A regulatory judgement published by the Regulator of Social Housing has concluded that ForHousing Limited is non-compliant with the governance element of the economic standards and has downgraded it to G3 status.
The regulator previously identified issues with ForHousing’s internal controls, decision making and organisational structure. ForHousing agreed to address these issues, but the regulator has concluded that the provider has not delivered the expected improvements.
Insufficient oversight in ForHousing’s governance arrangements, as well as a lack of accountability in the group structure, have allowed several potential and ongoing financial, reputational and organisational risks to crystalise. This includes the agreement of executive contracts, incentive schemes and severance arrangements that were not aligned with the provider’s codes of governance, or the standards RSH expects from registered providers.
In response to the regulator’s investigation, ForHousing has started to strengthen its independence within the group by introducing new governance arrangements and making new board appointments.
“Our investigation has found issues with the way ForHousing is run, including a lack of independence in its decision making and a lack of accountability in the group structure.
“ForHousing has started to improve its governance arrangements and we will continue to monitor the provider as it works to return to compliance”.
Harold Brown, RSH’s Senior Assistant Director for Investigations and Enforcement
