The Housing Plus Group Limited (L4491) - Interim Regulatory Judgement: 25 June 2025
Updated 25 June 2025
Applies to England
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Our Judgement
| Grade/Judgement | Change | Date of assessment | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer | Not assessed yet | ||
| Governance | G1 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our governance requirements. |
Interim grading | June 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. |
Interim grading | June 2025 |
Reason for publication
The Wrekin Housing Group Limited (Wrekin) became a subsidiary of The Housing Plus Group Limited (Housing Plus) on 6 January 2025.
We are publishing an interim regulatory judgement for Housing Plus following these changes.
This interim regulatory judgement confirms a governance grade of G1 and a financial viability grade of V2.
Prior to this interim regulatory judgement, the governance and financial viability grades for Housing Plus were last updated in November 2024 following a stability check, which confirmed a G1 grade for governance and V2 grade for financial viability. The grades for Wrekin were last updated in November 2024 following a stability check, which confirmed a G1 grade for governance and a V2 grade for financial viability.
Summary of the decision
Our judgement is that Housing Plus meets our governance requirements. From the previous G1 grades issued to Housing Plus and Wrekin, we have concluded an interim governance grade of G1 for Housing Plus.
Our judgement is that Housing Plus meets our financial viability requirements and has the financial capacity to deal with a reasonable range of adverse scenarios. From considering the previous grades, and an assessment of a range of documents to help us form a judgement about how well the combined entity meets the viability requirements of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard, we have concluded an interim financial viability grade of V2 for Housing Plus.
How we reached our judgement
Following the changes to Housing Plus as described above, we carried out an assessment to consider its interim gradings. This is based on the previous grades for Housing Plus and Wrekin, and consideration of a range of documents to help us form a judgement about how well the combined entity meets the financial viability requirements of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard.
We will award standard grades for consumer, governance and viability following a programmed inspection, or when we have carried out an assessment following responsive engagement. We may also change an interim V1 or V2 financial viability grade into a standard grade when a stability check has not identified the landlord as being potentially at a higher risk of failing to deliver the outcomes of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard.
Summary of findings
Governance – Interim Grade – G1 – June 2025
Based on the previous G1 grades for both Housing Plus and Wrekin, we have concluded an interim governance grade of G1 for Housing Plus.
Viability – Interim Grade – V2 – June 2025
The previous financial viability grade issued to Housing Plus was V2 following a stability check. Our judgement at the time was that Housing Plus met our viability requirements and had the financial capacity to deal with a reasonable range of adverse scenarios but needed to manage material risks to ensure continued compliance. Our previous judgement reflected that Housing Plus had significantly increased its investment in existing homes, primarily to address the government’s energy efficiency targets. In combination with rising interest costs and economic uncertainty in relation to inflation, this had reduced the forecast headroom on its interest cover loan covenant.
The previous financial viability grade issued to Wrekin was V2, following a stability check. Our judgement at the time was that Wrekin met our viability requirements and had the financial capacity to deal with a reasonable range of adverse scenarios but needed to manage material risks to ensure continued compliance. Our previous judgement reflected Wrekin’s increased development costs and additional investment in its existing homes. In combination with economic uncertainty in relation to inflation and interest rates, this reduced its capacity to deal with downside risk and the importance of fixed asset sales in maintaining covenant compliance.
Based on the evidence gained through our assessment, we have assurance that Housing Plus meets our viability requirements and has the financial capacity to deal with a reasonable range of adverse scenarios. Housing Plus has evidenced that it has an adequately funded business plan, sufficient security in place to support its financial plans, and forecasts that it will continue to meet its financial covenants under a reasonable range of adverse scenarios.
On this basis we have concluded an interim financial viability grade of V2 for Housing Plus.
Background to the judgement
About the landlord
Housing Plus provides housing and related services and has three RSH registered subsidiaries:
- Homes Plus Limited, a community benefit society;
- Wrekin, which became a subsidiary 6 January 2025. It is a community benefit society that was originally set up to receive the transfer of 13,000 homes from Telford and Wrekin Council in 1999; and
- Choices Housing Association Limited, which provides residential care for people with learning difficulties and domiciliary care services.
The group also contains six unregistered subsidiaries.
Housing Plus reported a turnover of £126m for the year ended 31 March 2024 and employed the full-time equivalent of 886 staff. Wrekin reported a turnover of £116m for the year ended 31 March 2024 and employed the full-time equivalent of 969 staff.
Housing Plus owns and manages around 32,300 homes and mainly operates in Shropshire and Staffordshire.
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.