Decision

The Housing Plus Group Limited (L4491) - Regulatory Judgement: 28 October 2026

Updated 28 October 2026

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 2026
Governance	G1 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our governance requirements.	Assessed and unchanged	October 2026
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 2026

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for The Housing Plus Group (Housing Plus) following an inspection completed in October 2026.

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

Prior to this regulatory judgement, an interim judgement was published in June 2025 for Housing Plus, confirming an interim G1 grade for governance and an interim V2 grade for financial viability. This followed The Wrekin Housing Group Limited (Wrekin) joining Housing Plus as a subsidiary in January 2025. 

This is the first time we have issued a consumer grade in relation to this landlord.

Summary of the decision

From the assurance gained and the evidence provided by Housing Plus during the October 2026 inspection, we have concluded that there are some weaknesses in Housing Plus delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed, specifically in relation to the outcomes in our Safety and Quality Standard and Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a C2 grade for Housing Plus.

Our judgement is that Housing Plus meets our governance requirements. Housing Plus has provided evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of its governance arrangements and that it continues to effectively manage 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 Housing Plus.

Our judgement is that Housing Plus meets our financial viability requirements. Housing Plus’ financial plans are consistent with, and support, its financial strategy. Housing Plus has an adequately funded business plan with sufficient security in place and is forecast to continue to meet its financial covenants. However, due to planned development and investment in its existing homes, Housing Plus has reduced capacity to respond to adverse events. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a V2 grade for Housing Plus.

How we reached our judgement

We carried out an inspection of Housing Plus 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. This regulatory judgement was produced, and the inspection completed, before the C&C Standard and revised TIA Standard (incorporating Social Tenant Access to Information Requirements) came into effect.

During the inspection we observed a board and a Service Performance and Customer Experience Committee meeting, spoke with tenants, held meetings with Housing Plus including its non-executive directors, interviewed staff, and reviewed a wide range of documents provided by Housing Plus. 

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

Summary of findings  

Consumer – C2 – October 2026

During the inspection, Housing Plus 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. It also demonstrated that it has a good understanding of its compliance with landlord health and safety requirements. Housing Plus’ performance information demonstrated a good level of reported compliance with its legal obligations. However, the ongoing work to combine and simplify systems and services following the merger means that there are weaknesses in aspects of Housing Plus’ delivery of the consumer standards, and improvements are needed in a number of areas.

Housing Plus maintains an accurate and up to date record of the condition of its homes through a programme of physical surveys at an individual property level and has a process for keeping this information up to date. Housing Plus also demonstrated that the information it holds on the quality and safety of its homes informs decisions on future investment to maintain and improve the condition of its homes. 

Housing Plus has effective governance, oversight and funding arrangements in place to address non-decency, however there is a significant proportion of homes failing to meet the Decent Homes Standard. This is in part due to how data is reported, however, Housing Plus has identified that it needs to complete a substantial programme of component replacements during 2026/27 to ensure that all homes meet the Decent Homes Standard. We will monitor progress on this through future engagement with Housing Plus.

We found evidence of weaknesses in the provision of an effective, efficient and timely repairs service. Since the merger, Housing Plus has improved its performance against timescales, however it needs to continue this progress to reduce the levels of overdue work. The evidence seen at the time of the inspection showed that repairs service and performance levels were not being delivered consistently across Housing Plus’ tenant base. A unified repairs service for all tenants has now been introduced, and we will continue to engage with Housing Plus while it works to achieve a consistently improved performance.

In relation to the Transparency, Influence and Accountability standard, Housing Plus provided evidence that it treats its tenants with fairness and respect. Housing Plus uses data and feedback to understand and respond to tenants’ needs and considers tenant vulnerabilities when delivering services. Housing Plus is transparent about its performance, however, Housing Plus operate legacy websites, alongside the group site, and information about services for tenants on these websites is inconsistent and out of date. Housing Plus needs to complete planned work to improve its websites so that tenants can access consistent and up to date information about the services it provides. 

Housing Plus has made improvements to its complaint handling performance since the merger and reports strong performance in responding to complaints within target timescales. It has identified further ways to strengthen its approach to responding to and learning from complaints to sustain this improvement.

Housing Plus has demonstrated that it provides a wide range of meaningful opportunities for tenants to influence and scrutinise its strategies, policies and services. Housing Plus has recognised that it needs to further strengthen and formalise its approach to tenant led scrutiny and has recently established a Tenant Scrutiny Panel. Housing Plus needs to demonstrate that it is considering the outcomes from tenant scrutiny in its service delivery and we will monitor progress on this through our ongoing engagement.    

In relation to the Neighbourhood and Community Standard, we gained assurance that Housing Plus is managing anti-social behaviour appropriately. Housing Plus works in partnership with appropriate partners to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour and hate incidents in the neighbourhoods where it provides homes.

In relation to the Tenancy Standard, we have assurance that Housing Plus has a fair and transparent approach to allocations and lettings and considers the needs of tenants and prospective tenants. 

We will continue to engage with Housing Plus as it continues to address the issues set out in this judgement.   

Governance – G1 – October 2026

Based on evidence gained through the inspection, we have assurance that Housing Plus’ governance arrangements enable it to effectively manage its risks and adequately control the organisation, allowing it to deliver its merger objectives.  Housing Plus’ board appropriately monitors strategic delivery, challenges performance and considers its risk appetite in decision making.

Housing Plus maintains clear roles, responsibilities and accountabilities within its leadership and governance structure. We were assured that its board and committees work in line with delegations and that the board periodically reviews the effectiveness of its governance structure. Housing Plus’ approach to continuous improvement of its governance arrangements is demonstrated through in-depth periodic external effectiveness reviews. Board members’ skills, experience and knowledge are aligned with the activities of Housing Plus and it uses external independent advice and expertise where appropriate. There is a structured approach to developing and appraising skills to support succession planning.

Housing Plus has an appropriate risk management and control framework in place that aligns with its strategic risks, supported by third-line assurance from internal audit and relevant external reviews. We saw evidence that the board provides effective oversight of this and that risks are being managed. Housing Plus has effective reporting and formal escalation routes from committees to the board, enabling the board to have oversight of the progress of business integration activities across the group. 

Housing Plus demonstrates robust financial governance. Board reporting provides sufficient detail to support effective oversight of financial risks. We gained assurance that Housing Plus carries out robust stress testing against its main risks with appropriate ownership and scrutiny by the board. Housing Plus understands how it will respond in the event of severe financial downside scenarios and has comprehensively designed mitigations in place.

We saw evidence that Housing Plus has a documented approach to achieving value for money and effectively demonstrated that the arrangements in place support it to ensure it makes the most of its available resources. Housing Plus’ board has demonstrated that it considers investment in existing homes and the delivery of effective landlord services alongside delivering new homes that meet a range of tenant needs. 

Viability – V2 – October 2026

Based on the evidence gained through the inspection, we have assurance that Housing Plus’ financial plans are consistent with, and support, its financial strategy. Housing Plus has an adequately funded business plan, sufficient security to support its plans and is forecast to remain compliant with its financial covenants.

Housing Plus has a significant development programme and is investing in its existing homes. This weakens forecast financial performance and reduces capacity within the business plan. Housing Plus remains forecast to comply with its financial covenants.

Stress testing shows resilience to a reasonable range of adverse scenarios. Housing Plus has identified a range of timebound mitigation strategies to protect liquidity and maintain covenant compliance.

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

Housing Plus owns and manages around 33,000 homes and mainly operates in Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire and Staffordshire.

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 of Housing Plus on 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 £246m at the year ended 31 March 2025 and employed the full-time equivalent of 1,830 staff.

Housing Plus plans to build 3,500 new homes over the next five years.

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

Related documents

• Decent Homes Standard