Decision

East Midlands Housing Group Limited (L4530) - Regulatory Judgement: 27 November 2024

Updated 27 November 2024

Applies to England

Our Judgement

	Grade / Judgement	Change	Date of assessment
Consumer	C2 Our judgement is that there are some weaknesses in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed.	First grading	November 2024
Governance	G1 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our governance requirements.	Assessed and unchanged	November 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.	Assessed and unchanged	November 2024

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for East Midlands Housing Group Limited (emh group) following an inspection completed in November 2024.

This regulatory judgement confirms a consumer grading of C2, a governance grading of G1 and a financial viability grading of V2.

Prior to this regulatory judgement, the governance and financial viability grades for emh group were last updated in November 2023 following a stability check, to confirm grades of G1 and V2. This is the first time we have issued a consumer grade in relation to this landlord.

Summary of the decision

From the evidence and assurance gained during the inspection it is our judgement that there are some weaknesses in emh group delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed, specifically in relation to our Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a C2 grade for emh group.

Our judgement is that emh group meets our governance requirements. Emh group has provided evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of its governance arrangements and that it continues to effectively manage the risks of its activities, allowing it to deliver its strategic and charitable objectives. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a G1 grade for emh group.

Our judgement is that emh group meets our financial viability requirements and has the financial capacity to deal with a reasonable range of adverse scenarios. However, emh group is exposed to financial risks, including planned investment in the quality and energy efficiency of its existing homes and the development of new homes, which reduces its ability to respond to adverse scenarios. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a V2 grade for emh group.

How we reached our judgement

We carried out an inspection of emh group to assess how well emh group is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and meeting our governance and financial viability requirements, as part of our planned regulatory inspection programme. During the inspection, we considered all four of the consumer standards: Neighbourhood and Community Standard, Safety and Quality Standard, Tenancy Standard, and the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard.

During the inspection we observed a group board meeting, a tenant scrutiny panel, and a resident influence committee. We spoke to tenants, held meetings with emh group, including with its non-executive directors, and reviewed a wide range of documents provided by emh group.

Our regulatory judgement is based on all the relevant information we obtained during the inspection as well as analysis of information received from emh group through its regulatory returns and other regulatory engagement activity.

Summary of findings 

Consumer – C2 – November 2024 

In relation to the Safety and Quality Standard, emh group provided evidence-based assurance that it has appropriate systems in place to ensure the health and safety of its tenants in their homes and associated communal areas. Emh group demonstrated that it has appropriate processes in place to identify and prioritise action necessary to address health and safety issues in its homes. It has obtained external assurance over the processes and information underpinning its health and safety performance monitoring and reporting.

We reviewed evidence that shows emh group has an accurate record of the condition of its homes at an individual property level through physical surveys of its homes and has a process for keeping this information up to date. Emh group uses its understanding of the condition and safety of its tenants’ homes to make decisions on future investment to maintain and improve homes.

Emh group demonstrated that it provides an effective, efficient and timely repairs service to tenants. It takes action to improve the service for tenants when issues occur. We reviewed evidence that gives appropriate assurance that emh group’s approach to repairs is informed by the needs of its tenants and makes use of the tenant information it holds to tailor its services appropriately.

In relation to the Neighbourhood and Community Standard, we gained assurance that emh group works with relevant organisations to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour and hate incidents in its neighbourhoods, and we were provided with examples of this happening in practice. We saw evidence that emh group has engaged with its tenants to review its approach for reporting anti-social behaviour and hate crime incidents. We have evidence that emh group has restructured its service model in this area, which includes an increase in resources, to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

In relation to the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard, we do not have assurance that there are a wide range of meaningful opportunities for tenants to influence and scrutinise emh group’s strategies. Tenants do have opportunities to contribute their views on policies and services, but emh group needs to improve how tenant input is considered within the governance structure and at emh group board level. Emh group recognises these weaknesses and is taking steps to provide tenants with more meaningful opportunities to inform emh group’s strategic decision making, but this will take time.

Providing tenants with an appropriate level of service is a key strategic objective for emh group and we saw evidence in areas where this is being delivered. However, we also saw evidence, in relation to customer contact services, where performance was weak, and there has been a significant increase in the overall number of complaints. Emh group is seeking to address these areas with the support of tenants including through scrutiny reviews of emh group’s approach as it seeks to make improvements.

In relation to the Tenancy Standard, emh group works in partnership with local authorities to ensure a consistent approach to lettings and that its homes are let in a fair and transparent way. We saw evidence that emh group understands the diverse needs of its tenants and the communities it operates in and through the tenure mix in the development of new homes. We have assurance that emh group considers tenants’ diverse needs in the design and delivery of services, and that it monitors its performance in continuing to deliver outcomes to tenants in this area.

Governance – G1 – November 2024

Based on the evidence gained from the inspection there is assurance that emh group’s governance arrangements enable it to effectively manage its risk and adequately control the organisation, allowing it to deliver its objectives. We saw evidence that emh group’s board provides challenge on performance against the organisation’s strategic targets and consideration of risk appetite in strategic decision making.

Emh group has provided appropriate assurance that its board proactively reviews the approach to delivering against its purpose and regularly considers alternative options to ensure emh group is achieving value for money in making best use of resources. 

Emh group has clear roles, responsibilities and accountabilities within its leadership and governance structure. There is assurance its board and committees work in line with its delegations, and that they consider emh group’s risk management and control framework. There is evidence of discussion and board challenge of the controls and assurance on strategic risks including a focus on those that relate to safety and other risks to tenants.  

The most recent external review of emh group’s governance took place in May 2024. Board member skills, experience and knowledge are aligned with the activities of the organisation and there is a structured approach to developing and appraising skills to support succession planning. We have seen evidence of this through group board observation, meetings with non-executive directors and the executive team as well as reviewing relevant documents including meeting minutes.  

Emh group’s board seeks and gains an appropriate level of evidence-based assurance across a range of areas. There is evidence of how this assurance has been used to make improvements to its approach to service delivery, and to mitigate against risks.

Emh group’s board ownership of stress testing, mitigation strategies and wider governance over risks through regular and structured review of golden rules is evident. Reporting to emh group’s board provides sufficient detail for the board to ensure effective oversight.

Viability – V2 – November 2024

Based on the evidence gained from the inspection we have concluded that there is appropriate assurance that emh group’s financial plans are consistent with, and support, its financial strategy. Emh group has appropriately evidenced that it has an adequately funded financial plan, sufficient security in place to support its plans, and is forecast to continue to meet its financial covenants. We have evidence that emh group’s board has effective oversight of covenant compliance.

Emh group continues to meet our viability requirements and has financial capacity to deal with a range of adverse scenarios. However, in the short-term emh group plans significant investment in its current homes and this reduces its capacity. In addition, emh group anticipates generating surpluses from the sale of existing homes. Whilst emh group is not reliant on sales, it represents an uncertain cashflow for the organisation, which needs to be managed. We have assurance that emh group has reporting and oversight in place to manage the risks of its disposal programme.

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

Emh group is a non-charitable registered provider under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014. It is the non-asset holding group parent. There are six further entities in the group, four of which are subsidiaries of emh group.

One of the subsidiaries, EMH Housing and Regeneration Limited, is a charitable registered provider under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014. It is the group’s main social housing owning entity. A second subsidiary, EMH Care and Support Limited, is a charitable non-registered care and support entity.

Emh group operates across 49 local authorities, with the majority of the stock located in the East Midlands region. It owns and manages around 20,000 homes. The majority are general needs social rent, general needs affordable rent, low-cost home ownership rent, supported housing and housing for older people rent.

At 31 March 2024, the group employed 971 full-time equivalent staff. Emh group’s turnover for the year ended 31 March 2024 was £147.5m. Emh group plans to develop around 1,500 homes between 2025 and 2027, with around 840 general needs, 430 low-cost home ownership, 180 supported housing social rent, and 50 other tenure types.

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.

Further information

• Regulating the standards

• Regulatory standards for landlords