Aico are pleased to announce the official launch of the Housing Safety & Wellbeing Taskforce, which due to COVID-19 precautions, took place online on the 13th January 2022. We were delighted to be joined by Sir Peter Bottomley MP, who introduced the initiative and paid tribute to the late Sir David Amess MP, who had lent us valued support during our original planning phase.
The Housing Safety & Wellbeing Taskforce will bring together partners from the public, private, and charitable sector across all nations of the UK to discuss the key issues involved in creating safer homes and making recommendations for action.
The Taskforce framework will enable all involved to work together collaboratively, and the organisation will be strictly non commercial and non-partisan, committed to promoting a holistic approach to housing safety and resident wellbeing.
At the launch event, the Housing Safety & Wellbeing Taskforce unveiled a study from CEBR (Centre for Economics & Business Research) which is a seminal piece of research, combining a statistical analysis of fire incidence across the UK, a summary of the relevant legislation, and a holistic examination of the human and economic impact of fire, based on official data and a specially commissioned YouGov survey.
The study delves into recent dwelling fires and demonstrates that the rate of reduction in fire incidents, running in tandem with new regulations, has slowed in recent years. With estimated annual costs of residential fires now exceeding £1billion, the research then goes on to examine in detail the potential impact and cost savings associated with tighter restrictions.
Tina Mistry, Relationships Manager at Aico, and Taskforce Co-ordinator, comments: “Given the trends highlighted by CEBR’s excellent research, the Taskforce will hit the ground running to discuss the implications of the data and potential actions as a result. I am hugely excited by the cross-sector, cross-party support we’ve received for the Housing Safety & Wellbeing Taskforce, and hope to forge a new consensus to address the vital priority of making everyone feel safer in their own homes.”