Non Executive Director

GREAT PLACES HOUSING GROUP; Manchester; On-site; GBP 9,000; Part time

Job description

Job Description

Great Places Housing Group is a leading provider of housing, owning and managing over 25,000 homes across the North West and South Yorkshire. With a strong commitment to creating great homes and communities, Great Places ensures that its customers receive high-quality housing and services that improve lives. The organisation strongly believes that everyone should have a safe, good quality home to provide a sound foundation that enables them to fulfil their potential in life.

Great Places are also one of the leading developing housing associations in the North. As a strategic partner of Homes England, Great Places will see 4,500 completions during the life of the Affordable Homes programme. Their aim is to maximise investment in affordable, high quality and sustainable homes, ensuring they meet the needs of their customers and enhance their local communities.

We are delighted to be continuing our long-term partnership with Great Places to recruit three new Non-Executive Directors. These roles will provide strategic leadership and governance, ensuring that Great Places continues to deliver on its vision, values, and objectives. It is an exciting time to join Great Places as the organisation has recently launched its new Corporate Plan and the successful board members will have the opportunity to influence and drive ambitious plans over the next few years.

Core responsibilities include:

• Contribute to the development of Great Places’ strategic vision, ensuring alignment with its social purpose and long-term goals.
• Participate in Board and Committee meetings, providing constructive challenge and expertise to support decision-making.
• Ensure robust governance and compliance with all regulatory, legal, and statutory requirements.
• Drive development of the business plan, including budgeting, monitoring financial performance and assuring all assets are managed efficiently and effectively.
• Oversee the framework of delegation, assurance and systems and effectiveness of internal controls.
• Support and challenge the Executive team to drive strong performance, customer focus, and continuous improvement.
• Champion equality, diversity, and inclusion, ensuring these principles are embedded across governance and decision-making.
• Ensure that the Board remains customer-focused, with the views and needs of tenants and service users at the forefront of decision-making.
• Work collaboratively with Committee and Subsidiary Chairs to maintain alignment between governance structures.
• Act as an ambassador for Great Places, building relationships with external stakeholders and promoting the organisation’s work.

Great Places is looking to appoint three Non-Executive Directors with a mixture of the following attributes:

• Demonstrable experience in the property or construction sector, or with property management or development experience at a housing association.
• Leadership experience within HR or Organisational Development, either in social housing or other sectors.
• Experience in finance, audit and governance; either in social housing or other sectors.
• Strong business planning experience including objective setting and performance monitoring.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and management experience.
• Ability to communicate at all business levels.
• Strong financial and commercial acumen.

A diverse customer perspective is important, so Great Places would particularly like to encourage applications from those with a lived experience of social housing and other under-represented groups.

Time Commitment:

• Board meetings are eight times per year in person at the Didsbury HQ.
• In addition to board meetings there is one full day away day in March, a two day residential meeting in November and occasional stock visits.
• Non-Executive Directors may also be required to sit on a Committee, meeting from between four to eight times a year with a mixture of in person (Didsbury) and online meetings.
• Non-Executive Directors may also be asked to sit on Task and Finish groups for short, time-bound specific pieces of work (e.g. Executive recruitment).

Board meetings take place on Thursday afternoons, usually commencing with topic sessions from 3pm-4:30pm, followed by a buffet and then the formal Board meeting. There are also Away Days held at different points throughout the year.

The dates of the meetings in 2025 which new Board Members will be expected to attend are:

• Thursday 18th September 2025
• Wednesday 15th and Thursday 16th October 2025 (two day residential away day)
• Thursday 13th November 2025
• Thursday 18th December 2025

Remuneration:

• £9,000 per annum, which is inclusive of travel expenses.
• Additional expenses may be reimbursed.