Decision

Anchor Hanover Group (LH4095) - Regulatory Judgement: 25 June 2025

Updated 25 June 2025

Our Judgement

	Grade /Judgement	Change	Date of assessment
Consumer	C3 Our judgement is that there are serious failings in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and significant improvement is needed.	Based on previous assessment	February 2025
Governance	G3 Our judgement is that the landlord does not meet our governance requirements. There are issues of serious regulatory concern and in agreement with us the landlord is working to improve its position.	Downgrade	June 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.	Based on previous assessment	December 2024

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for Anchor Hanover Group (Anchor) that concludes the investigation into whether Anchor meets the governance requirements of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard.

This investigation followed the publication in February 2025 of a regulatory judgement that concluded a consumer grading of C3, following a self-referral made by Anchor in December 2024. This was the first time we issued a consumer grade in relation to this landlord and followed responsive engagement with Anchor that focused on the Safety and Quality Standard and the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard.

In February 2025, we also placed Anchor on the gradings under review list to review its governance, while we completed our investigation.

Prior to this regulatory judgement the governance and financial viability grades for Anchor were last updated in a regulatory judgement published in December 2024, following a stability check to confirm a G1 grade for governance and a V1 grade for financial viability.

Summary of the decision

From the evidence and assurance gained during the investigation, it is our judgement that Anchor does not meet our governance requirements and significant improvement is needed, specifically in relation to its risk and control framework. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a G3 grade for Anchor.

Based on our earlier responsive engagement, we concluded a C3 grade for Anchor, as set out in our judgement published in February 2025. Significant improvement is needed, specifically in relation to the outcomes in the Safety and Quality Standard and the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard.

Our judgement is that Anchor continues to meet our financial viability requirements. Based on our stability check review completed in December 2024, we have concluded a V1 grade for Anchor.

How we reached our judgement

We began our responsive engagement with Anchor in December 2024, following information provided to us by Anchor that indicated a number of potential failings to deliver the relevant outcomes of the Consumer Standards.

Following the self-referral, we carried out responsive engagement with Anchor, initially considering the health and safety elements of the Safety and Quality Standard, but also outcomes in the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard. Our judgement confirming a C3 grade for Anchor was published in February 2025.

As our engagement also indicated that there were serious weaknesses in how Anchor is delivering the governance outcomes of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard, Anchor was placed on the gradings under review list while we investigated these issues.

This investigation included reviewing documents and information provided to us by Anchor, with follow up meetings and discussions with Anchor’s board and executive team. This regulatory judgement is based on a review of all the relevant information we obtained during the investigation process, including Anchor’s self-referral.

Summary of findings 

Consumer – C3 – February 2025 

The Safety and Quality Standard requires landlords to identify and meet all legal requirements that relate to the health and safety of tenants in their homes and communal areas, and to ensure that all required actions arising from legally required health and safety assessments are carried out within appropriate timescales.

The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard requires landlords to use relevant information and data to understand the diverse needs of tenants and assess whether their housing and landlord services deliver fair and equitable outcomes for tenants.

The self-referral made by Anchor in December 2024 identified that over a third of its homes did not have a current satisfactory electrical safety inspection report and that there was a significant backlog of electrical remedial actions. In its self-referral, Anchor also included the outcome of a recent internal audit review that concluded  it does not have sufficient understanding of the condition of its homes, with incomplete and unreliable information available on the presence of damp and mould in its homes. Anchor is also not able to demonstrate that it takes account of the needs of individuals living in homes where damp and mould has been reported.

Anchor shared an external review of its landlord health and safety compliance from earlier in 2024 with the regulator when further information was sought following the self-referral. This review, as well as Anchor’s internal audit reviews, highlighted weaknesses across landlord health and safety. This included fire safety and water hygiene, with poor data quality and omissions in reported data hindering the comprehensive actioning of health and safety assessments and arising actions.

Our assessment is that there are serious failings in Anchor delivering these outcomes and significant improvement is needed. We do not have assurance that actions required from health and safety assessments are carried out within appropriate timescales. There is insufficient evidence in the design and delivery of landlord services of an effective approach to identifying the risks to tenants’ safety through assessments and then eliminating or mitigating against those risks. 

We are engaging closely with Anchor as we require it to demonstrate that steps are being taken to identify and mitigate risks to tenants as it continues to address this situation. We expect the landlord to deliver improvement at the pace and scale required and to share progress with tenants. Our ongoing engagement with the landlord will be intensive and we will seek evidence that gives us the assurance that sufficient change and progress is being made. Our priority will be that risks to tenants are adequately managed and mitigated.

Governance – G3 – June 2025

Based on evidence gained from our investigation following a self-referral by Anchor in December 2024, we have concluded that the landlord does not meet our governance requirements, resulting in a downgrade to G3. There are issues of serious regulatory concern that the landlord is working to address, in agreement with us. Anchor has not met all the required governance outcomes and specific expectations in the Governance and Financial Viability Standard.

There is insufficient evidence that Anchor has an appropriate, robust and prudent risk and control framework, and that it has adequately managed and addressed key risks relating to landlord health and safety. Significant improvements to the risk management framework are needed to give the board sufficient oversight of strategic risks and the controls in place to manage them.

Anchor’s board actively seeks an appropriate level of assurance across a range of areas, however there are weaknesses in its use of this information to drive improvement. It does not always apply lessons learnt across the organisation or identify where weaknesses in internal controls have wider impacts. As a result, Anchor is not consistently identifying when its risks move outside of appetite. Over time this has led to an increase in Anchor’s risk exposure, resulting in a failure to manage risks to tenants’ safety in landlord health and safety compliance.

Anchor has identified that improvements are needed to its risk management framework. These improvements are needed for the board to be satisfied that there is appropriate assurance that the controls used to manage risks are working, and to demonstrate that the board can operate with an appropriate degree of diligence, effectiveness and foresight.

Although the board has taken steps to mitigate its risks, its decision making has not been consistently supported by accurate data. This has impacted the board’s ability to foresee and manage these risks in a sufficiently timely way. There is insufficient assurance that Anchor’s data is robust, and that systems and processes are adequate to ensure key information is monitored and accurately reported. Anchor has identified that there have been errors in its landlord health and safety compliance performance reporting and is undertaking a review of its data, which is ongoing.

Anchor was able to provide evidence that it has established clear roles, responsibilities and accountabilities within its leadership and governance structure. There is a structured approach to developing and appraising skills, experience and knowledge of board members to support succession planning. However, Anchor’s board needs to consider how it will improve its challenge of the information it receives and drive improvement at an appropriate pace.

Anchor is working positively with us and acknowledges the concerns found following its self-referral. Anchor has begun to deliver the necessary improvements and is making key appointments, as well as working with external advisors, to help address the issues identified in this regulatory judgement. 

Viability – V1 – December 2024                                   

Based on the relevant information and evidence we reviewed when carrying out the stability check in December 2024, our judgement is that Anchor continues to meet our viability requirements and has the financial capacity to deal with a wide range of adverse scenarios.

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

Anchor is a charitable housing association registered as a community benefit society. It is the largest operator of social housing for older people and the sixth largest residential care home operator in England, with care services regulated by the Care Quality Commission.

It was formed following the merger of Hanover Housing Association and Anchor Trust in November 2018. According to the 2024 statistical data return Anchor owns around 40,400 homes in England in over 240 local authorities. Anchor reports 29 buildings within 11-18 metres and 7 buildings at least 18 metres in height.

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