Decision

Mosscare St. Vincent's Housing Group Limited (4857) - Regulatory Judgement: 28 May 2025

Updated 28 May 2025

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.	Upgrade	May 2025
Governance	G1 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our governance requirements.	Based on previous assessment	September 2024
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.	Based on previous assessment	September 2024

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for Mosscare St. Vincent’s Housing Group Limited (Mosscare St. Vincent’s) following a period of responsive engagement.

This regulatory judgement upgrades our previous published assessment of Mosscare St. Vincent’s consumer grading from C2 to C1 and confirms its existing governance grading of G1 and a financial viability grading of V2.

Prior to this regulatory judgement, Mosscare St. Vincent’s most recent consumer grade was C2 which was issued in September 2024 following a planned regulatory inspection that also confirmed grades of G1 and V2.

Summary of the decision

From the evidence and assurance gained during the responsive engagement, it is our judgement that overall Mosscare St. Vincent’s is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a C1 grade for Mosscare St. Vincent’s.

We have not reassessed Mosscare St. Vincent’s governance and financial viability grades as part of the responsive engagement.

How we reached our judgement

In 2024, as part of our planned regulatory inspection programme, we carried out an inspection of Mosscare St. Vincent’s to assess how well it was delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and meeting our governance and financial viability requirements. Following that inspection, we published a regulatory judgement in September 2024. Based on the evidence and assurance gained during the inspection, it was our judgement that there were some weaknesses in Mosscare St. Vincent’s delivery of the outcomes of the consumer standards, and that improvement was needed specifically in relation to the outcomes of the Safety and Quality Standard. Based on that assessment, we concluded a C2 grade for Mosscare St. Vincent’s. It was the first time a consumer grade had been issued in relation to this landlord.

Following that inspection, we engaged with Mosscare St. Vincent’s on the delivery of its improvement strategy. Based on the evidence-based assurance gained on the improvement made in Mosscare St. Vincent’s understanding of the condition of its homes and the consequent improved outcomes for tenants, we have concluded an upgrade to C1 for Mosscare St. Vincent’s.  

Our regulatory judgement is based on all the relevant information we obtained during the inspection in September 2024 and subsequent responsive engagement process. We also considered information supplied by the landlord in its regulatory returns and other regulatory engagement activity.

Summary of findings 

Consumer – C1 – May 2025 

Following the publication of our regulatory judgement in September 2024, we engaged with Mosscare St. Vincent’s to understand how it was addressing the main issue identified during our inspection. This related to a weakness in its understanding of the condition of its homes. Mosscare St. Vincent’s identified a need to improve its communications with tenants to enable it to gain access to more homes to carry out stock condition surveys, so that it could increase the proportion of its homes that had up-to-date physical inspections.

Through our responsive engagement, we have assurance that Mosscare St. Vincent’s now has a better understanding of the condition of its homes from which it can identify the investment it needs to make to ensure tenants live in good quality, well maintained and safe homes. We have also seen evidence that Mosscare St. Vincent’s has changed the way it communicates with tenants regarding stock condition surveys. As a result, it has been able to undertake more surveys than in previous years. Mosscare St. Vincent’s is using learning from this to improve its communications with tenants more generally.

We have also reviewed the information contained in Mosscare St. Vincent’s published performance information and regulatory returns to gain assurance that this information is consistent with an assessment of a consumer grade of C1.

Our inspection in 2024 provided evidence-based assurance that Mosscare St. Vincent’s has appropriate systems in place to ensure the health and safety of its tenants in their homes and associated communal areas, including through its building safety programme. Mosscare St. Vincent’s provided appropriate assurance to demonstrate that it has a good understanding of its health and safety compliance, and activity to ensure compliance remained at 100%.

During the inspection we saw evidence that Mosscare St. Vincent’s provides an effective repairs service to tenants and takes action to improve the service and outcomes for tenants when issues occur. It identified issues with the timeliness of non-emergency repairs, and in response it undertook a comprehensive review while implementing mitigating actions and made changes to the repair service to deliver improved outcomes for tenants. We saw evidence that in the twelve months preceding the 2024 inspection, Mosscare St. Vincent’s delivered significant improvements in the delivery of its day-to-day repairs service to ensure that it did not have a backlog.

In relation to the Neighbourhood and Community Standard, we gained assurance through the previous inspection that Mosscare St. Vincent’s works with appropriate partners to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour and hate incidents in the neighbourhoods where it provides social housing.

Mosscare St. Vincent’s provided evidence that it seeks to offer tenures appropriate for the homes it lets, taking into account the purpose of the accommodation, the needs of individual households, the sustainability of the community and the efficient use of social housing.

Overall Mosscare St. Vincent’s approach is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards in relation to the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard. Mosscare St. Vincent’s provided evidence that it treats tenants with fairness and respect and is continuing to increase its understanding of its tenants. Mosscare St. Vincent’s demonstrates an active approach to considering tenants’ diverse needs in the design and delivery of services and monitors its performance in continuing to deliver outcomes to tenants in this area.

We saw evidence that Mosscare St. Vincent’s regularly reviews performance information on complaints handling. It provided evidence that it learns from information on complaint types and outcomes, using this to make improvements. 

Mosscare St. Vincent’s demonstrated that the design of its engagement and scrutiny arrangements provide a wide range of meaningful opportunities for its tenants to share their views and provide scrutiny. There was evidence that feedback from tenants and scrutiny reviews influences Mosscare St. Vincent’s decision making. Mosscare St. Vincent’s provided assurance that it makes effective use of its performance information to improve services and provide a range of information to tenants to support effective scrutiny. Improvements made as a result of scrutiny reviews by tenants included how Mosscare St. Vincent’s manages mutual exchanges, repairs and complaints handling.

Governance – G1 – September 2024

Based on the evidence gained from our 2024 planned regulatory inspection, we gained assurance that Mosscare St. Vincent’s governance arrangements enable it to effectively manage its risk and adequately control the organisation, allowing it to deliver its objectives. Mosscare St. Vincent’s board demonstrated that it provides challenge on performance against the organisation’s strategic targets and consideration of risk appetite in strategic decision making.

Mosscare St. Vincent’s is prioritising investment in existing stock and services to tenants, and provided appropriate assurance that its board proactively reviews its approach to delivering against its purpose. Mosscare St. Vincent’s regularly considers alternative options to ensure it is achieving value for money in making best use of resources.

Mosscare St. Vincent’s was able to provide evidence that it has established and maintains clear roles, responsibilities and accountabilities within its leadership and governance structure. The relationship between its board and committees is working in line with its delegations to strengthen assurance in key areas of risk and compliance.

Continuing governance improvement is evidenced through effectiveness reviews and in-depth periodic external governance reviews. The most recent external review took place in early 2024 and we saw evidence of timely implementation plans for the recommendations made.

Board member skills, experience and knowledge are aligned with the activities of the organisation and there is a structured approach to developing and appraising skills to support succession planning. We saw evidence of this through board observation, meetings with non-executive directors and the executive team as well as reviewing relevant documents including meeting minutes.

Mosscare St. Vincent’s demonstrated that there is an appropriate risk management and control framework that aligns to its strategic risks. There is evidence that this flows from Mosscare St. Vincent’s board through the organisation with risks being managed effectively in practice. Mosscare St. Vincent’s board actively seeks and gains an appropriate level of assurance across a range of areas.

Board ownership of stress testing and mitigation strategies is evidenced and is used to inform decisions, supplementing the wider control framework.

Viability – V2 – September 2024

Based on evidence gained from our 2024 regulatory inspection, we have assurance that Mosscare St. Vincent’s continues to meet our viability requirements and a reasonable range of adverse scenarios, but needs to manage material risks to ensure continued compliance. We concluded that its financial plans are consistent with, and support, its financial strategy. Mosscare St. Vincent’s has an adequately funded business plan with sufficient security in place and is forecast to continue to meet its financial covenants.

Mosscare St. Vincent’s is increasing investment in existing homes while continuing to develop new homes. This includes investment in improving the thermal efficiency of homes. The business plan will be funded by additional debt and interest payments associated with that which means that Mosscare St. Vincent’s capacity to respond to adverse scenarios is reduced and requires on-going management. 

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

Mosscare St. Vincent’s is a charitable co-operative and community benefit society operating predominantly across 18 local authority areas in the North-West.

Mosscare St. Vincent’s owns 8,792 homes. Of these, 1,321 (15%) are supported or older person’s housing. It also has 482 Low Cost Home Ownership, 144 market rent and 136 leasehold homes.

At 31 March 2024, the group employed 353.5 full-time equivalent staff. Group turnover for the year ending 31 March 2024 was £49.96 million. Mosscare St. Vincent’s plans to develop 1,457 new homes by 2030.

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.

Further information

• Regulating the standards

• Regulatory standards for landlords