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 the new Chair of the Board. This pivotal role 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 Chair will have the opportunity to influence and drive ambitious plans over the next few years.
Core responsibilities include:
* Lead the Board in setting and upholding Great Places’ strategic vision and values.
* Chair Board meetings, setting clear agendas and enabling open, strategic discussions.
* Ensure the board is run with a strong customer focus in love with the corporate plan, and that all board members minority views are addressed appropriately.
* Work collaboratively with Committee and Subsidiary Chairs to ensure a coordinated approach to governance and decision-making.
* Support and challenge the Executive team in delivering strategic priorities, ensuring accountability and performance excellence.
* Ensure that the Board receives accurate, timely, and clear information to support informed decision-making.
* Establish and oversee a framework for Board development as part of the Remuneration and Nominations Committee, including skills assessment, succession planning, and continuous improvement.
* Oversee the performance appraisal and remuneration process for the Chief Executive, ensuring alignment with strategic objectives.
* Ensure that equality, diversity, and inclusion principles are embedded across all areas of governance and decision-making.
* Act as an ambassador for Great Places, representing the organisation externally and fostering relationships with key stakeholders.
* Promote transparency and open communication between the Board, Executive, and key external partners to support collaboration and innovation.
* Lead the development and implementation of the organisation’s corporate plan, ensuring alignment with long-term business objectives.
* Ensure appropriate delegation of authority to committees, subsidiaries and the Chief Executive monitoring the effectiveness of internal controls and governance structures.
Great Places is looking to appoint a Chair with the following attributes:
* Demonstrable leadership experience at executive or board level - ideally in the social housing sector.
* A strong understanding of corporate governance and regulatory frameworks.
* A commitment to social purpose and the values of Great Places.
* Excellent stakeholder management and relationship-building skills.
* The ability to foster an inclusive and collaborative Board culture, ensuring diverse perspectives are heard and valued.
* Strong analytical skills with experience evaluating the risks, opportunities, and organisational performance of a housing associating such as Great Places.
* A track record of working effectively with executive teams, providing support and challenge in equal measure.
* Ambassadorial qualities, with the confidence to represent Great Places externally and build meaningful partnerships.
Time Commitment:
* Board meets eight times per year in-person at the Didsbury HQ.
* The Chair also sits on the Renumeration and Appraisal Committee, who meet four times a year with a mixture of in-person meetings (Didsbury) and online meetings.
* In addition to Board meetings there is a full-day away day in March, a two day residential meeting in November and occasional stock visits.
* Where required, additional meetings may be held to support the organisation with its business (e.g. task and finish groups), and the Chair may be required to attend community events as needed.
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:
* £25,000 per annum, inclusive of travel expenses.
* Additional reasonable expenses are reimbursed.