Decision

Previous regulatory judgement: Bolton at Home Limited (19 June 2020)

Updated 30 November 2022

Applies to England

RSH Narrative Regulatory judgement

• Provider: Bolton at Home Limited
• Regulatory code: 4568
• Publication date: 19 June 2020
• Governance grade: G1
• Viability grade: V2
• Reason for publication: Changed basis for viability grade
• Regulatory route: In Depth Assessment

This regulatory judgement updates our previous published assessment of BH’s financial viability and governance grades following an In Depth Assessment (IDA). It confirms the provider’s G1/V2 grades.

The regulator’s assessment of BH’s compliance with the financial viability elements of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard remains unchanged. Based on the IDA, the regulator has concluded that there is no evidence to indicate a change to BH’s current viability grading. The provider has an adequately funded business plan, sufficient security in place, and is forecast to continue to meet its financial covenants under a reasonable range of scenarios.

However, BH invests substantially in community support services, its existing stock and development programme, and forecasts significant income from shared ownership sales and disposals. BH needs to manage these risks to ensure continued interest cover covenant compliance.

The regulator’s assessment of BH’s compliance with the governance elements of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard remains unchanged. Based on the evidence gained from the IDA, the regulator has assurance that BH’s governance arrangements enable it to adequately control the organisation and to continue meeting its objectives.

Other providers included in the judgement

• Arcon Housing Association Limited L0249

About the provider

Origins

Bolton at Home Limited (BH) is the registered group parent and a Community Benefit Society. It was formed in 2011 to take a transfer of homes owned by Bolton Council.

The group’s core focus is the delivery of social housing, mainly for general needs, supported housing and housing for older people. It also owns and develops homes for market rent, shared ownership and market sale.

Registered Entities

BH is the parent and main stockholding entity within the group. Its registered subsidiary, Arcon Housing Association Limited (AHA), is also a social housing provider and joined the group on 1 April 2019.

Unregistered Entities

BH has five unregistered entities:

• Starts with You Limited is a social enterprise company and provides a range of employment and community support services.
• R-Haus Living Limited is a private company limited by shares providing homes at market rents.
• Maxmedia Communications Limited is a private company limited by shares and provides marketing and communication services to the social housing sector.
• Stonecross Homes Limited provides homes for sale, including shared ownership.
• Arcon Developments Limited is registered company to enable AHA to develop market rent, shared ownership and outright sale properties.

Geographic Spread and Scale

The group owns and manages about 18,790 properties. It operates in 14 local authority areas but primarily in Bolton.

Staffing and Turnover

BH reported a group turnover of £91.2m for the year ending March 2020 and employs the full-time equivalent of 1,035 staff.^{[footnote 2]}

Development

The group’s development strategy sets a target to deliver 1,400 new affordable homes over the next five years.

About our judgements

Key to Grades

Governance:

• G1 (Compliant): The provider meets our governance requirements
• G2 (Compliant): The provider meets our governance requirements but needs to improve some aspects of its governance arrangements to support continued compliance
• G3 (Non-compliant): 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 (Non-compliant): 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:

• V1 (Compliant): The provider meets our viability requirements and has the financial capacity to deal with a wide range of adverse scenarios.
• V2 (Compliant): 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.
• V3 (Non-compliant): 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 (Non-compliant): 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.

Definitions of Regulatory Processes

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’.

1. These figures are based on BH’s group unaudited 2019/20 accounts. ↩