Community Housing Fund: user guide for milestone payments - phase 2 capital grant claims, accessible version
Updated 3 March 2021
Applies to England
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-housing-fund-user-guide-for-online-milestone-payments/community-housing-fund-user-guide-for-milestone-payments-phase-2-capital-grant-claims-accessible-version
Homes England Online Milestone Payment Request Guidance
Version: 1
Date issued: December 2019
Details: Homes England guidance for providers to request milestone payments for CHF capital grant affordable housing schemes
Chapter 1 - Introduction
Purpose of this guidance
The purpose of this document is to provide guidance for providers on how to request a milestone payment for approved Community Housing Fund (CHF) Phase Two affordable housing capital allocations. All requests are to be submitted using the Homes England online portal.
User Support
For help accessing the online portal or to report a problem, please contact the helpdesk on 01908 353604
For allocation specific queries, please contact the appropriate Homes England Operating Area Leads for the Community Housing Fund.
| Homes England Operating Area | Contact name | Email address | Telephone number |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midlands | John Mather | John.Mather@homesengland.gov.uk | 0115 852 6903 |
| North East, Yorkshire and the Humber | Graham Brookfield | Graham.Brookfield@homesengland.gov.uk | 0113 394 9369 |
| North West | Craig Bradley | Craig.Bradley@homesengland.gov.uk | 0192 564 4819 |
| South East | Francine Peck | Francine.Peck@homesengland.gov.uk | 0122 337 4002 |
| South West | Helen Bone | Helen.Bone@homesengland.gov.uk | 0117 937 7224 |
Before you Begin
You will need to login in to the portal using the same account details you used to input your bid. If you have forgotten your password, click ‘Forgotten Password?’ and follow the instructions to retrieve your details.
Chapter 2 - View & Request Milestone Payments
Once a bid has been approved by Homes England and due diligence and contracts completed, you will be able to access the payment milestones via the ‘menu’ option on the far right for each bid.
Select ‘View or request milestone payments’ to access the payment milestones screen for each individual bid.
Chapter 3 - Housing Site Summary
The first time you click through to ‘View or request milestone payments’ you will be prompted to add some additional information about the site.
Fill in the details on this screen and click ‘Next’, and you will be taken to a second screen for you to amend or confirm the details of the units.
Once you are happy with the information provided, click ‘Submit’ and it will be sent to Homes England to approve. During the approval stage you will see a screen at which time you can still update the site summary if necessary.
Chapter 4 - Claiming Milestone Payments
Milestone 1 - Acquisition
Once your housing site summary has been approved you will see a screen which will allow you to claim your first acquisition milestone by clicking ‘Request Payment’. Milestones must be claimed in order even if funding is not being drawn down against all milestones.
Clicking ‘Request Payment’ will take you to a screen for completion. Providers can claim up to 40% of their total allocation at acquisition stage.
Clicking ‘Request Payment’ will send the claim to Homes England for review. You will not be able to submit a claim for the next milestone until this one has been approved.
Milestone 2 – Start on Site
Once the acquisition claim has been approved, the ‘Request Payment’ button for Start on Site will become available. Providers can claim up to 75% of their total allocation at Start on Site stage, inclusive of previous milestone payments:
Clicking ‘Request Payment’ will send the claim to Homes England for review. You will not be able to submit a claim for the next milestone until this one has been approved.
Milestone 3 – Internal Fit Out
Once the Start on Site claim has been approved, the ‘Request Payment’ button for Internal Fit Out will become available. Providers can claim up to 90% of their total allocation at Internal Fit Out stage, inclusive of previous milestone payments.
Clicking ‘Request Payment’ will send the claim to Homes England for review. You will not be able to submit a claim for the next milestone until this one has been approved.
Milestone 4 – Practical Completion
Once the Internal Fit Out claim has been approved, the ‘Request Payment’ button for Practical Completion will become available. Providers can claim the remainder of their allocation at this stage.
Chapter 5 - Milestone Payment Request Declined
Upon reviewing a milestone payment request, Homes England may decide that the necessary requirements have not been met and so will decline the payment request. If this is the case, your request will show in orange with the option to ‘View Request’.
Viewing the request will enable you to see your original request, and explanatory comments from Homes England. Once you are in a position to resubmit the claim, click ‘Raise new payment request’ at the bottom of the page.