Decision

Bournville Village Trust (L0702) Regulatory Judgement: 24 September 2025

Updated 24 September 2025

Applies to England

Our Judgement

	Grade/Judgement	Change	Date of assessment
Consumer	C1 Our judgement is that overall the landlord is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards. The landlord has demonstrated that it identifies when issues occur and puts plans in place to remedy and minimise recurrence.	First grading	September 2025
Governance	G1 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our governance requirements.	Assessed and unchanged	September 2025
Viability	V2 Our judgement is that the landlord 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.	Assessed and unchanged	September 2025

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for Bournville Village Trust (Bournville) following an inspection completed in September 2025.

This regulatory judgement confirms a consumer grade of C1, a governance grade of G1, and a financial viability grade of V2.

Prior to this regulatory judgement, the governance and financial viability grades for Bournville were last updated in December 2024, following a stability check which confirmed grades of G1 and V2. This is the first time we have issued a consumer grade in relation to this landlord.

Summary of the decision

From the evidence and assurance gained during the inspection, it is our judgement that Bournville is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards. Based on this assessment we have concluded a C1 grade for Bournville.   

Our judgement is that Bournville meets our governance requirements. Bournville has provided evidence that demonstrates the effectiveness of its governance arrangements and that it continues to have an effective performance and reporting framework that supports board oversight of its key risks, allowing it to deliver its strategic and charitable objectives. Based on this assessment we have concluded a G1 grade for Bournville.

Our judgement is that Bournville meets our financial viability requirements.  Bournville has sufficient liquidity and continues to forecast covenant compliance with reasonable headroom. Whilst it has capacity to manage a reasonable range of adverse scenarios it has exposure to financial risks relating to its planned investment in existing homes, including energy efficiency, that it needs to manage. Based on this assessment we have concluded a V2 grade for Bournville.

How we reached our judgement

We carried out an inspection of Bournville to assess how well it is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and meeting our governance and financial viability requirements, as part of our planned regulatory inspection programme. During the inspection, we considered all four of the consumer standards: Neighbourhood and Community Standard, Safety and Quality Standard, Tenancy Standard, and the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard.

During the inspection we observed a board meeting and a meeting of the Your Home Scrutiny Group, spoke with tenants, held meetings with Bournville including its non-executive directors, and reviewed a wide range of documents provided by Bournville.

Our regulatory judgement is based on all of the relevant information we obtained during the inspection as well as analysis of information received from Bournville in its regulatory returns and other regulatory engagement activity.

Summary of findings 

Consumer – C1 – September 2025

During the inspection, Bournville provided evidence-based assurance that it has appropriate systems in place for ensuring the health and safety of its tenants in their homes and associated communal areas.

In relation to the Safety and Quality Standard, Bournville provided appropriate evidence that it has a good understanding of its compliance with its landlord health and safety requirements. Bournville has sought adequate assurance over its processes and the data supporting its compliance position, as part of the board’s commitment to take all reasonable steps to ensure the health and safety of tenants.

We saw evidence that Bournville keeps an accurate and up-to-date record of the condition of its homes through physical surveys at an individual property level and has a process for keeping this information up to date. It uses its understanding of the quality and safety of its tenants’ homes to make decisions on the planning of future investments to maintain and improve its homes.

Bournville provides an effective, efficient and timely repairs, maintenance and planned improvements service to tenants, and continues to implement actions to improve the service and outcomes to tenants. We reviewed evidence that gave us assurance that it’s approach to repairs is informed by the needs of its tenants, and that it makes use of the tenant information it holds to tailor its services appropriately.

In relation to the Neighbourhood and Community Standard, Bournville has demonstrated that it works in partnership with relevant organisations to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB) and hate incidents in the neighbourhoods in which it operates. We gained assurance that it learns from resident feedback and previous outcomes to understand the drivers for ASB and to shape how services are delivered. We saw that Bournville participates in a range of community partnerships that promote community safety in the neighbourhoods that it serves.

Bournville demonstrated that, in relation to the Tenancy Standard, it works in partnership to ensure a consistent approach that supports its homes being let in a fair, transparent and efficient way. This is supported by regular reviews of its lettings and allocations policy. We also saw evidence that Bournville supports tenants to sustain their tenancies.

In relation to the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard, Bournville provided evidence that it is delivering a collaborative approach to the design of its landlord services and actively supports a wide range of meaningful opportunities for tenants to influence and scrutinise its strategy and operations. Tenant engagement is structured effectively and supported by both Bournville and external partners. We gained assurance that tenant feedback has led to service improvements.

There is evidence that Bournville treats tenants with fairness and respect. It understands the diverse needs of its tenants and the different communities it operates in, taking this into account in the design and delivery of services. Bournville provides tenants with timely and accessible information about its performance and landlord services.

Bournville has oversight of performance information on its complaints handling. We saw evidence that complaints are handled efficiently and promptly. It’s board and tenants receive reporting on complaints handling performance and insight, and we saw evidence that this performance data and learning from complaints is used to improve its services and create better outcomes for tenants.

Governance – G1 – September 2025

Based on the evidence gained from the inspection we have assurance that Bournville’s governance arrangements enable it to effectively manage its risks and adequately control the organisation, allowing it to deliver its objectives. Its board demonstrated it considers risk appetite in strategic decision making and that performance against strategic targets is monitored and challenged.

Bournville has provided appropriate assurance that its board proactively reviews its approach to delivering against its purpose and regularly considers alternative options for achieving value for money in making best use of resources.  

Bournville has clear roles, responsibilities and accountabilities within its leadership and governance structure. Continued governance improvement is evidenced through annual effectiveness reviews and periodic external reviews, the most recent of which was completed in 2025. Board member skills, experience and knowledge are aligned with the activities of the organisation and there is a structured approach to succession planning.

Bournville’s risk management and control framework is aligned to its strategic risks. It has a well-developed approach to risk management and the board has a good understanding of the risks facing the organisation and the sector. There is evidence of robust discussion and board challenge that the controls and assurance on strategic risks are being managed effectively in practice, and the board actively seeks to gain an appropriate level of assurance.

We saw evidence that Bournville carries out stress testing against a range of identified risks and combinations of risks, across a range of scenarios with appropriate mitigation strategies in place as a result.

Viability – V2 – September 2025

Based on the evidence gained from the inspection, we have concluded that there is appropriate assurance that Bournville’s financial plans are consistent with, and support, its financial strategy. It has access to sufficient liquidity, an adequately funded business plan and is forecasting to meet its financial covenants. Bournville has appropriate financial controls and monitors performance against its golden rules and covenants, with its board having effective oversight of covenant compliance through regular reporting on actual and projected covenant performance.

Bournville continues to meet our viability requirements. It has significant ongoing investment in existing homes to improve the quality and energy efficiency, which means close management of its financial position and risks are required. We have assurance that it has reporting and oversight in place to manage delivery within its stated risk appetite, and its stress testing shows that there is financial capacity in the business plan to mitigate a reasonable range of adverse scenarios.

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

Bournville is a charitable trust and registered charity founded in 1900 by George Cadbury. Bournville owns and manages around 3,422 homes across Telford, Bournville and Central Birmingham.

Bournville is the asset holding group parent with four subsidiaries in the group:

• Bournville Almshouse Trust, a linked charity and charitable RSH registered provider;
• Bournville Works Housing Society Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bournville and a RSH registered provider;
• Bournville Village Developments; and
• Bournville Village Enterprises

At the financial year ended 31 December 2024 Bournville employed 233 full-time equivalent staff and the group turnover for was £31.8m.

Bournville is not currently developing as it is prioritising investment into its existing homes, however, development is a future priority for Bournville.

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