Housing association regains compliant status after adding new board members

“Peaks and Plains has identified further opportunities to clarify the relationship between the board and committees to facilitate the board to operate at a more strategic level," the judgement added.

However, the RSH said that while while Peaks and Plains has “assurance that key risks are effectively managed” there is more work “required to continue to strengthen some aspects of reporting and establish the changes that have been made”.

On retaining its V1 status, the notice said that Peaks & Plains has an “adequately funded business plan, sufficient security in place, and is forecast to continue to meet its financial covenants under a wide range of adverse scenarios”.

In a statement, Peaks & Plains said: “In July 2019 the trust referred itself to the regulator, alerting them to our processes, particularly in connection with compliance, safety and assets.

“We embarked on a trust-wide action plan – and we’re delighted to say that the regulator has confirmed they are satisfied with the steps taken and the investment that we made to put this right. We are already working on the next phase of this work to further improve our services.”

In another regulatory judgement today, the RSH downgraded 1,500-home housing association Tuntum to a compliant G2 rating after an in-depth assessment.

The judgement said that Tuntum, which describes itself as a Black and minority ethnic-led housing association, needs to strengthen its “risk management and organisational capacity”.

“Board oversight of landlord health and safety risk, investment in existing assets and specialist housing risks requires strengthening,” the judgement said.

It added: “While Tuntum has made changes to its organisational structure and new appointments to strengthen operational capacity, the board needs to consider what further changes are needed to improve oversight and delivery of strategic objectives.”

In reaffirming the Nottingham-based association’s V2 status for viability, the RSH said that its financial plans are “consistent with and support its strategy”.

But it warned: “Tuntum has low interest cover margins along with an increasing debt burden to fund its ongoing development. It is in the process of finalising stock investment assumptions and, with limited unencumbered assets available, needs to manage its security position.

“These factors reduce Tuntum’s capacity and flexibility to cope with downside risk and require ongoing management to ensure continued compliance.”

In a statement, Tuntum said: “Tuntum is disappointed by the regulatory judgement of G2/V2 and accepts that there is improvement needed in some areas.

“An action plan is being put together which will be agreed with the Regulator of Social Housing in order to regain a G1 grading as soon as possible.”

It added: “Despite the challenges of the last year, Tuntum was successful in achieving a number of positive outcomes. These included growth in the number of homes owned and managed by 7%, the implementation of two new community-based mental health schemes, the installation of a new comprehensive IT management system and the drawdown of a further £13m which will be used for the development of more homes.”