Our governance
Source: gov.uk (2025-11-20)

Find out about Homes England’s board and committees.

Homes England Board

Homes England is governed by a board that decides what its priorities are. Its members are appointed by the Secretary of State for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).

Board members

The board members are:

Pat Ritchie — Chair

Pat Ritchie CBE is an experienced senior leader in economic development, housing, and property.

Pat was Chief Executive of Newcastle City Council for 8 years, where she notably secured the multi-million-pound investment deal to bring Legal & General to Newcastle’s flagship ‘Helix’ development and led on negotiations to secure a devolution deal for the North of Tyne Mayoral Combined Authority where she was the first head of paid service. Pat led the city’s response to the pandemic and oversaw the Newcastle COVID Recovery Plan including an ambitious £50 million plan to transform the city centre.

Pat was appointed to Chair of the GPA in January 2020, a role she left to become Chair at Homes England in 2025. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the National Leadership Centre and a member of Newcastle University Council.

She is a former Chief Executive of the Homes and Communities Agency (now Homes England) and former Deputy Chief Executive of the One North East Regional Development Agency.

Pat was awarded her CBE in January 2021 for services to Local Government and public service reform.

Abi Brown OBE

Abi Brown is a deputy chairman of the Local Government Association (LGA), sitting on the LGA Board and also chairing the LGA Improvement and Innovation Policy Board, and Improvement and Development Agency Board (IDeA).

She was leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council between 2019 and 2023, deputy leader between 2015 and 2019, and remains a councillor for the city’s Meir Park ward, which she has represented since 2010.

Abi has held a number of other senior posts including Chair and Non-Executive Director of Fortior Homes, the private housing company owned by Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Vice Chair of the LGA City Regions Policy Board, Non-Executive Director of Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), and a member of the Midlands Engine Executive Board.

She was awarded an OBE in 2024 for services to local government.

David Cutter

David Cutter has extensive senior level experience in financial services and real estate. He was previously Group Chief Executive at Skipton Building Society for 12 years, overseeing governance, performance and a balance sheet of more than £30 billion, after holding several senior positions within the organisation over a 30-year period. He has chaired bodies including the Building Societies Association, Callcredit plc, Home Loan Management Ltd and Skipton Guernsey Ltd, and was a Non-Executive Director at Connells Ltd, the UK’s largest estate agency with 1,250 branches and a turnover of £1 billion.

A chartered accountant and former chief internal auditor, David is also a Non-Executive Director at Moorlands Learning Trust. He played international hockey for Wales between 1983 and 1991.

Melanie Montanari – Shareholder Member (job share)

Melanie Montanari is MHCLG’s appointed representative on the Homes England Board. She is Director for Housing Markets and Strategy, a role which includes the sponsorship of Homes England.

Melanie has worked for the majority of her career in HM Treasury in a variety of roles, including tax and welfare policy, and has also led on homelessness policy in MHCLG.

Mark Henderson

Mark is Chief Executive of Home Group, with 55,000 homes under management across Scotland and England and one of the largest providers of supported housing, working with 26,000 vulnerable people in nearly 500 services. Home Group is also one of the largest developers of housing in the UK with a turnover of some £430 million per year. It was voted the UK’s best landlord and best housing association in 2014 and 2016.

Mark is currently a director and trustee of Whiteley Village Trust. He previously ran his own business before joining Home Group. Before that Mark had worked with the regional development agency as Operations Director and a variety of regeneration and economic development jobs across the country in local government, most recently as Chief Executive of one of the largest county councils in the country. He was also a former board member for the National Housing Federation and former Chair of Homes for the North.

Ros Kerslake CBE

Ros Kerslake CBE has more than 20 years’ board level experience in the property and regeneration sectors, serving as chief executive, non-executive director and chair for a number of public and private sector organisations.

Previously she was Chief Executive Officer of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, overseeing circa £400 million per annum of project investment, alongside a major organisation transformation programme of the UK-wide body. Her earlier roles include Chief Executive of The Prince’s Regeneration Trust, leading urban regeneration across the UK, Chief Executive for Regen Co, Sandwell, and Director of Property at Network Rail.

Ros is a trustee for the regeneration charity Reform and the University College of Estate Management. She chairs 2 charities, the Leeds Castle Foundation and the Architectural Heritage Fund. She is also on the board of Sanctuary Group. She was awarded a CBE in 2020 for services to British heritage and an OBE in 2016 for services to heritage. She is a qualified solicitor.

Sir Oliver Letwin

Sir Oliver Letwin has held multiple senior advisory and academic roles during an extensive career in Parliament, banking and academia. He is currently Vice President of the Great Britain China Centre, a Fellow of the Legatum Institute and Senior Adviser to the Faraday Institution, Teneo and Marsh McLennan.

Sir Oliver was Managing Director of NM Rothschild until 2003, having previously served as a director, and a Member of Parliament for West Dorset between 1997 and 2019, serving in senior ministerial posts in the UK Government cabinet and shadow cabinet.

He was Minister for Government Policy and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster between 2010 and 2016 and between 2000 and 2010 held roles including; Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Shadow Home Secretary, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Shadow Environment Secretary and Chairman of the Conservative Policy Review.

Oliver is a visiting professor at the KCL Policy Institute and an Advisory Council Member to the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at Cambridge University. Previously he taught Philosophy at Cambridge University.

Sadie Morgan

Sadie is a founding director of leading architectural practice dRMM. Over her 25-year career she has advocated exemplary design and architecture. She is a commissioner and Design Group Chair of the National Infrastructure Commission and is the London Mayor’s Design Advocate.

Lesley-Ann Nash, MBA, FCMA

Lesley-Ann spent 2 decades in investment banking, building and leading structured interbank businesses. She was a managing director of Morgan Stanley but left to offer her financial skills to government. She spent 7 years in the Cabinet Office leading a range of commercial programmes which positively impacted both public and private sectors as well as citizens nationally.

On leaving government, Lesley-Ann has embarked on a non-executive director career. She has been appointed to the boards of St James’s Place plc (FTSE 100) and Workspace Group plc (FTSE 250). She also sits on the board of the business campaigning group, London First.

Lesley-Ann is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and holds an MBA from CASS business school.

Amy Rees CB — Chief Executive Officer

Amy Rees became Chief Executive of Homes England in September 2025, bringing extensive leadership experience across public service delivery and justice reform.

Prior to joining Homes England, Amy served as Interim Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Justice, where she oversaw the full breadth of the department’s responsibilities — including criminal justice, prison and probation services, civil, family and criminal courts, legal services, and constitutional policy.

Before that, Amy was Chief Executive of HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) for nearly three years. As HMPPS CEO and Accounting Officer, she provided strategic direction and operational leadership to the Agency, working closely with partners across government and the justice system to enforce court orders, protect the public, and reduce reoffending throughout England and Wales.

Peter Vernon — Deputy Chair

Peter Vernon has an extensive senior career in property, regeneration and management consultancy. He is a Senior Advisor at Places for London and Chair of Grosvenor Hart Homes.

Peter was Group Executive Director of Grosvenor until 2021, having previously served as Chief Executive of Grosvenor Property UK between 2008 to 2017. Prior to Grosvenor he was a Partner with PwC Consulting. He has held Non-Executive Director roles for organisations including The Berkeley Group plc, BusinessLDN, and the West End Partnership. He also served as a Trustee of Peabody.

Peter was a member of the Policy Committee of the British Property Federation, the Government’s Montague Review of the Private Rented Sector, a commissioner of the independent City Growth Commission and a member of the Government Estates Regeneration Panel.

Homes England Board meetings

The board meets monthly. We will provide summaries of Homes England board meetings shortly.

Audit, Assurance and Enterprise Risk Committee

The committee works with the board on risk control, governance, financial control and statutory reporting. The committee is authorised by the board and the Regulation Committee to investigate any activity within these areas.

(https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6784cc4e363ac763c8ede4b4/Audit_Assurance_and_Enterprise_Risk_Committee_Terms.pdf)

Audit Assurance and Enterprise Risk Committee — Terms of Reference (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6784cc4e363ac763c8ede4b4/Audit_Assurance_and_Enterprise_Risk_Committee_Terms.pdf)

PDF, 137 KB, 8 pages

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Change Committee

The Change Committee supports the board by providing oversight of corporate change and culture initiatives, and by making decisions in respect of change programmes and projects.

Cross Cutting Committee

The Cross Cutting Committee supports the Board in fulfilling its responsibility for a greater focus on the cross-cutting objectives detailed in its strategic plan. Safe, sustainable, well-designed and built homes including modular construction, design and sustainability.

Investment Committee

The Investment Committee oversees Homes England investment, land programmes and projects, and certain corporate issues.

Nominations and Remuneration Committee

The Nominations and Remuneration Committee meets four times a year. It is responsible for advising on overall pay and rewards, the remuneration, contractual and pension arrangements of staff at director level and above, and setting and agreeing the annual performance objectives, remuneration terms and other terms and conditions of employment of the chief executive and other chief officers, subject to MHCLG and HM Treasury spending team approval.