Decision

Irwell Valley Housing Association Limited (L0061) - Regulatory Judgement: 28 October 2026

Updated 28 October 2026

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	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 Irwell Valley Housing Association (Irwell Valley HA) following an inspection completed in October 2026.

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 Irwell Valley HA were last updated in December 2025 following a stability check to confirm a G1 grade for governance and a V2 grade for financial viability. This is the first time we have issued a consumer grade in relation to this landlord.

Summary of the decision

From the assurance gained during the inspection, based on the evidence provided by Irwell Valley HA, it is our judgement that overall Irwell Valley HA is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a C1 grade for Irwell Valley HA. 

Our judgement is that Irwell Valley HA meets our governance requirements. Irwell Valley HA 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 objectives. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a G1 grade for Irwell Valley HA.

Our judgement is that Irwell Valley HA meets our financial viability requirements. However, the material risks associated with future energy efficiency requirements and regeneration projects has reduced its capacity to respond to adverse events. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a V2 grade for Irwell Valley HA.

How we reached our judgement

We carried out an inspection of Irwell Valley HA 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: the Neighbourhood and Community Standard, the Safety and Quality Standard, the Tenancy Standard, and the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard.

During the inspection we observed a board meeting and Tenant Scrutiny Panel, spoke with tenants, held meetings with Irwell Valley HA including with its non-executive directors, interviewed staff, and reviewed a wide range of documents provided by Irwell Valley HA.

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

Summary of findings  

Consumer – C1 – October 2026

In relation to the Safety and Quality Standard, Irwell Valley HA has a good understanding of the condition of its homes. We saw evidence that Irwell Valley HA keeps an accurate record of the condition of its homes through physical surveys and has effective processes, systems and oversight in place for keeping this information up to date. Irwell Valley HA demonstrated that it uses its understanding of the quality and safety of its tenants’ homes to make decisions on future investment.  

During the inspection Irwell Valley HA provided evidence-based assurance that it has effective oversight and management arrangements in place for ensuring the health and safety of its tenants in their homes and associated communal areas. Irwell Valley HA demonstrated that it has an understanding of its legal obligations to landlord health and safety requirements and that actions arising from legally required health and safety assessments are identified and addressed promptly.

Irwell Valley HA provided evidence that it is effectively managing damp and mould within its homes. Reporting demonstrates that Irwell Valley HA is able to meet the required timescales to investigate, identify and repair hazards, it has also demonstrated planning in preparation for new damp and mould legal requirements. We have assurance that systems and processes are in place to ensure vulnerable tenants are identified and prioritised should damp and mould issues arise.

Irwell Valley HA provides a timely, effective and efficient repairs, maintenance and planned improvement service to its tenants and we have assurance that areas of underperformance are addressed effectively. We saw evidence that tenant feedback has directly influenced service redesign through Irwell Valley HA’s transformation programme, with the needs of vulnerable tenants prioritised.

It is our judgement that, Irwell Valley HA is delivering the outcomes of the Transparency, Influencing and Accountability standard. Irwell Valley HA evidenced that it treats its tenants with fairness and respect and provides a wide range of meaningful opportunities for tenants to influence decision-making and provide scrutiny of and feedback on its services. Irwell Valley HA demonstrated a clear commitment to the provision of transparent and accessible information to its tenants.

We gained assurance that Irwell Valley HA has an effective approach to complaints handling and its board and tenants receive reports on complaints handling performance. We saw evidence that learning from tenant feedback on complaints handling is used to improve services.

We saw improving levels of tenant satisfaction across all service areas and Irwell Valley HA has demonstrated that it uses performance information and analysis to improve its services and outcomes for tenants.

In relation to the Tenancy Standard, Irwell Valley HA’s allocations policy sets out its approach to ensuring all properties are let in a fair and transparent way, in line with policies that are clear and accessible. We saw evidence during the inspection of Irwell Valley HA ensuring tenants are supported in sustaining their tenancies.

We gained evidence-based assurance that Irwell Valley HA is meeting the outcomes of the Tenancy Standard and the Neighbourhood and Community Standard. It works with relevant organisations to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour in the neighbourhoods where it provides social housing. It provides clear and accessible ways for anti-social behaviour to be reported and takes prompt and appropriate action in response to incidents of anti-social behaviour.

Governance – G1 – October 2026

During the inspection we saw evidence that Irwell Valley HA’s governance arrangements allow it to effectively manage its risks and enable clear oversight, control and direction for delivering its strategic objectives. 

Irwell Valley HA’s board and executive team demonstrated the skills, experience and capacity required to deliver the organisation’s strategic objectives. We gained assurance that Irwell Valley HA is taking proactive steps to manage future board succession, with annual skills appraisals to manage succession planning. Continuous improvement is evidenced through annual effectiveness reviews and in-depth periodic external governance reviews.

Board reporting is comprehensive, timely and supports effective challenge, oversight and decision-making. Financial and operational performance are monitored through a suite of key performance indicators aligned to strategic objectives, supported by reporting against a set of key business health measures.

Irwell Valley HA’s board demonstrated that it actively considers its risk appetite in strategic decision making. We gained assurance that strategic decision making is effective, including where opportunities may put pressure on Irwell Valley HA’s capacity, and ensures robust consideration and challenge of the risks and rewards of competing activities.

Irwell Valley HA has an established risk management framework and a clear approach to setting and reviewing risk appetite. Irwell Valley HA’s internal controls assurance framework provides the board with sufficient detail on the key controls in place to manage risks, with appropriate board reporting in place to ensure oversight.

Board assurance is adequately supported by risk-based internal audit reviews and specialist external assurance where required.

Viability – V2 – October 2026

Based on the evidence gained through the inspection we have concluded that there is appropriate assurance that Irwell Valley HA’s financial plans are consistent with and support its financial strategy. Irwell Valley HA’s latest business plan is based upon reasonable assumptions; it forecasts adequate headroom against its loan covenants and demonstrates that sufficient liquidity and funding arrangements are in place to support its business plan requirements.

Irwell Valley HA has a well-developed stress testing framework embedded within its business planning process, which is supported by external specialist advisers. Stress testing demonstrates that the business plan can withstand a reasonable range of adverse financial scenarios.

However, a significant regeneration project is at an early stage and there remains uncertainty regarding both costs and future grant funding levels. Additionally, several material risks relating to the costs associated to energy efficiency requirements could significantly impact financial capacity.

Although quantified and deliverable mitigation measures have been developed, taking these factors into account, while Irwell Valley HA has the financial capacity to withstand a reasonable range of adverse scenarios, it must continue to manage material risks.

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

Irwell Valley HA currently owns and manages around 7,500 homes in the North West of England, mainly comprising general needs, supported housing and shared ownership. Irwell Valley HA works mainly in Trafford and Tameside, and across eight further local authorities. 

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