The Regulator of Social Housing has downgraded Phoenix Community Housing Association to G3 for failing to meet governance requirements.
The RSH said that Phoenix failed to make sure systems and controls were sufficiently robust to ensure timely payments were being made and ensure continued covenant compliance, despite previous findings by the regulator that Phoenix needed to increase the effectiveness of its internal controls.
The RSH also found that Phoenix failed to address skills gaps and changes in the board in a timely manner and that gaps in resourcing and oversight impacted the effectiveness of its governance arrangements.
The landlord had managed its position with funders to avoid default, but the RSH concluded that the failings were so serious that significant improvement is needed.
Phoenix had its consumer grading downgraded to C2, meaning there are some weaknesses and improvement is needed, specifically in relation to the Safety and Quality Standard.
Phoenix continues to meet the financial viability requirements and its V2 viability grading remained unchanged, meaning it has the financial capacity to deal with a reasonable range of adverse scenarios.
RSH also published a number of other regulatory judgements, including downgrading GreenSquareAccord from G1 to G2. An inspection found that GreenSquareAccord needed to improve aspects of its governance arrangements to support continued compliance, specifically in relation to board oversight of operational delivery and risk and strengthening its internal control arrangements.
GreenSquareAccord also received C2/V2 gradings.
The London Borough of Barnet, North East Derbyshire District Council, and the London Borough of Sutton and received C1 gradings, meaning that each landlord is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards overall.
The London Borough of Hounslow received a C2, meaning there are some weaknesses in its delivery of the consumer standards and improvement is needed.
Clarion Housing Group received C2/G1/V1 gradings and Honeycomb Group received C2/G1/V2 gradings.
Kate Dodsworth, chief of regulatory engagement at the RSH, said: “Good governance is vital for managing risk properly and making the right strategic decisions.”
“We will continue to use our regulatory powers to scrutinise the sector and hold landlords to account.”
