Decision

Previous regulatory judgement: The Havebury Housing Partnership (14 December 2022)

Updated 29 November 2023

Applies to England

RSH Narrative Regulatory Judgement

• Provider: The Havebury Housing Partnership

• Regulatory code: LH4339

• Publication date: 14 December 2022

• Governance grade: G1

• Viability grade: V2

• Reason for publication: Viability regrade

• Regulatory route: Stability Check and Reactive Engagement

Regulatory judgement

This regulatory judgement regrades our previous assessment of The Havebury Housing Partnership’s financial viability from V1 to V2 and confirms its existing G1 grade for governance.

The regulator has assurance that The Havebury Housing Partnership (Havebury) complies with the financial viability elements of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard. Its financial plans are consistent with, and support, its financial strategy. It has effective treasury management arrangements, has ensured access to adequate levels of liquidity and forecasts ongoing compliance with its financial covenants.

Havebury is continuing to develop new homes and is also increasing investment in its existing homes. This weakens its financial performance and, coupled with higher inflation and interest rate pressures in the current economic environment, reduces Havebury’s capacity to respond to adverse events.

The regulator’s assessment of Havebury’s compliance with the governance elements of the Governance and Financial Viability standard remains unchanged. On the basis of the Stability Check, the regulator has concluded that there is no evidence to indicate a change to Havebury’s current governance grading.

Other providers included in the judgement

None

About the provider

Origins

Havebury is a charitable community benefit society.

Registered Entities

Havebury is the only registered entity.

Unregistered Entities

There are two unregistered entities in the group:

• Havebury Homes limited, trading as Four Sail Homes, builds housing for open market sale on behalf of the group; and

• Design and Build East Limited provides development services to the group.

Geographic Spread and Scale

Havebury owns and manages around 7,000 homes across the East of England, principally in Suffolk.

Staffing and Turnover

For the year ended 31 March 2022 Havebury’s turnover was £46.2m. It employed 231 full-time equivalent staff.

Development

Havebury plans to deliver around 1,050 homes by 2028.

About our judgements

Key to Grades

Governance:

	Compliant
G1	The provider meets our governance requirements.
G2	The provider meets our governance requirements but needs to improve some aspects of its governance arrangements to support continued compliance.

	Non-compliant
G3	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	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:

	Compliant
V1	The provider meets our viability requirements and has the financial capacity to deal with a wide range of adverse scenarios.
V2	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.

	Non-compliant
V3	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	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 Routes

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.