Decision

Honeycomb Group Limited (LH2162) - Regulatory Judgement: 29 October 2025

Updated 29 October 2025

Applies to England

Our Judgement

	Grade/Judgement	Change	Date of assessment
Consumer	C2 Our judgement is that there are some weaknesses in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed.	First grading	October 2025
Governance	G1 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our governance requirements.	Upgrade	October 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	October 2025

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for Honeycomb Group Limited (Honeycomb) following an inspection completed in October 2025.

This regulatory judgement confirms a consumer grade of C2, a governance upgrade to G1 and a financial viability grade of V2.

Prior to this regulatory judgement, the governance and financial viability grades for Honeycomb were last updated in January 2025 following a stability check to confirm grades of G2 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 through the inspection, it is our judgement that there are some weaknesses in Honeycomb meeting the required outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed, specifically in relation to outcomes in our Safety and Quality Standard, and Transparency, Influence & Accountability Standard. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a C2 grade for Honeycomb.

Our judgement is that Honeycomb meets our governance requirements. Honeycomb has provided evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of its governance arrangements and that it effectively manages the risks of its activities, allowing it to deliver its strategic and charitable objectives. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a G1 grade for Honeycomb.

Our judgement is that Honeycomb meets our financial viability requirements. It is forecasting continued covenant compliance, has access to sufficient liquidity and stress testing shows that it has the financial capacity to manage a reasonable range of adverse scenarios. However, increased expenditure on maintaining the quality of its homes has reduced capacity to respond to adverse events. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a V2 grade for Honeycomb.

How we reached our judgement

We carried out an inspection of Honeycomb 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 & Accountability Standard.

During the inspection we observed a board meeting and customer assurance group, spoke with tenants, held meetings with Honeycomb including its non-executive directors, interviewed staff, and reviewed a wide range of documents provided by Honeycomb. 

Our regulatory judgement is based on a review of the information we obtained during the inspection as well as analysis of information supplied by Honeycomb in its regulatory returns and other regulatory engagement activity.

Summary of findings  

Consumer - C2 - October 2025

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

Honeycomb has demonstrated that it has taken action to improve the quality of the stock condition information it holds and now has a detailed understanding of its homes at an individual property level: this programme is continuing alongside strengthening Honeycomb’s tenant information. Decent Homes Standard (DHS) compliance is monitored through improved reporting and Honeycomb has evidenced that it considers tenant vulnerabilities when prioritising works. A specialised team has been introduced specifically to manage damp and mould cases, and Honeycomb has also reviewed its case management processes and reporting, which has driven improved performance.  

During the inspection we gained assurance that Honeycomb has taken steps to address weaknesses in its repairs service. Improvement has been supported by enhanced contract management and the involvement of tenants in scoping the tender contract requirements. At the time of the inspection, the landlord was moving to a new repairs contract, and while performance information was limited as a result, early outcomes are positive. Honeycomb will continue to monitor performance through its Repairs Focus Group, with committee and Board oversight. Through our ongoing engagement we will continue to seek assurance from Honeycomb that improved and consistent outcomes for tenants can be evidenced.

In relation to the Neighbourhood and Community Standard, we gained assurance that Honeycomb is working in partnership with appropriate partners to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB) and hate incidents in the neighbourhoods where it provides homes. Tenants are given a range of ways through which they can report incidents, and Honeycomb has demonstrated how it uses its information to identify hotspots, and to target interventions through its specialised ASB resource.

In relation to the Tenancy Standard, Honeycomb provided evidence that it seeks to offer tenures that are appropriate for its homes, considering the purpose of the accommodation, the needs of individual households, the sustainability of the community and the efficient use of social housing.

We have identified weaknesses in Honeycomb delivering the outcomes of the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard, and that sustained improvements are required, specifically in relation to complaints handling.

Honeycomb provided evidence that it treats tenants with fairness and respect and is continuing to increase its understanding of its tenants. It evidenced that it actively considers tenants’ diverse needs in the design and delivery of services and demonstrated how it uses the information it holds to improve outcomes for tenants. Honeycomb has demonstrated that tenants have a range of opportunities to share their views, provide scrutiny and influence decisions.

Honeycomb needs to continue to deliver sustained improvements in its approach to handling complaints. We will continue to engage with Honeycomb and will seek assurance that outcomes for tenants are improved.

Governance - G1 - October 2025

Honeycomb’s governance grade was downgraded in 2021 due to weaknesses in its risk management and internal control frameworks, including the integrity and management of data.

Honeycomb has undertaken a range of actions in recent years to strengthen its governance, and we observed how these changes have supported improvements across the organisation, particularly in risk management, board oversight and data integrity.

We gained assurance that Honeycomb’s executive and board set a clear strategic direction for the organisation and that an appropriate risk management and control framework is in place. Honeycomb’s risk framework is aligned to its activities and its reporting against these risks, including a documented escalation process, enabling the board to have effective oversight and to facilitate decision making at the appropriate level. Recent improvements in systems and reporting mean that Honeycomb’s board regularly considers a wide range of key performance indicators, providing appropriate levels of assurance across a range of areas.

Honeycomb has strengthened its governance arrangements, including through an external review which has led to a restructure of its board and committee arrangements. This has increased capacity at board level and supports board scrutiny and oversight across all entities. An improvement board has been introduced to provide leadership for improvement activities across the group.

Honeycomb’s performance information demonstrates a good level of reported compliance with legal obligations, it has third party assurance and its internal controls are operating effectively to manage risk in this area. An updated data improvement strategy has been implemented and has enhanced board assurance on the quality of information held across the organisation. Honeycomb has provided assurance that it will continue to monitor and review the effectiveness of these improvements.

Viability – V2  - October 2025

Honeycomb meets our financial viability requirements, however financial headroom in the earlier years of the business plan is reduced, primarily because of investment in existing stock. Honeycomb has taken action to improve its financial resilience by actively reducing its cost base and through improved subsidiary financial performance.

Honeycomb has an adequately funded business plan, sufficient security to support its financial plan and is forecast to continue to meet its lenders financial covenants. Financial monitoring is of a good standard, and we observed that Honeycomb  proactively manages its activities to maintain financial resilience.

Stress testing is good and shows that Honeycomb can withstand a reasonable range of adverse economic scenarios. It is linked to the strategic risk register and supported by mitigating actions which have been identified and quantified. During our engagement we observed how Honeycomb has used this to support proactive action to maintain financial headroom.

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

Honeycomb is a charitable community benefit society. It owns 3,118 homes across five local authorities in the West Midlands and the North West.

Honeycomb reported a turnover of £30.3m in the year ending 31 March 2024 and employs 261 full-time equivalent staff.  

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 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