What is the Key worker scheme?
Key Worker Living Programme - if you are a key public sector worker, such as a nurse or teacher, you could get help to buy or rent a home as part the Programme. You can find out if you qualify and who to contact if you want to apply.
What the programme offers
Assuming that you are eligible, the Key Worker Living Programme means that you can get help with home ownership if you:
- are a first time buyer
- are a homeowner and need to buy a larger property to meet your household needs (eg family sized homes)
- need to take part in shared ownership schemes
- need to rent at affordable prices.
The scheme is only open to everyone, only to specific keyworkers in London and the South East and East of England.
There are three kinds of help available through the programme :
Open Market HomeBuy
As the name suggests, you buy a home being offered on the open market. Key workers need to raise a mortgage of approximately 75 per cent of the property's value.
New Build HomeBuy
If you are eligible you can buy at least 25 per cent of the cost of your home and pay a reduced rent on the remaining share.
Intermediate renting
Accommodation is provided by a landlord registered with the Housing Corporation (Registered Social Landlord). The rent paid is at a level between that charged by social and private landlords.
Are you eligible for the programme?
The programme is limited to keyworkers in the following areas:
- London
- Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire
- Hampshire
- Surrey
- Hertfordshire
- Kent, Sussex and Essex
- Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire
- Norfolk and Suffolk
Jobs that are defined as a keyworker include:
- Clinical NHS staff (NOT doctors and dentists)
- Teachers and nursery nurses in schools and further education/sixth form colleges
- Police officers, Community Support Officers and some civilian staff
- Prison Service staff in certain prisons
- Probation Service staff
- Social workers, nursery nurses, educational psychologists, and therapists (eg.occupational therapists) employed by local authorities, CAFCASS, or the NHS
- Local Authority Planners
- Firefighters and other uniformed staff below principal level in Fire and Rescue Services
- Connexions Personal Advisors employed by a local authority or a Connexions Partnership
- Ministry of Defence personnel - certain personnel qualify for new build products (New Build HomeBuy and Intermediate rent)
- Qualified Environmental Health Officers/Practitioners who work in a local authority, government agency, NHS or other public sector agencies
- Traffic Officer staff in safety critical roles within the Traffic Officer Service
HomeBuy Agents etc will have a panel of Independent Financial Advisers such as CTAB Mortgage Desk - their website can be found at www.sharedownershipmortgages.org.uk