regulatory judgement

The Regulator of Social Housing has published the regulatory judgement for believe housing and has confirmed that we have retained our G1 for Governance and V2 for Viability gradings.

Whilst this reconfirms our grading, this is no mean feat in the current climate where there have been lots of headlines in the past few months of lowered viability gradings, governance gradings or both as providers are challenged with the ongoing economic and cost of living pressures.

The announcement follows our In-Depth Assessment (IDA) that ran over the summer. Initial requirements were a submission of around 40 documents that the regulator reviews in line with their standards and ‘how we regulate’ guidance, a Board observation that took place on 5 July and it concluded in mid-July with interviews taking place with Judith Common, as Chair of the Board, and Hazel Dale, as Chair of Audit Committee as well as an interview with EMT.

Over that period, we also have received additional questions on the content of the documents submitted and responses to questions during the interview process.

Although the headline might suggest that this relates to how the Board govern the organisation and, that is key to the regulator’s judgement, it is worth noting that governance goes far beyond this and the areas that form part of the work and the judgement include:

• How we determine and deliver our corporate objectives
• The establishment and delivery of our financial plans
• How our financial plans both provide the resources to deliver key objectives but remain within our funding covenants
• Stress testing and mitigation plans
• Cash and treasury management
• Performance management
• Health and safety and compliance
• Risk management
• Asset management and knowledge of our stock
• Complaints management
• Customer engagement and customer voice
• Internal controls and the findings from internal audit reports

All of this is used to build up a wide and comprehensive picture of believe housing, how it is run and managed and delivering for its customers which is something we all participate in daily.

The regulatory picture is changing from next April with an even wider focus on how we meet customers’ needs and expectations, how we understand those needs and expectations and how we make sure the customer voice is central to shaping and delivering our plans.

This result puts us in a really good position to be confident we have the right framework in place to exceed expectations in this area.

To read the full report, please click here.