First-round ALMOs get £61m

Seven of the eight ALMOs are to benefit from the ODPM's decision last Thursday to give them more money to meet the rising costs of hitting the decent homes standard.

Only Ashfield Homes failed to secure a large rise in funding for 2004-6.

The ALMOs resubmitted their bids to the ODPM in December after ministers acknowledged that restrictions placed on their bids meant they got less in relative terms than ALMOs in later rounds.

First-round ALMOs were allocated £5000 a home, whereas some of the third- and fourth-round bidders have been given conditional grants that in some cases amount to more than £10,000 a property.

Gwyneth Taylor, policy officer at the National Federation of ALMOs, said: "The money will enable them to deal with the extra construction costs to meet the decent homes standard."

Taylor added that the move did not mean future rounds would get less money.

"The ODPM has quite a lot of reserve capacity in the funding pot," she said. "Camden was expected to receive a large amount but it has had to pull out and funding for two of Leeds' ALMOs has been deferred because of their inspection scores."

An appeal from ALMOs to be allowed to spend some of their funds on activities other than meeting the decent homes standard was rejected.