The company agreed to raise and equalise wages after 80 days of strikes. Blogs. Mears prides itself on having an educational role. I emailed my emergency contact at Mears, who unsurprisingly was on holiday and unavailable. As a result, while a company may be acting primarily in the interests of its shareholders, responsibility for its actions is difficult to lay at the door of any one shraeholder. Mears Group plc is a housing and social care provider. To contact the LAASLO team, pleaseemail asylum@newcastle.gov.uk. www.mearsgroup.co.uk. Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm . Mears has 6,500 employees and a footprint across the country. . 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. A private "social housing" business, Mears Group, is about to become one of the UK's biggest refugee landlords, winning three ten year asylum accommodation contracts from the Home Office worth a total 1.15 billion. While it has enjoyed recent success winning big contracts, things havent been going so well for Mears in the deals it already has. North of England Refugee Service (NERS) Capitalism, What is it and how can we destroy it? What exactly does this mean in practice? I have been forced to stay put until Mears carried out the repairs in accordance with the legal settlement. Detailed knowledge of current standards and legislation. 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. NE1 8XS However, his bonus pay is linked to the companys financial performance, and with Mears finances slightly reduced from the previous year, Miles didnt get any of his bonus in 2017. The dispersal of 84 residents at an accommodation centre for asylum seekers without being tested for Covid-19 is putting lives at risk, campaigners say. You should receive 28 days notice of the date that you must leave. When asylum seekers have provided feedback on the food we have taken this on board and redesigned menus and improved the preparation of food. He was very angry: Not only are people at risk, but if there is a fire, my insurance for the property is void. One asylum tenant with disconnected fire alarm and smoke detector told me, when I visited the house. Newcastle upon Tyne In a statement, Mears Group said due to a significant rise in the numbers of people seeking asylum, hotels are being used to accommodate people until more homes can be prioritised. Rosebush, MI In July 2015, council leader Jim McCabe was reported by opposition councillors to the Public Standards Commissioner. It also has other business lines including employer security checks. Mears is committed to ensuring that asylum accommodation is safe, habitable and fit for purpose and will meet all contractual and regulatory standards. 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. From its beginnings in pipeline engineering, it has grown to be a leader in corrosion engineering, pipeline integrity management, pipeline rehabilitation and horizontal directional drilling. Wed like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services. Mears current Chief Operating Officer, John Taylor, was previously boss of scandal-hit housing company Orchard & Shipman when that company won the bid to run much of the previous Scottish asylum housing contract under Serco. Corporate Watch However, the Mears board rejected SVMs attempt to replace him with Andy Hogarth, their preferred pick, saying board appointments should not be imposed on us by a single shareholder.. Charities run the helplines. Have been in Mears-managed temporaryaccomodation for 8 years now. Asylum Support Application UK 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. Experience of managing around 17,000 homes in collaboration with landlords across the UK. Mears contact info: Phone number: +44 8706071400 Website: www.mearsgroup.co.uk What does Mears do? Don't let the name fool you: inside you'll find modern, cleanly decorated spaces that are ideal for student living, with different options to suit different tastes and needs. We have a formal complaints process which aims to make sure all formal complaints are recorded, investigated and responded to fairly and in a timely manner. Our role is in liaison with these private contractors to try and ensure that they can respond to local circumstances and to then manage the move-on arrangements when people are granted refugee status. So can Mears confidently expect the acquired businesses to bring in profits to justify the current valuations? Use the branch locator to find a contact number for your local branch. The HMOs in the contract must be licensed by local councils. Copyright Mears Group PLC. The Home Office operate a number of regional contracts to facilitate this. I have been shocked to read about the plight of asylum -seekers in Mears accomodation& express my solidarity towards them. Urban House is very unpopular with asylum seekers. 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. Houston, TX 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. Mears housing business falls under three headings: maintenance, management, and development. San Antonio, TX In circumstances such as these, their food is provided and they lose their 5.30 daily, which means they often cannot top up their phones to contact lawyers and family, or buy fresh . While technically non profit, these subsidiaries can help other parts of the business make money. If you are granted refugee status, humanitarian protection or discretionary leave to remain, you can apply for help and financial support through the UK benefits system provided you meet the usual conditions of entitlement. In June 2017 Mears made headlines when it tried to ban workers from having beards. So, what next for Mears? In fact, he hasnt made anything like his possible top bonus in the last four years. We are all worried here in the house, it is dangerous for us to have no alarms., Mears is not coping at all, another contact told me. Many of these are Terraquests customers. Collinsville, IL You will need to contact them to make a claim for asylum support in the first instance, please visitMigrant Help or call 0808 8010 503. Mears is being hit by multiple scandals. In other Mears contract areas, similar examples were emerging. United Kingdom, Email: contact[at]corporatewatch.org Mears current Chief Operating Officer, John Taylor, was Chief Executive of Orchard & Shipman when they won the deal working with Serco. Western Avenue These officers will support the move on process if you are granted refugee status and will offer advice and signposting if you receive a negative decision on your asylum claim. We aim to provide excellent customer service, but recognise that sometimes we might fall short of your expectations. Mayfair-based PrimeStone Capital describes itself as working constructively with management and stakeholders to create long term enduring value. Primestone was founded by Franck Falezan, Benot Colas and Jean-Pierre Millet, three financiers previously with The Carlyle Group, a major US venture capital firm. A related business line is property acquisition funding. Mears Global Luxury Transportation. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. Email. We have been renting a considerable number of properties to Asylum seekers ever since the home office contracts began. Through the years, Mears has grown steadily by picking up outsourcing contracts from both councils and housing associations, taking over former DLOs and buying out competing maintenance businesses. There are few specifics yet about how Mears will run the new contracts and so whether theres likely to be any change from the miserable record of G4S and Serco. He ran Mears social housing division and was chief operations officer, before rising to CEO in 2010. In December, I discovered April and her disabled family, forced into a totally unsuitable house in Rotherham by previous provider G4S and then ignored and neglected by Mears, left with a flooding living room and rats in the kitchen. More than 20 people have tested positive at . Read more about our complaints process, here. Chips and crisps from 1.30 in the afternoon to 8 oclock the next day., Poor health care for pregnant women, people not tracked, Terry told me, In the hotel where I spent two months there was a pregnant woman who was visited by the midwife. Starkville, MS. Mears is the premier provider of engineering, design and construction services to the pipeline and utility industries. All of which could be very profitable for Mears and other private sector partners. Mears is a public limited company (PLC), meaning its shares can be bought and sold on the London Stock Exchange. I am pretty sure they are starving during the night. 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 scheme is a 50/50 Joint Venture with the council. Gas Engineer. 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. Mears can offer a suite of services to its partners, from high-end luxury sales to temporary accommodation for the homeless. Click here to contact us if you have any further information about the YourMK partnership or Mears activities in Milton Keynes. Over the past four months, the combination of these delays and Mears contract performance its failures in terms of the quality, cleanliness and general management of homes have failed tenants. The contract started in January 2011, as a partnership deal between the council and a company called Morrison Facilities Services Ltd, a subsidiary of Anglian Water. Call Freephone: 0800 170 7008 or email: housingadvicecentre@newcastle.gov.uk In 2017 it had 345 housing apprentices and 224 care apprentices. Report anti-social behaviour. The storage may be used for marketing, analytics, and personalization of the site, such as storing your preferences. It seems to be all about their bottom line, their profits. Newham council have done little to remedy this & we continue to campaign. 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. Email:feedback.mearsliving@mearsgroup.co.uk. Elizabeth Corrado is linked to the booming world of social finance, where investment banking meets philanthropy for a profit, of course. However, the market has not been as profitable as Mears hoped. If you have been granted refugee status, discretionary leave or humanitarian protection you will have similar rights to UK citizens, unless you have been granted discretionary leave with no recourse to public funds. She is former Chief Executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust and also now a director of Yorkshire Water. 75 talking about this. Get in touch! We are committed to providing meaningful careers in engineering and construction services for the oil and natural gas, electric and telecom industries. Mears Group plc ( LON:MER ) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next three days. Mears have secured three of seven Home Office contracts that are collectively valued at 1.2 bn over the 10-year term. The company employs 12,000 people. Ruth and the other mothers in a Sheffield Mears mother and toddler asylum house could not get through to Mears to fix their boiler, and faced a cold Christmas day without heating and hot water. They may also be used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement and measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. The AIRE contract has been a disaster. Find out about call charges. Newcastle upon Tyne Here the food is not bad sometimes but very small portions. 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. The council put the regeneration scheme on hold in January 2018. Mears Limited 821 000 0004 Northern Ireland Mears Limited 113 000 0005 North West Serco Limited 1 079 000 0006 Scotland Mears Limited 514 000 0007 South Clearsprings Ready Homes 662 000 0008 Wales Clearsprings Ready Homes 334 000 0009 Total value of contracts 4 553 000 000 Serco: 2 109 000 000 Mears: 1 448 000 000 They are responsible for your accommodation. Asylum seekers are also having to spend longer in asylum housing or hotels waiting for interviews and decisions. 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.. If you would like to give us feedback on our website, please complete this short online form. The mears group have taken over the contract to house asylum seekers in Scotland. Should we have an (limited service at other times) My home is barely habitable, Mears do not seem to be in any hurry & keep wasting time. The national portal is set up by the governments Ministry of Homes, Communities and Local Governments. Using the form below. It has set up a 30 million fund for this sideline. These Direct Labour Organisations (DLOs) made no profit and recruited and trained people to maintain the housing stock. In the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber this contract is held by Mears. Mears Foundation is partnering with Rotherham-based engineering company, AESSEAL to help asylum seekers temporarily housed in the town to communicate with their families and support groups.. The bread and butter business is winning council and housing association contracts for maintenance and repair work. Published: January 8, 2019. In the latest (2017) annual report it describes itself as a national Social Mobility Champion and leading employer of apprentices. At the end of 2019, the accommodation estate was moved from one set of contracts to another. This division still makes up over three quarters of Mears housing business. We have asked our external auditors to investigate fully, as is right, to establish if the allegation has any basis and will act accordingly., A Mears spokesperson said: Mears does not in any way recognise these claims and are not aware of any audit being undertaken within the council. 2020, when 7 Scottish MPs cited "no confidence" in the "evaluation" into the impact of Covid-19 on asylum-seekers, with the group walking out of a meeting with government officials, and supporting calls for a full independent inquiry . They were paid 294,000 and 248,000. You can change your cookie settings at any time. MEA House Executive Offices. Despite our size, Mears remains a family company . . The energy industry makes modern life possible, but few realize how intertwined the electric power, pipeline, industrial and communications industries are in our daily lives. It has been like that for at least two months.. Merrimack, NH Finally, Mears has also started to develop and build houses itself, particularly as part of regeneration schemes. A Mears spokesperson said: "Mears is carrying out a programme of improvements to properties used to accommodate asylum seekers. Mears Group. You will receive notice to leave the accommodation within 21 days. Michael, who invited me into one property, showed me a blocked toilet upstairs. I was really worried. [1] Of course, this personally benefited many local politicians and managers who moved into well-paid private sector jobs. No report was sent to the landlord. Another contact alleged that None of us know how Mears is working. Alternatively you can write to us on: Migrant Help, Charlton House, Dour Street, Dover, CT16 1AT. We deliver a range of property services, including delivering reactive repairs, planned and cyclical maintenance services to over 100 local authorities and housing . There are a number of organisations which can help you to look for work. Telephone: 020 7346 1134 Councils often require new developments to include a proportion of affordable housing in order to meet planning stipulations, called section 106 agreements. There is no suggestion that Mears uses the nationwide planning data it manages to gain an unfair advantage in its own developments. Together they are worth 1.15 billion over ten years. Long term debt amounted to 51 million in 2017, down from 60 million the year before, all arranged through credit deals with Barclays and HSBC banks. These items are used to deliver advertising that is more relevant to you and your interests. Mears/Terraquests biggest coup is running a big piece of the whole UK planning system: 90% of all planning applications in England and Wales (according to a Mears presentation) go through one internet system called the National Planning Portal. The group, formed of housing, community, human rights and legal organisations, wants the Home Office and contractor Mears to improve living conditions. Robina Qureshi, PAIH's director, said: "We were getting messages in WhatsApp saying they were . G4S lost all its asylum housing contracts in 2019 after a sustained campaign over six years by asylum tenants with the courage to complain and challenge the international security company as their landlord. Newcastle upon Tyne But maintenance margins are tight. Hassle free, 1 to 5 year leases. Steve Robbins, regional head of operations in Scotland for Mears, said the number of people seeking asylum support in Glasgow "grew exponentially overnight" when the lockdown began - and the firm . 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. It had hoped to take over the contract to run much of the Ministry of Defences main accommodation estate in 2018, after Carillion went spectacularly bust. I visited two of the houses where, despite the fact that communal areas were really dirty, there was no evidence of recent cleaning (the visitation log mentioned cleaning on 8 October 2019). Mears Group PLC 1390 Montpellier Court Gloucester Business Park Brockworth Gloucester GL3 4AH. The Local Authority is not responsible for placing or accommodating asylum seekers. Clearsprings, Mears and Serco are contracted by the Home Office to provide housing for people seeking asylum, as part of a 4bn ten-year contract. How does Terraquest fit into Mears strategy? Advertising networks usually place them with the website operators permission. I have been in five different hotels. According to Mears 2017 accounts, the value of its long term assets add up to 237 million. For all of these, the solution was, of course, Mears, evidenced by .. YourMK. Mears goodwill comes from their acquisitions of housing and care companies. Dripping Springs, TX Unite the Union accused Mears of penny pinching stupidity, saying it should just pay for better dust masks that can cover beards. . The LAASLO team will be able to offer advice and signposting. Mears operates transparent accounting in all of our public contracts.. Safe and Innovative Infrastructure Solutions. Tel: 0191 273 7482www.wers.org.uk, British Red Cross In the four South Yorkshire council areas there are around 2,000 asylum seekers in asylum housing, with Sheffield having around 900. NE1 6SQ. This storage is often necessary for the basic functionality of the website. Mears first attempt to make money from old and disabled peoples need for care at home came in 2007 when it bought a home care company called Careforce. Ann Arbor, Michigan. Last week I was sent mobile phone pictures from residents of the hostel, showing dirty toilets,crowded shared rooms and infestation by bed bugs. But the plastering scam was not an isolated incident. Park Inn: What do we know about asylum hotel at centre of Glasgow attack? In 2017, Stroud Council, in Mears own county of Gloucestershire, cancelled its 4 million maintenance contract with Mears after just one year. 407-839-1570. 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. Its accounts contain a long justification for the potential of its home care business, and thus maintaining the value of its goodwill. And if people are in hotels instead of being dispersed, nobody has any money to buy even the basic necessities. These items help the website operator understand how its website performs, how visitors interact with the site, and whether there may be technical issues. You have rejected additional cookies. It deals in information. His replacement, Kieran Murphy, is an investment banker rather than a builder. I think the most frightening thing I saw was when there were over a hundred of us in a hotel in November, with families and some children under five, and we were all told to stay in the hotel for a week because on social media someone political had threatened us. A new contract to house the 5,000 or so asylum seekers resident in Glasgow with Mears Group has started, but while the new operator has announced it will not carry out "lock change" evictions . Last week Cllr Paul Wood, Sheffield City Council cabinet member for neighbourhoods and community safety, talked to me about the widespread problems with the management of the asylum housing contracts by new contractor the Mears Group. For more information about the evidence sought by the NAO investigation, contact Asylum Matters. Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm I thought they meant I was to be deported. We will discuss this point further below. This storage type usually doesnt collect information that identifies a visitor. Tel: 0191 2737961www.redcross.org.uk. Protests at Urban House asylum hostel in Wakefield. For example, a slide in a June 2018 investor presentation gave a list of housing challenges. They may also be used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement and measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. Is there a company you think we should be looking into? 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. 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. When you join our team, you join a dynamic culture in which career development is encouraged, excellence is rewarded and diversity is valued. 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. All of which could be very profitable for Mears and other private sector partners. So far, Mears has overall management responsibility for some 10,000 properties. Operating income. Housing Advice and Homelessness - If you need housing advice, are at risk of homelessness or are homeless and have nowhere to stay please contact: Housing Advice Centre Recently, people have been dispersed to some totally unsuitable Mears houses. Mears is an enthusiastic part of this. 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. See All Operating Companies. The same applies to the 94 million Mears currently estimates the housing businesses it has bought to be worth (this may have increased significantly with the purchase of Mities housing division in 2018). Complaints in Parliament and in the media. Our business development department will review your application. Mears other big government tender was less successful. The council also announced it would change the structure, operation and senior management of Your MK. Media. Call Children's Panel if you're a child in . They may also be used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement and measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. Contact us; Contact. And in July, the council made a number of U-turns to bring community engagement, neighbourhood employment, and repairs management teams back in-house to council control. Contact Us Book Your Ride Today. Outside the properties there were piles of rubbish near the street entrance. (24-hour service for emergencies) Find out about call charges. Like G4S, Serco, Capita and other well-known outsourcing corporations, Mears Group has grown from the ongoing privatisation of public services. Please consider supporting our research and analysis by making a donation. Newcastle upon Tyne. 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. Odessa, TX 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. However, Mitie Property Management has been one of the worst performing parts of Mities business, which the company has been looking to get rid of for some time (click here to read more in our 2018 Mitie company profile). It also manages the National Planning Portal, which processes most of the UKs planning applications, and last year it bought rival outsourcer Mities social housing division.