Arches Housing achieve a governance regrade to G1
Arches Housing is a Yorkshire based registered provider who own and manage circa 1,130 homes principally in Sheffield and Rotherham. Following a self-referral to the regulator in July 2017 their Governance rating was downgraded from G1 to G2. Arches chose to undertake a self- referral in order to be transparent with the Regulator and to share their plan to rectify the issues they identified.
Failing to provide assurance it was compliant with tenant health and safety
The Governance and Financial Viability Standard requires registered providers to have an effective risk management and internal controls assurance framework in place. In Arches’ case, the HCA deemed in the Regulatory Judgement that they needed “to strengthen its operational control arrangements to ensure adherence to all relevant health and safety legislation and regulatory requirements.”
The Regulator judged that Arches needed to improve aspects of its governance arrangements to support continued property compliance, as it was unable to provide sufficiently robust assurance that it was compliant with statutory tenant health and safety requirements. In particular, Arches was unable to evidence they had carried out water hygiene risk assessments and asbestos management surveys to their non-domestic stock as well as electrical testing in respect of their domestic stock in the form of Electrical Installation Condition Reports (EICRs).
Ensuring a positive regrade
Arches has been open about the issues within the organisation and, with our help, were able to quickly and effectively implement a plan to achieve full compliance, and more importantly to maintain it moving forward.
As the compliance consultant that originally reviewed Arches’ statutory health and safety arrangements, as well as providing support throughout the voluntary disclosure, we are extremely pleased with how they approached the problems identified and the commitment to building a robust platform to prevent future occurrence. Arches is now able to evidence that there is a firm grip on compliance within their organisation.
To learn more about the work we did for Arches and how we can help you ensure effective statutory property compliance, as well as support in managing a referral to the regulator, or a response to the regulator, please contact - JNeville@pennington.org.uk
