Decision

Saxon Weald (L4299) - Regulatory Judgement: 17 December 2025

Updated 17 December 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.	Based on previous assessment	September 2024
Governance	G2 Our judgement is that the landlord meets our governance requirements but needs to improve some aspects of its governance arrangements to support continued compliance.	Assessed and unchanged	December 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	December 2025

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for Saxon Weald following a stability check completed in December 2025.

This regulatory judgement confirms a governance grade of G2 and a financial viability grade of V2. Saxon Weald has a consumer grade of C2 from a planned inspection completed in September 2024.

Summary of the decision

Based on the relevant information and evidence we reviewed in carrying out the stability check, our judgement is that Saxon Weald meets our viability requirements and has the financial capacity to deal with a reasonable range of adverse scenarios. However, it needs to manage material risks to ensure continued compliance. We have therefore concluded the landlord’s grade is unchanged and issue a V2 grade for Saxon Weald.

From the stability check, there is no evidence to indicate a change in governance grade is required. Saxon Weald’s governance grade remains G2.

This regulatory judgement is based on a stability check which does not include a reassessment of Saxon Weald’s delivery of the outcomes of our consumer standards.

Prior to this regulatory judgement, the consumer and viability grades for Saxon Weald were last updated in September 2024 following an inspection to issue a consumer grade of C2 and a financial viability grade of V2.

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, attended a tenant scrutiny panel, spoke with tenants, held meetings with Saxon Weald and its non-executive directors, and reviewed a wide range of documents provided by Saxon Weald.

The governance grade for Saxon Weald was last updated in August 2025 following a responsive engagement to issue a governance grade of G2.

How we reached our judgement

We carried out a stability check of Saxon Weald as part of our annual stability check programme.

Our judgement about how well Saxon Weald is delivering the viability outcomes of our Governance and Financial Viability Standard is based on a review of a range of documents provided by Saxon Weald, as well as analysis of information supplied by Saxon Weald in its regulatory returns.

In confirming Saxon Weald’s governance grade as part of the stability check, our work was limited to verifying that the information contained in Saxon Weald’s regulatory returns did not appear inconsistent with its existing published governance grade.

Our stability checks do not assess a landlord’s delivery of the outcomes of our consumer standards.

Summary of findings

Consumer – C2 – September 2024

Below are the findings of our most recent regulatory judgement about Saxon Weald’s delivery of the outcomes of our consumer standards, which assessed Saxon Weald’s consumer grade as C2. The regulatory judgement was issued in September 2024 following a programmed inspection.

Based on evidence gained from the September 2024 inspection, we concluded that there were some weaknesses in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed.

Saxon Weald provided assurance that it has appropriate systems to ensure the health and safety of its tenants in their homes and associated communal areas. Saxon Weald’s fire risk assessment programme identified a number of fire safety remedial actions, a proportion of which are overdue, including some high-risk actions. We have seen evidence of steady progress being made to address the backlog and will continue to seek assurance through our ongoing engagement. 

We found evidence of weaknesses in Saxon Weald’s understanding of the condition of its homes at an individual property level. Saxon Weald is taking action to increase the proportion of physical stock condition surveys, bringing this up to 100% over the next two years and maintaining this in future through a rolling five-year programme. Through our ongoing engagement with Saxon Weald, it will be expected to evidence progress in this area to provide assurance that it has an accurate, up to date and evidenced understanding of the condition of its homes.  

We found weaknesses in the provision of an effective, efficient and timely repairs and maintenance service.  We have assurance that there are appropriate plans in place with improvements underway and are monitoring progress as part of our ongoing engagement with Saxon Weald to deliver improved outcomes for tenants.

In relation to the Neighbourhood and Community Standard, we gained assurance that Saxon Weald works in partnership with relevant organisations to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour, including hate incidents, in neighbourhoods where it provides social housing.

In relation to the Tenancy Standard, our inspection found evidence that Saxon Weald’s approach to lettings and allocations is transparent, and that measures are in place to ensure terms of tenancy are appropriate and meet the needs of tenants.

In relation to the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard, we gained assurance that Saxon Weald treats its tenants with fairness and respect, and that it has a range of processes in place to support this. We found weaknesses in Saxon Weald’s understanding of its tenants, and a need to broaden the range of information it holds about its tenants. We will continue to seek assurance from Saxon Weald that sufficient progress is being made in this area through our ongoing engagement. 

We continue to actively engage with Saxon Weald to monitor its progress in improving its delivery of the outcomes of our consumer standards.

Governance – G2 – December 2025

From the stability check, there is no evidence to indicate that a change in governance grade is required.

Prior to this regulatory judgement, we issued a regulatory judgement in August 2025 following a responsive engagement with Saxon Weald. Below are the findings in that judgement about Saxon Weald’s delivery of our governance requirements.

Based on the evidence gained from our responsive engagement, there is assurance that Saxon Weald’s governance arrangements are meeting the requirements of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard. However, we have concluded that it needs to improve aspects of its governance arrangements to support continued compliance with the standard.

We have seen evidence of weaknesses in Saxon Weald’s risk and control framework relating to procurement, contract management and some aspects of financial controls. This resulted in an overspend in relation to fire safety actions which was not identified until after costs had been incurred. While this enabled an accelerated programme of works to be carried out, Saxon Weald did not ensure there were appropriate controls in place to manage the programme. Saxon Weald failed to ensure appropriate oversight and control of the procurement and ongoing management of works contracts. The financial and control framework was not sufficient to identify these additional costs until after they had been agreed. While there remained financial capacity to absorb these additional costs with compliance with funder covenants maintained, weaknesses in procurement, poor programme management and contract monitoring resulted in unknown overspends against budget.

Saxon Weald’s risk and control framework has not worked effectively in practice in relation to procurement, contract management and financial control. Therefore, its board and management have not ensured appropriate oversight and controls were in place to manage these risks. Improvement is needed to strengthen the effectiveness of its internal control assurance framework. Saxon Weald needs to strengthen its governance arrangements to ensure they operate effectively to identify, alert and highlight potential budget overspends and enable these to be managed and mitigated. Improvements are also needed to Saxon Weald’s procurement and contract management arrangements to ensure effective programme and budget management.

Saxon Weald has been transparent and co-regulatory in its engagement with us and has moved swiftly to take appropriate action to manage the risks associated with the overspend and determine the underlying causes. We are satisfied that Saxon Weald is taking action to address these issues and improve its controls. We will seek assurance through our ongoing engagement that sufficient improvements are delivered at an appropriate pace.  

We continue to actively engage with Saxon Weald to monitor its progress in improving aspects of its governance arrangements.

Viability – V2 – December 2025

Based on evidence gained from the stability check, we have assurance that Saxon Weald meets the viability requirements of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard.

We have assurance that Saxon Weald’s financial plans are consistent with, and support, its financial strategy. Saxon Weald has appropriately evidenced that it has an adequately funded business plan, sufficient security in place to support its financial plans, and is forecast to continue to meet its financial covenants under a reasonable range of adverse scenarios. Saxon Weald’s board has effective oversight of funder covenant compliance.   

Saxon Weald has increased its investment into existing homes, mainly driven by the energy efficiency and fire safety works to its homes, which is putting pressure on its financial performance. Saxon Weald is also developing new homes and has plans to dispose of some homes that are uneconomic to improve, when they become empty. This means Saxon Weald needs to manage risks associated with the housing market. Saxon Weald’s business plan includes efficiency savings which if not achieved could also impact on its financial position. When set in the context of current economic pressures, this reduces Saxon Weald’s capacity to respond to adverse events.   

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

According to the 2025 statistical data return Saxon Weald owns 6,232 homes across East and West Sussex and Hampshire, with the majority of stock being in the Horsham district.

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