Bromford Flagship Limited (L4449) - Interim Regulatory Judgement: 14 May 2025
Published 14 May 2025
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. |
Interim grading | May 2025 | |
| Viability | V1 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our viability requirements and has the financial capacity to deal with a wide range of adverse scenarios. |
Interim grading | May 2025 |
Reason for publication
Flagship Housing Group Limited (Flagship) became a subsidiary of Bromford Housing Group Limited (Bromford) on 28 February 2025. On the same date, Flagship changed its name to Flagship Housing Limited and Bromford changed its name to Bromford Flagship Limited (Bromford Flagship).
We are publishing an interim regulatory judgement for Bromford Flagship following these changes.
This interim regulatory judgement confirms a governance grade of G1 and a financial viability grade of V1.
Prior to this interim regulatory judgement, the governance and financial viability grades for Bromford were last updated in December 2024 following a stability check, which confirmed a G1 grade for governance and V1 grade for financial viability. The grades for Flagship were last updated in February 2025 following a stability check and responsive engagement, which confirmed a G1 grade for governance and a V2 grade for financial viability.
Summary of the decision
Our judgement is that Bromford Flagship meets our governance requirements. From the previous G1 grades issued to Bromford and Flagship, we have concluded an interim governance grade of G1 for Bromford Flagship.
Our judgement is that Bromford Flagship meets our financial viability requirements and has the financial capacity to deal with a wide range of adverse scenarios. From considering the previous grades, and an assessment of a range of documents to help us form a judgement about how well the combined entity meets the viability requirements of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard, we have concluded an interim financial viability grade of V1 for Bromford Flagship.
How we reached our judgement
Following the changes to create Bromford Flagship as described above, we carried out an assessment to consider interim gradings for Bromford Flagship. This is based on the previous grades for Bromford and Flagship and consideration of a range of documents to help us form a judgement about how well the combined entity meets the financial viability requirements of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard.
We will award standard grades for consumer, governance and viability following a programmed inspection, or when we have carried out an assessment following responsive engagement. We may also change an interim V1 or V2 financial viability grade into a standard grade when a stability check has not identified the landlord as being potentially at a higher risk of failing to deliver the outcomes of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard.
Summary of findings
Governance – Interim Grade – G1 – May 2025
Based on the previous G1 grades for both Bromford and Flagship, we have concluded an interim governance grade of G1 for Bromford Flagship.
Viability – Interim Grade - V1 – May 2025
The previous financial viability grade issued to Bromford was V1 following a stability check.
The previous financial viability grade issued to Flagship was V2, following a stability check and responsive engagement. Our judgement at the time was that Flagship met our viability requirements and had the financial capacity to deal with a reasonable range of adverse scenarios but needed to manage material risks to ensure continued compliance. Our previous judgement reflected Flagship’s increased investment in its existing homes while delivering a significant development and sales programme. Its plans also indicated a reliance on sales surpluses to ensure covenant compliance.
Based on the evidence gained through our assessment, we have assurance that Bromford Flagship meets our viability requirements and has the financial capacity to deal with a wide range of adverse scenarios. Bromford Flagship has evidenced that it has an adequately funded business plan, sufficient security in place to support its financial plans, and it forecasts that it will continue to meet its financial covenants under a wide range of adverse scenarios. Under a revised covenant structure, its plans indicate adequate covenant headroom with no reliance on sales surpluses to ensure compliance. Bromford Flagship forecasts adequate headroom while continuing to deliver its development programme and investing in existing stock to meet both stock quality and de-carbonisation objectives.
On this basis we have concluded an interim financial viability grade of V1 for Bromford Flagship.
Background to the judgement
About the landlord
Bromford Flagship is an exempt charitable community benefit society. There are four other registered providers in the group; Bromford Housing Association Limited, Bromford Home Ownership Limited, Flagship Housing Limited and Merlin Housing Society Limited,
Bromford Flagship has 10 unregistered subsidiaries established to support the group’s objectives. The most significant of these include:
- Bromford Developments Limited;
- Flagship Housing Developments Limited; and
- Bromford Housing Group Investments Limited.
Bromford reported a turnover of £314m for the year ended 31 March 2024 and employed the full-time equivalent of 1,852 staff. Flagship reported a turnover of £253m for the year ended 31 March 2024 and employed the full-time equivalent of 1,467 staff.
The group is based and operates in the South West, West Midlands and East of England. Bromford Flagship owns and manages 77,242 homes.
Bromford Flagship plans to develop 2,000 homes annually.
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.