The Regulator of Social Housing has upgraded the governance rating for Sovereign, one of the country’s largest housing associations, from G2 to G1.
In June 2022, the regulator downgraded Sovereign to G2, stating that while Sovereign’s governance remained compliant, the housing association needed to improve some aspects of its governance arrangements.
Now, following reactive engagement, the regulator says it has “assurance” that Sovereign has “satisfactorily addressed” these issues.
Sovereign’s financial viability rating remains at V2.
Speaking at the CIH Housing 2023 conference in Manchester, Mark Washer, Sovereign CEO, said: “We are obviously very pleased that Sovereign has now regained its G1 rating, and while our governance ratings were always compliant, it is welcome news that the regulator has recognised the hard work we have put in to addressing issues with historic data relating to building safety.”
He added: “It is a huge credit to colleagues at Sovereign that we put this right so quickly in 2021 and early 2022 and that, since then, we have put in place a really robust building safety regime.
“We have been open and transparent with the regulator throughout, and I am pleased that as I share a platform today with Fiona MacGregor and can also share the news that we have our G1 rating back.”
Sovereign is set to manage around 82,000 homes when it merges with Network Homes later this year.
Image credit: Bacho/Shutterstock
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