Decision

Current regulatory judgement: One Vision Housing Limited (13 December 2023)

Updated 13 December 2023

Applies to England

RSH Narrative Regulatory Judgement

• Provider: One Vision Housing Limited
• Regulatory code: 4804
• Publication date: 13 December 2023
• Governance grade: G1
• Viability grade: V1
• Reason for publication: Viability regrade
• Regulatory route: Stability Check and Reactive Engagement

Regulatory judgement

This regulatory judgement regrades our previous published assessment of One Vision Housing Limited’s financial viability from V2 to V1 and confirms its existing G1 grade for governance.

Our previous judgement noted that development plans and additional costs relating to the repairs and maintenance programme would impact negatively on the interest cover position for One Vision Housing Limited (OVH). Alongside economic uncertainty in relation to wider inflation and interest rate risks, this reduced OVH’s capacity to deal with adverse events.

OVH has since completed its fire safety programme and enhanced its asset costing and lifecycle information. As a result, OVH has increased financial capacity and is able to deal with a wide range of adverse scenarios.

The regulator’s assessment of OVH’s compliance with the governance elements of the Governance and Financial Viability standard remains unchanged. On the basis of the Stability Check, the regulator has concluded that there is no evidence to indicate a change to OVH’s current governance grading.

Other providers included in the judgement

None

About the provider

Origins

OVH is a registered provider and a charitable community benefit society (CBS). It was formed following the transfer of housing stock from Sefton Council, Merseyside in 2006. In 2011 OVH became a subsidiary of Sovini Limited, a non-registered CBS and parent of the Sovini Group. OVH’s main focus is managing and developing social housing.

Registered Entities

OVH is one of two registered entities within the non-registered group, Sovini Limited. This judgement does not encompass the other registered entity, Pine Court Housing Association Limited.

Unregistered Entities

OVH has one active trading subsidiary, Sovini Developments Limited that provides design and build services within the Sovini Group.

Geographic Spread and Scale

OVH owns and manages around 13,700 homes primarily in Sefton but also in nine local authorities in the North West. Its stock is mainly general needs social and affordable rent, but it also has some supported housing, low-cost home ownership, intermediate rent, market rent and leasehold properties.

Staffing and Turnover

At 31 March 2023, OVH employed 175 full-time equivalent staff and its turnover for the year ended was £69.4m.

Development

OVH has plans to develop around 1,000 homes between 2023 and 2028.

About our judgements

Key to Grades

Governance:

	Compliant
G1	The provider meets our governance requirements.
G2	The provider meets our governance requirements but needs to improve some aspects of its governance arrangements to support continued compliance.

	Non-compliant
G3	The provider does not meet our governance requirements. There are issues of serious regulatory concern and in agreement with us the provider is working to improve its position.
G4	The provider does not meet our governance requirements. There are issues of serious regulatory concern, and the provider is subject to regulatory intervention or enforcement action.

Viability:

	Compliant
V1	The provider meets our viability requirements and has the financial capacity to deal with a wide range of adverse scenarios.
V2	The provider 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.

	Non-compliant
V3	The provider does not meet our viability requirements. There are issues of serious regulatory concern and, in agreement with us, the provider is working to improve its position.
V4	The provider does not meet our viability requirements. There are issues of serious regulatory concern, and the provider is subject to regulatory intervention or enforcement action.

Note: The use of an asterisk (*) against a grade indicates that the assessment refers to a provider that is designated as being for-profit.

Definitions of Regulatory Routes

In Depth Assessment (IDA): An IDA is a bespoke assessment of a provider’s viability and governance, including its approach to value for money. It involves on-site work and considers in detail a provider’s ability to meet its financial obligations and the effectiveness of its governance structures and processes.

Stability Checks: Based primarily on information supplied through regulatory returns, a Stability Check is an annual review of a provider’s financial position and its latest business plan. The review is focused on determining if there is evidence to indicate a provider’s current judgements merit reconsideration.

Reactive Engagement: Reactive engagement is unplanned work which is triggered by new information or a developing situation which may have implications for a provider’s current regulatory judgement.

Stability Checks and Reactive Engagement: In some cases, we will publish narrative regulatory judgements which combine evidence gained from both Stability Checks and Reactive Engagement.

For further details about these processes, please see Regulating the Standards.