Regulator of Social Housing upgrades South Liverpool Homes’ governance rating

The Regulator of Social Housing has upgraded the governance ratings of South Liverpool Homes and Croydon Churches Housing Association.

In the latest batch of regulatory judgements, South Liverpool Homes’ (SLH) governance grading has been upgraded from G2 to G1, while its existing V1 grade for financial viability has been confirmed.

In June 2021, the governance grade of SLH was downgraded following an in-depth assessment, which identified weaknesses related to its approach to property development, allocations, and the integrity and transparency of its organisational processes.

Less than a year after the regulatory judgement, in February 2022, its long-serving chief executive and a well-known figure in the industry, Julie Fadden, left SLH ‘by mutual agreement’.

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The regulator has since found that SLH has taken steps to improve its governance and strengthen its internal control framework.

These measures include enhancing procedures for managing conflicts of interest and improving the quality and accessibility of information in its assets and liabilities register.

Anna Bishop, who was previously chief operating officer at One Manchester, a housing association with 12,000 homes across South and East Manchester, joined SLH as chief executive in November 2022. 

Ian Cresswell, who was previously SLH’s executive director of Innovation and Technology, acted as CEO in the interim.

SLH was formed in October 1999 following a large-scale voluntary transfer of housing stock from Liverpool City Council and owns approximately 3,850 homes.

The regulator also today upgraded Croydon Churches Housing Association’s (CCHA) governance grading from G2 to G1 and confirmed its existing V1 grade for financial viability.

In its previous assessment in June 2022, the RSH observed that CCHA needed to make improvements to the board’s supervision of business and financial planning.

In its annual stability check published today, the regulator said that the CCHA board has enhanced its understanding of financial performance and decision-making abilities.

Clarion has retained its existing G1 grading for governance and V2 for financial viability, while Vivid Housing has maintained its existing G1 and V1 gradings following an in-depth assessment by the regulator.

Mark Perry, chief executive of VIVID, said: “As a leading provider of affordable homes and support services in the south of England, we’re delighted to have maintained our G1,V1 ratings from the RSH. These ratings reaffirm our ability to achieve our vision of ‘More homes, bright futures’ and our plan to continue to build trust, pride and impact for the benefit of our customers.”

In 2022/23, Vivid Housing built 1,390 new homes, of which 88% were for affordable tenures.

Annual stability checks are conducted on private registered providers who own more than 1,000 homes.

The regulator has removed a regulatory notice that it previously published relating to Your Housing Group, stating that the concerns that resulted in the notice being issued have now been resolved.

The regulatory notice, published in June 2022, stated that errors related to rent and service charge setting had been identified and that YHG self-referred these issues to the regulator.

It also identified that YHG needed to enhance its risk management and internal controls, especially regarding its finances.

The notice found that YHG did not comply with the Rent Standard 2020 or the legislative requirements of the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016.

Latest regulatory judgements

Source: Regulator of Social Housing