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Key Worker Living programme

If you are a key public sector worker, such as a nurse or teacher, you, could get help to buy or rent a home as part the Key Worker Living Programme. Find out if you qualify and who to contact if you want to apply.

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 wants
• want to take part in shared ownership schemes
• want 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 Home Buy

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.

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
• 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 employed by local authorities, CAFCASS, or the NHS
• Local Authority Planners
• Connexions Personal Advisors employed by a local authority or a Connexions Partnership
• Ministry of Defence
• 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
• Firefighters and other uniformed staff below principal level in Fire and Rescue Services