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What the programme offers

If you are eligible, the Key Worker Living Programme means that you can get help with home ownership if you:

• are a first time buyer
  
• are a homeowner and need to buy a larger property to meet your household needs (eg family sized homes)
  
• need to take part in shared ownership schemes
  
• need to rent at affordable prices.
  

The scheme is only open to a specific keyworkers in London and the South East and East of England.

The programme offers three different kinds of help:

Open Market HomeBuy

An 'equity loan' to help buy a home on the open market. This can be up to 50 per cent of the total property value. An equity loan is a loan where the lender shares in any rise (and sometimes any fall) in the value of the property over the course of the loan.

• Open Market HomeBuy scheme

New Build HomeBuy
If you are eligible you can buy at least 25 per cent of the cost of your home and pay a reduced rent on the remaining share.

• New Build HomeBuy scheme

Intermediate renting
Rent is set at a level between that charged by social and private landlords and the accommodation is provided by a landlord registered with the Housing Corporation (Registered Social Landlord).

Find out about other help available to keyworkers.

• Affordable housing through housing associations

Are you eligible for the programme?

The programme is limited to keyworkers in the following areas:

• London
  
• Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire
  
• Hampshire
  
• Surrey
  
• Hertfordshire
  
• Kent, Sussex and Essex
  
• Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire
  
• Norfolk and Suffolk
  

Jobs that are defined as a keyworker include:

• Clinical NHS staff (with the exception of doctors and dentists)
  
• Teachers and nursery nurses in schools and further education/sixth form colleges
  
• Police officers, Community Support Officers and some civilian staff
  
• Prison officers and some other Prison staff
• Probation Service staff
  
• Social workers, nursery nurses, educational psychologists, and therapists (eg.occupational therapists) employed by local authorities, CAFCASS, or the NHS
  
• Local Authority Planners
  
• Firefighters and other uniformed staff below principal level in Fire and Rescue Services
  
• Connexions Personal Advisors employed by a local authority or a Connexions Partnership
  
• Ministry of Defence (certain personnel)
• Qualified Environmental Health Officers/Practitioners who work in a local authority, government agency, NHS or other public sector agencies
• Highway Agency Traffic Officer staff in safety critical roles within the Traffic Officer Service
  

• Further information on the Key Worker Living Programme Opens new window

How to apply

If you think you are eligible and want to know more about the HomeBuy scheme, please contact your local HomeBuy Agent to find out what options are available in your area. If you are a Key Worker, you should contact a HomeBuy Agent for the area where you work.

HomeBuy Agents will be able to advise you on your eligibility and take you through the application process. To get in touch with your local HomeBuy Agent or the loan providers, follow the link below. 

• Find a HomeBuy Agent in your area