Arawak Walton Housing Association Limited (L3713) - Regulatory Judgement: 18 December 2024
Updated 18 December 2024
Applies to England
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Our Judgement
| Grade/Judgement | Change | Date of assessment | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer | Not assessed yet | ||
| Governance | G1 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our governance requirements. |
Assessed and unchanged | December 2024 |
| Viability | V2 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our viability requirements. It has the financial capacity to deal with a reasonable range of adverse scenarios but needs to manage material risks to ensure continued compliance. |
Regrade | December 2024 |
Reason for publication
We are publishing a regulatory judgement for Arawak Walton Housing Association Limited (Arawak Walton) following a stability check and responsive engagement.
This regulatory judgement confirms a governance grading of G1 and a financial viability regrading to V2.
Prior to this regulatory judgement, the governance and financial viability grades for Arawak Walton were last updated in November 2023 following completion of a stability check to confirm grades of G1 and V1.
Summary of the decision
Our judgement is that Arawak Walton meets our governance requirements. From the stability check, there is no evidence to indicate a change in governance grading is required. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a G1 grade for Arawak Walton.
Our judgement is that Arawak Walton meets our financial viability requirements and has the financial capacity to deal with a reasonable range of adverse scenarios. Arawak Walton’s financial profile reflects the investment it is making in existing tenants’ homes, meaning that it needs to manage material risks to ensure continued compliance. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a V2 regrade for Arawak Walton.
How we reached our judgement
We carried out a stability check to assess whether there are any material risks that may result in a change to Arawak Walton’s financial viability or governance gradings, as part of our annual stability check programme. The stability check and responsive engagement were completed in December 2024.
Our regulatory judgement is based on all the relevant information we obtained during the stability check and responsive engagement, as well as analysis of information provided by Arawak Walton in its regulatory returns and other regulatory activity. This includes financial plans and financial statements and other regulatory returns.
In assessing the landlord’s governance grade as part of the stability check, our work was limited to verifying that the information contained in the landlord’s regulatory returns did not appear inconsistent with the landlord’s existing published governance grade.
We have not yet assessed this landlord against the consumer standards.
Summary of findings
Governance – G1 – December 2024
From the stability check, there is no evidence to indicate a change in governance grading is required.
Viability – V2 – December 2024
Based on evidence gained from the 2024 stability check and responsive engagement, we have assurance that Arawak Walton meets the financial viability requirements of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard and that its financial plans are consistent with, and support, its financial strategy. Arawak Walton has an adequately funded business plan, sufficient security and is forecast to continue to meet its financial covenants.
Arawak Walton is investing in improving the quality and energy efficiency of its existing homes. However, it acknowledges the need to increase the proportion of homes with up to date information, including through physical surveys, so that it can better inform the level of future investment required. Arawak Walton is forecasting to continue to meet its financial covenants, however cash headroom on its interest cover covenant has reduced.
These factors weaken financial performance, which set in the context of economic pressures, impact on Arawak Walton’s capacity to respond to adverse events.
Background to the judgement
About the landlord
Arawak Walton is a charitable community benefit society focused on the delivery of landlord services primarily for people from ethnic minority backgrounds.
According to the 2024 statistical data return Arawak Walton owns 1,112 homes mainly in the inner Manchester area. Arawak Walton reported a turnover of £6.4m for the year ended 31 March 2024 and employs the full-time equivalent of 29 staff.
Our role and regulatory approach
We regulate for a viable, efficient, and well governed social housing sector able to deliver quality homes and services for current and future tenants.
We regulate at the landlord level to drive improvement in how landlords operate. By landlord we mean a registered provider of social housing. These can either be local authorities, or private registered providers (other organisations registered with us such as non-profit housing associations, co-operatives, or profit-making organisations).
We set standards which state outcomes that landlords must deliver. The outcomes of our standards include both the required outcomes and specific expectations we set. Where we find there are significant failures in landlords which we consider to be material to the landlord’s delivery of those outcomes, we hold them to account. Ultimately this provides protection for tenants’ homes and services and achieves better outcomes for current and future tenants. It also contributes to a sustainable sector which can attract strong investment.
We have a different role for regulating local authorities than for other landlords. This is because we have a narrower role for local authorities and the Governance and Financial Viability Standard, and Value for Money Standard do not apply. Further detail on which standards apply to different landlords can be found on our standards page.
We assess the performance of landlords through inspections and by reviewing data that landlords are required to submit to us. In Depth Assessments (IDAs) were one of our previous assessment processes, which are now replaced by our new inspections programme from 1 April 2024. We also respond where there is an issue or a potential issue that may be material to a landlord’s delivery of the outcomes of our standards. We publish regulatory judgements that describe our view of landlords’ performance with our standards. We also publish grades for landlords with more than 1,000 social housing homes.
The Housing Ombudsman deals with individual complaints. When individual complaints are referred to us, we investigate if we consider that the issue may be material to a landlord’s delivery of the outcomes of our standards.
For more information about our approach to regulation, please see Regulating the standards.