Affordable Rent
Specific type of rent and tenancy where rent is charged at 80% market rent and delivered usually through a Homes England programme. Use initial capital letters.
affordable rent
General term used as alternative term for social housing, sometimes also referred to as affordable housing. Use lowercase.
air source
No hypen.
anti-social behaviour
Hyphen between ‘anti’ and ‘social’.
board (or board of management)
This term does not have a capital letter except when referring to a specific board (e.g. three tenants sit on our board, Progress Housing Group Board, Executive Board). ‘Management’ should not have a capital letter when referring to a ‘board of management’.
board member
Do not use capitals.
choice-based lettings
All lower case. Use a hyphen between ‘choice’ and ‘based’. Do not use the acronym CBL unless the term has been written in full first.
committees
This term does not have a capital letter except when referring to a specific committee (e.g. Audit Committee, Remuneration and Governance Committee).
Customer Contact Centre
Do not use Progress Connect.
Customer Service Excellence
Accreditation. Use initial capital letters.
Customer Promises
Use initial capital letters.
departments of state
British government ministries (but not ministers) take initial caps, as follows:
• Cabinet Office (but ‘the cabinet’)
• Home Office
• Treasury
• Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS)
• Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG)
• Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc)
• Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
• Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
• Department of Health (DH)
Use the abbreviations in brackets sparingly and only if the term has been used in full the first time followed by the acronym in brackets.
domestic abuse
In most instances, the term domestic abuse should be used rather than domestic violence. Domestic violence often includes a range of abusive behaviours, not all of which are, in themselves, inherently 'violent' – hence, the term 'domestic abuse' is often more appropriate than 'domestic violence'.
equality impact assessment
Written in lower case.
Executive Board
Use initial capitals.
Executive Team
Use initial capital for ‘Executive’ and ‘Team’.
Extra Care
Type of independent living accommodation. Use initial capital letters.
Investors in People
Capital ‘I’ and ‘P’. Investors is plural and ‘in’ should not be capitalised.
learning disabilities (or ‘learning disability’)
The accepted or most commonly used terminology changes regularly. Different organisations use different terminology. The term ‘learning disabilities’ is used by the NHS and the British Institute of Learning Disabilities (December 2019), but ‘learning difficulties’ is also widely used in the UK.
leaseholder
The term leaseholder should only be used to describe those people who have a lease agreement with us. Generally, this includes our customers who have bought a property, or a share in a property, from us through shared ownership, or a leasehold property, typically a flat, through the Right to Buy or Right to Acquire schemes.
local authority
Written in lower case.
Lytham St Annes
No full stop after ‘St’ and no apostrophe in ‘Annes’.
member
Should be written as ‘member’ in most contexts (such as a member of the People Forum); however, use a capital letter when referring to a Member of Parliament.
MyHomeChoiceFyldeCoast
Written as one word. Use initial capital letters. After the first mention, it is acceptable to refer to it as 'MyHomeChoice' (written as one word). Do not abbreviate it to 'MHCFC' or 'MHC'.
policies and procedures
The full name of policies and procedures should be uppercase (e.g. Feedback Policy, Media Relations Procedure).
Progress Futures
This is the name of a service. Do not Progress Futures Team.
Registered Provider
Use initial capital letters. This title has replaced the term Registered Social Landlord.
Regulator of Social Housing
Use initial capitals for ‘R’, ‘S’ and ‘H’.
Right to Acquire
Use initial capitals for ‘R’ and ‘A’.
Right to Buy
Use initial capitals for ‘R’ and ‘B’.
Select Move
Use initial capital letters. Two separate words.
Senior Leadership Team
Use initial capital for ‘Senior’ and ‘Management’’ and ‘Team’.
shared ownership
No initial capitals.
social housing
All lower case.
StreetTalk
Title of the general needs’ tenants’ newsletter. Write as one word with a capital S and T.
today@
Internal brand name for the intranet - lowercase
STAR survey
STAR is an acronym of ‘Survey of Tenants and Residents'. It is acceptable to use the acronym STAR without first using the term in full.
Supported housing
Type of tenancy – do not treat as a proper noun
Supported living
Type of tenancy – do not treat as a proper noun
team names
The names of all teams start with capital letters. When followed by the word ‘team’ or ‘department’, that word should not begin with a capital letter, e.g. Legal team, Progress Connect team.
telecare
The term technology-enabled care services (TECS) has replaced telecare. Telecare is not a brand name but a collective name for the service and equipment.
Telecare Services Association
Use initial capitals. Please be aware that the acronym (TSA) may be confused with the now-defunct Tenant Services Authority, so ensure that you write the name in full the first time.
tenant inspectors
No initial capitals.
tenants’ handbook
No initial capitals. Apostrophe after the ‘s’ (to show possession of more than one tenant).
tenants’ newsletter
No initial capitals. Apostrophe after the ‘s’ (to show possession of more than one tenant).
tenant panels and groups
Use initial capitals for the names of our formal panels and groups, and for formally constituted community and resident groups. For example:
• Tenants' Voice - Improving Services group (note the 'g' of group is lower case), The Forum, Lancashire Forum
• Broadfield Residents’ Association
Tenant Satisfaction Measures
Use initial capital letters.
Tenants’ Voice - Improving Services group
Use initial capitals for 'T', 'V', 'I' and 'S'
text
All body text of internally produced documents (e.g. letters, faxes, emails) should be in Arial font size 12.
All titles should be in Arial Bold. Capital letters should only be used at the beginning of the title and on specific names, e.g. Homes and Communities Agency, Housing Act 1996. As a general rule, do not underline titles.
See Brand Identity Guidelines for more information.
wellbeing
Written as one word. All lower case.
-year
As in five-year programme or ten-year plan. Use a hyphen.
Acronyms and Initialisms
AGM - Annual General Meeting
AHP - Affordable Homes Programme
AHGP - Affordable Homes Guarantee Programme
AMS - Asset Management Strategy
APE - Asset Performance Evaluation
CARE - Career average revalued earnings
CBL - Choice Based Lettings
CDM - Construction Design Management
CIH - Chartered Institute of Housing
CR - Change Request
MHCLG - Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
EGM - Extraordinary General Meeting
EIA - Equality Impact Assessment
FAT - Financial Appraisal Team
GCE - Group Chief Executive
GOT - Group Operations Team
GRN - Goods Receipt Note
HB - Housing Benefit
HDN - Housing Diversity Network
HE - Homes England
HQN - Housing Quality Network
H&SBCWP - Health and Safety and Business Continuity Working Party
IDA - In-Depth Assessment
IGA - Intra-Group Agreement
JMT - Joint Management Team
JV - Joint venture
KPI - Key Performance Indicators
LDE - Learning Disability England
LGPS - Local Government Pension Scheme
NED - Non-Executive Director
NHF - National Housing Federation
NPV - Net present value
OJEU - Official Journal of the European Union
OMV - Open market value
Parent - Progress Housing Group Limited (and its subsidiary companies)
PFI - Private Finance Initiative
PHA - Progress Housing Association Limited
PHG - Progress Housing Group Limited
PID - Project Initiation Documentation
PPE - Personal Protective Equipment
PPE - Property, Plant & Equipment
PV - Property viability
P&C - Private and Confidential
RHA - Reside Housing Association Limited (former subsidiary now Reside with Progress)
ROCE - Return on Capital Employed
RP - Registered Provider
RSH - Regulator of Social Housing
RTB/RTA - Right to Buy/Right to Acquire
RWP - Reside With Progress
SHPS - Social Housing Pension Scheme
SME - Small Medium Enterprise
SMT - Senior Management Team
SOAHP - Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme
SSH - Specialised Supported Housing
TECS - Technology Enabled Care and Support services
TOR - Terms of Reference
TSMs - Tenant Satisfaction Measures
UC - Universal Credit
VFM - Value for Money
Voids - empty properties