Regulatory Inspection Results

Regulatory Inspection Results

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During the summer we were inspected by the Regulator of Social Housing as part of its programme to inspect housing associations like ours every four years. The purpose is to assess how well we are meeting regulatory expectations against the Governance, Viability and Consumer Standards. The scoring against the standards is on a scale of 1 to 4.

As part of its assessment the inspection team gathered information from documents and observing meetings of the Board, Resident Influence Committee and Resident Scrutiny Panel, as well as interviews with the Executive Leadership Team.  The published judgements are below along with comments on the findings from the inspection - the report can be found here.

Governance (G) – Assesses how well we are run. We have retained a rating of G1

“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’s Group’s board provides challenge on performance against the organisation’s strategic targets and consideration of risk appetite in strategic decision making.”

Viability (V) – Assesses how financially strong we are. We have retained a rating of V2

“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 this it represents an uncertain cashflow for the organisation and therefore a risk to delivery of the planned financial position. We have assurance that emh Group has reporting and oversight in place to manage the risks of its disposal programme.”

Consumer (C) – This is a new rating which assesses housing associations against the new consumer standards - it came into force on 1 April 2024. You can read more about these here.  We were awarded a rating of C2

“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.”

Chan Kataria, Group Chief Executive, emh said "Overall, the outcome was as expected and positive. The Regulator acknowledged significant areas of good practice in governance, financial stability and operational delivery. Achieving a C2 rating on our first attempt is reasonable, especially given the recent changes aimed at improving our services, many of which are still being embedded. However, we have a strong ambition to reach a C1 rating, and we have gained valuable insights from this experience.”

Next steps:

We will be developing an action plan to address the areas for improvement and will publish this on our website shortly.