was meeting expectations. Paul achieved the required outcomes within timescale and we were very pleased with the results. I have no hesitation in recommending Paul and am happy to be contacted for any further information.”

Jo Williams, Group Manager Housing Strategy, Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames

“Octavia Housing appointed Paul Kingsley to undertake a strategic review of our care and support services. Paul brought a fresh and innovative approach from the start, designing an intensive, time-limited and highly participative process aimed at getting board, management and staff involved in finding and owning the eventual solutions. Paul quickly earned and completely retained the trust and respect of these groups. During the project he provided us with a combination of quality research, analysis and recommendations that gave us a confident feel for the decisions we needed to take in an uncertain environment, and have now taken… Overall we were delighted with the service that Paul provided us.”

Grahame Hindes, Chief Executive Octavia Housing

“Paul led Moat’s review of sheltered housing. It was a difficult brief and required someone who could find their way quickly around the organisation, make connections with the right people in local authorities, and have the gravitas and intellect to impress the executive team and board. Paul fully delivered on all of these. He developed a tight project plan and hit all of his milestones and targets, culminating in a strategy for the way forward which was fully endorsed by the board. During the 6 months Paul spent at Moat, he impressed colleagues with his ability to get to the point quickly and the quality of his written and verbal communication. I can highly recommend Paul. He did a sterling job for us and I enjoyed working with him very much. He greatly increased my understanding of the issues and left me with an excellent strategy and action plan for implementation.”

Gerri Scott, Executive Director Housing and Customer Services, Moat

“On a short term task and finish project, Paul’s experience and input were crucial. Quickly making himself part of the team, he helped drive us to meet our objectives on time.”