About Keyworker.com
Ahead.
Keyworker.com is being built to house the people who keep places working, close to where they work, and to finance those homes through long-term investors rather than employer guarantees.
Why should the homes that keep public services running depend on agreements that employers struggle to renew?
What The Site Shows Today
Registration for people in work, employers and owners, alongside a register of the staff housing that already exists.
Homes Close To Work
People in work register what they need: workplace, budget, journey and move date. The page shows the staff housing the register records near their work, and listed homes appear as owners confirm them.
Employer Requirements
Employers set out the homes their staff need, privately and without sharing staff records, and invite staff to register through their own link.
The Register
Real records of staff housing schemes, the agreements behind them, and when the employer support can end.
What We Are Building
Two layers, built on one record of who needs a home, where, and at what cost.
The Marketplace
A marketplace for homes close to work, open to everyone in work. Owners of professionally managed blocks and portfolios will list their homes. Employers will set out what their staff need. Residents will search by workplace, budget, and journey.
Published Requirements
For each major workplace, from hospitals and schools to stations and depots, we intend to publish how many homes its staff need, at what budgets, and by when. Employers will confirm the figures. Any owner will be able to offer homes to meet them.
The Keyworker Standard
A published standard for key worker housing. We will grade each scheme on its legal basis, the demand around it, how well it is managed, and how secure its income is. The grade is intended to give employers confidence in the homes they recommend, and to give investors evidence they can rely on. Owners will pay for the assessment. No one will be able to pay for the grade. We will seek the Standard’s recognition by councils and lenders.
Where We Are Going
Over time, we intend to offer three things.
For Key Workers
Better homes close to work: comfortable, available when the job starts, easier to find and apply for, and with more choice over where and how to live.
For Employers
A way for public sector and other institutional employers to secure homes for their staff without taking on leases or guarantees that count against their capital budgets.
For Investors
Income assurance designed to bring institutional investment, and lower-cost capital, into key worker housing at scale. It is intended to take the place of the income guarantees that public employers can no longer readily give. For investors: the evidence and the roadmap.
How We Are Paid
Our income will come from owners and investors. Residents never pay us, and employers register for free.
- Owners and operators pay one annual subscription for each scheme they list, priced in bands of fifty beds.
- Owners and investors will pay for evidence: site demand reports, portfolio reviews, and continuing portfolio monitoring.
- Owners will pay for each assessment against the Keyworker Standard, whatever the grade.
- Any charges for income protection will be set out with its terms when it is offered.
How We Keep It Fair
- We will publish what each area needs. We will not decide who may build there, and we will not sell exclusive areas.
- Any owner of a professionally managed block or portfolio will be able to list it. Any listed scheme will be able to apply for a grade.
- Grading will follow a published method, and it will be kept separate from our letting work.
- No one will be able to pay for a grade, or for a place in the income protection pool.
- We keep each owner’s rents and plans confidential. Any market figures we publish will combine several owners and appear after a delay.
- Employers will see totals rather than names, unless a resident chooses to share.
- Residents never pay us a fee.
Who Is Building It
People from the industry, with a personal stake in getting it right.
Delivery
We have delivered key worker housing, and we understand the viability of housing schemes in today’s market.
Capital
We have raised capital for housing, and we know what institutional investors need to see before they commit.
Daily Life
We live alongside key workers, so we know what a good home close to work means day to day.
Why The Model Needs To Change
Much of today’s staff housing rests on nomination agreements, void guarantees, and long leases signed under earlier accounting rules.
Since the public sector adopted IFRS 16, NHS trusts record the leases they take or renew on their balance sheets, and each one needs capital budget cover. Novel guarantees need HM Treasury consent.
As these agreements reach expiry or a break point, the homes they support need a new basis. The Schemes page shows when that point arrives for each one.
Each agreement we have reviewed was struck between one employer and one owner. None shares the risk across employers. Keyworker.com is intended to bring employers and owners together on one platform: one record of demand, one standard for the homes, and one route to long-term investment.