TIDM57UT
RNS Number : 0731X
Grand Union Group Funding PLC
24 August 2022
Grand Union Housing Group
Annual report and financial statements
for the year ended 31 March 2022
Grand Union Housing Group Limited Registered office: K2, Timbold
Drive, Kents Hill, Milton Keynes, Bucks MK7 6BZ Grand Union Housing
Group Limited is a Charitable Community Benefit Society registered
in England & Wales No. 7853, regulated by the Regulator of
Social Housing No. 5060, and is a member of the National Housing
Federation.
The Board, Executive Officers and Advisors 1
Statement from the Chair 2
Statement from the Group Chief Executive 3 - 4
Staff Engagement Statement 5 - 6
The year at a glance 7 - 9
Strategic Report 10 - 48
Board Report 49 - 50
Independent Auditor's Report 51 - 54
Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income 55
Association Statement of Comprehensive Income 56
Consolidated Statement of Financial Position 57
Association Statement of Financial Position 58
Consolidated Statement of Changes in Reserves 59
Association Statement of Changes in Reserves 60
Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows 61
Notes to the Financial Statements 62 - 95
Chair
James Macmillan, Independent
Board Members
Gillian Walton, Independent Senior Independent Director
Richard Broomfield, Independent (Appointed Vice Chair 28
September 2021)
Kami Nuttall, Independent (Resigned 28 September 2021)
John Edwards, Independent
Vanessa Connolly, Independent (Resigned 30 June 2021)
Nicola Ewen, Independent (Resigned 30 November 2021)
Brent O'Halloran, Independent
Peter Fielder, Independent
Michael Pattinson, Independent (Resigned 16 June 2021)
Dave Willis (Appointed 27 July 2021)
Craig Thornton (Appointed 28 September 2021)
Kalwant Grewal (Appointed 28 September 2021)
Kevin Gould (Appointed 28 September 2021)
Nannette Sakyi (Appointed 1 April 2022)
Colin Dennis (Appointed 1 July 2022, Chair Incumbent)
Emma Killick (Appointed 1 July 2022)
Company Secretary
Mandy Hopkins (Appointed 26 January 2021 - resigned 25 February
2022)
Mona Shah (Appointed 25 February 2022)
Executive Officers
Aileen Evans, Group Chief Executive
Mona Shah, Executive Director of Finance & Business
Services
Phil Hardy, Executive Director of Operations
Registered Office K2
Timbold Drive
Kents Hill
Milton Keynes
Bucks
MK7 6BZ
Solicitors EMW Law Trowers & Hamlins
Devonshires Wright Hassall
Perrin Myddelton
Funders NatWest Bank plc
Royal Bank of Scotland plc
Santander Plc
Bankers NatWest Bank plc
Auditors Beever and Struthers (External) KPMG (Internal)
Valuers Savills plc Avison Young
Berrys
Registered under the Co-operative and Community Benefit
Societies Act 2014 No. 7853 and with the Regulator of Social
Housing No. 5060
This past year has been dominated by the impact of multiple
world events on our customers and the business. As we learned to
live with COVID-19 and then the war in Ukraine, customers have had
to deal with the fall-out in the form of a cost-of-living crisis
with pressures on food, fuel and rising energy prices. These
events, coupled with the impact of Brexit on labour and materials
supplies and other, broader inflationary pressures, make for the
most challenging operating context we have seen for some years and,
more importantly, extremely difficult times for those we serve.
Grand Union is responsible for the homes and neighbourhoods of
more than 27,000 people. As a Board, we take that responsibility
very seriously because we know that what we do matters. We have
strengthened support to our customers and yet we know that, despite
this, we are seeing an increasing number of customers for whom
their outgoings exceed their income and we have explored all
possible avenues to help them.
In what is my final year as Chair, I'm proud to have seen us
retain our position of financial strength and security. We
delivered an operating margin of 28% and retained our G1/V1 rating
from the Regulator of Social Housing. We also retained our Moody's
credit rating of A3 Stable. This position of strength is key as we
continue to focus on our transformation work centred around
improving services to our customers.
This focus can be seen in our Board meetings, which I've had the
honour of Chairing now for three years. We always begin each
meeting by looking at examples of our customer service - whether it
be good or bad - so that, as a Board, we can remind ourselves of
the reason we are here. We want our customers to know that they can
rely on us to deliver, which is why we're working hard to continue
our transformation work to make sure that our service offer is
targeted and tailored to people's needs.
The psychographic segmentation work we did late last year is
helping us to better understand our customers so that we can
develop a greater knowledge of what motivates and challenges them,
which in turn, will help us deliver consistently great customer
experience. This will also drive value in the organisation by
making things simpler for customers and colleagues too.
As a Board we've had some difficult decisions to make and I'm
proud to have worked alongside members who share our goal of making
a difference to customers. What might be the best solution for our
business might not be for customers and, when making key decisions,
we have tried to do what is best for the people and families living
in our homes. This could be seen in our decision to not implement
the full CPI+1% rent rise across our stock, so that we could offer
some support to those whose rents are at the higher end of the
scale.
Having a strong, customer-focussed Board has allowed us to make
important strategic decisions both for the good of the organisation
and our customers, and I want to take this opportunity to thank all
Board and Committee members, both past and present, in making my
tenure a successful and enjoyable one.
I also want to thank all my colleagues at Grand Union at all
levels for making a difference to the communities we serve every
day.
During my time as Chair of Grand Union I've seen a lot of
change. I've been lucky enough to be in position at what I consider
to have been an exciting period for Grand Union. I'm proud to know
that, when I hand over to my successor, the organisation will be in
a really strong position and I look forward to seeing it evolve
further in the coming years.
James Macmillan
Chair
As a provider of affordable homes and additional support
services, our role has never been as important as it is now.
World events and a shortage of properly affordable housing are
forcing people into real poverty where they are having to make the
terrible choice between heating their homes or feeding their
families, and we know that some can do neither.
What we do now, and in the coming years, is key to helping our
customers and, while I am fully aware of the scale of the task
ahead, I am confident that my colleagues will continue to work hard
to develop new ways to improve the way we work.
One of my jobs as the Chief Executive is to make sure that my
colleagues have the tools they need, both practically and
culturally, to deliver the range of activities we undertake - from
letting and managing our homes, repairing and improving them, to
building new homes. In this regard, we have undertaken a strategic
review of our systems architecture with a view to improving our
systems in the coming year.
We also need to ensure that we minimise our impact on the
environment and are working to decarbonise our homes as well as
minimise our carbon footprint in the operation of our services.
We've been focussed on renewable energy for well over 10 years
and have already installed 642 air source heat pumps, 747 solar pv
systems and ground source heat pumps for 29 homes. Sustainability
is in our DNA and we are well placed to deliver our
responsibilities in this area in an innovative way. We're doing
this because we want to minimise our impact on the planet and,
equally as importantly, provide fuel-efficient and cheap-to-run
homes for our customers so that we help end fuel poverty.
Despite the challenges faced with labour and materials
shortages, we built over 300 homes last year - a record number for
Grand Union. We recognise the need for more affordable tenures,
which is why, amongst others, we completed 57 social rent homes
last year - the same number as we've delivered in the previous nine
years combined. We have almost 900 affordable homes in our
development pipeline, as well as a new extra care scheme, Sorrel
Gardens in Biggleswade, which is our largest single development
ever and will provide 93 high quality homes for older people.
Work we did last year is providing the foundations for us to be
a better landlord, with the customer at our heart. We have
continued to invest in our properties and renewable energy sources
to ensure we are developing homes fit for the future.
This is so important at any time but particularly now, since the
property condition scandal highlighted by ITV and Kwajo Tenebera
has meant the sector as a whole has lost the trust of its
customers.
Using the psychographic segmentation work, we will be able to
ensure our services are fit for purpose, both now and in the
future. We are resolute in our determination to have the best
customer service in the sector.
The white paper is clear in its expectations around how
landlords will be expected to develop their future activity, which
is why it's so important that we listen to our customers' views and
opinions. That's why we will soon be launching a new feedback
channel giving customers the opportunity to give us their opinions
on a range of topics including new concepts, ideas to improve
service and experience, and scrutinise our performance.
Once again, our colleagues have risen to the challenge of
providing services in different ways with compassion and skill, and
I'm immensely proud of what we achieved in the last 12 months, in
spite of all the challenges we faced. Our team at Grand Union has
worked tirelessly to ensure that we provide customers with safe
homes they can call their own and support services when they need
them, all while continuing our efforts to become a more efficient
and customer-focussed business. I'm immensely proud of them
all.
Our colleagues and Board and Committee members have once again
shown great commitment over the last year and I thank them for
their expertise and support.
As our Chair, James Macmillan steps down from his role, I want
to thank him for his support over the last few years. He has guided
the Board through some difficult decisions during the most unusual
times and I am grateful for his work with us. I wish him well in
whatever he does next.
Aileen Evans
Group Chief Executive
The COVID-19 pandemic showed us just how important colleague
engagement is. With our teams now working in a much more agile way,
we need to make sure that they remain engaged with the business and
each other.
Most colleagues in office-based roles now work from home four
days a week, while those in roles out in our communities tend to
only visit the office once a fortnight.
As a result, we've adapted our communications to suit this,
aiming to ensure all colleagues are kept informed about key issues,
and matters affecting them.
Staying in touch
Whilst we have used multiple different channels and delivery
methods, GUS - our intranet - remains the main point for all
information for Grand Union colleagues.
Since last year, we've seen engagement on GUS increase, with an
average of 94.76% of colleagues using the intranet each month. Last
year this number was 86%, so we're pleased to see our efforts to
increase engagement have paid off.
We kept colleagues up to date by posting 656 news, features and
information articles, which collectively were viewed over 111,000
times.
We also introduced new categories on GUS for articles, which
include a 'must read' option. This allows colleagues to filter
these to catch up on the most important posts if they are pressed
for time. Information featured in this category included COVID-19
updates, performance against our corporate plan, Further together,
our plans to achieve Investors in People Silver accreditation and
our governance and financial stability rating.
For our visiting trades teams, we know that they sometimes don't
have time to check GUS. That's why we have trialled an email
round-up of articles so they can stay informed in-between daily
jobs.
The Executive team has provided colleagues with regular,
important updates through GUS over the last year. A number of these
have been personal, recorded videos from our Group Chief
Executive.
We also continued with our use of discussion groups on GUS to
allow for more conversations. This year we set up a menopause group
and a carers page, providing support and advice to those with
caring responsibilities.
Involving colleagues
We value the input from colleagues and want to hear their
thoughts and opinions wherever possible. That's why, when looking
at how we can further embed our values and behaviours, as well as
Further together, we wanted to work with as many of our people as
possible.
We held an online survey for each topic, which saw 83 and 101
replies respectively. To ensure colleagues then had a further
opportunity to discuss their responses in more detail, we held four
separate online focus groups which were attended by 34 colleagues.
Their feedback will be used to guide us when refreshing our
corporate plan and reviewing our corporate values and associated
behaviours.
We also asked colleagues for their opinions when we were
revising our business mileage policy; 125 colleagues voted on a
preferred option which we then brought into effect.
During the year we began work on revamping our colleague
consultation group. This began with a vote on GUS to decide the
forum's new name. We hope that the new forum will be smaller and
more participative, enabling all members to actively contribute to
decision-making on matters affecting colleagues.
Meeting in person again
As we moved out of lockdown restrictions, it was great to be
able to meet up again in person.
Our Executive Director of Operations launched a Property
Services Salary Banding and Development programme in a live event
to our operatives in March 2022. He was also the catalyst to
creating the Trades Consultative Group, our forum for engagement
with our Internal Repairs team.
A number of our K2 Academy training sessions have been run in
person, allowing for better interaction with trainers and those on
the programmes.
Throughout the year, our Belonging Group celebrated a number of
religious festivals in our office with authentic food and
decorations, helping colleagues gain a better understanding of
them.
Publicising our performance
We post updates on our performance against our Further together
targets every six months on GUS. We also made a "year at a glance"
summary animation based on our Annual report and financial
statements. This was published on GUS, while both printed and
digital copies of the full document were also made available for
colleagues.
Our Group Chief Executive also used the annual salary review
letters to highlight key achievements during the year, thanking
everyone for their continued hard work looking after our customers
during the pandemic.
The year at a glance
Who we are
We've been in business for over 25 years and provide over 12,000
homes for more than 27,000 people across Bedfordshire,
Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire and Hertfordshire. We're an GBP86
million turnover social housing business with almost 400 staff.
Our mission is more homes, stronger communities, better lives.
We build affordable homes, provide personal support, and help
people to learn, work and be healthy.
We're a financially stable and innovative not-for-profit
organisation that believes in partnership and collaboration. We
plan to build 1,959 more new homes over the next five years to play
our part in ending the housing crisis.
Key progress against our commitments:
For today and tomorrow
Turnover GBP86m
Total assets GBP740m
We achieved VfM savings of over a quarter of a million pounds
during the year.
GBP50m - new flexible funding secured
In 2021/22 we built 308 new homes
-- 176 for rent (including social rent, affordable rent and supported living)
-- 108 shared ownership homes
-- 15 for market rent
-- 9 for market sale
G1/V1 - Confirmed Governance and Financial Viability Standard in
November 2021 by the Regulator of Social Housing.
A3 (Stable) - Confirmed Moody's credit rating in December
2021
For our customers
38,574 repairs were carried out and 596 voids were completed. We
spent GBP21.101m on home improvements and repairs which
included:
-- 512 homes with new windows and doors with a further 111 partial upgrades
-- 114 new kitchens and 13 kitchen upgrades
-- 62 new bathrooms and 6 bathroom upgrades
-- 429 new boilers installed
-- 138 new central heating systems and 27 upgraded
-- 537 properties received high level works
-- 5 homes were fitted with highly efficient air source heat pumps
Year-end compliance levels:
-- Fire risk assessments - 100%
-- Legionella risk assessments - 100%
-- Asbestos Communal re-inspections - 100%
-- Asbestos domestic surveys - 98.23% including 10.3% cloned
data based on similar aged and sized properties
-- Gas - 99.95%
-- Electric - 94.12% (within five years)
GBP2.44m benefits secured for customers in 2021/22
-- GBP0.81m of assistance with rent
such as Housing Benefit, Discretionary Housing payments or the
housing costs element of Universal Credit
-- GBP0.7m in disability payments which provide extra money for
customers with long-term health problems or disabilities
We received 11,787 customer responses through Rant & Rave,
our customer feedback tool
Rent arrears were just 2.30% net (as of 31 March 2022)
2,530 customers participated in the biggest piece of customer
research we have ever delivered. This has provided us with detailed
information about our customers' needs, capability and experiences.
We will be using this information to evolve our approach to
customer service and offer in the coming year
77,645 phone calls answered by our Customer Contact team
2,398 web chats were answered by our Customer Contact team
5,462 interactions were dealt with by Sam, our virtual web
assistant
34,768 emails were dealt with by our Customer Contact team
1,561 additional customers signed up to our MyGUHG portal
Domestic abuse:
127 referrals made for customers
5 colleagues offered support
2 customers successfully moved into refuge
1 new refuge opened
For each other
We have 375 members of staff
59 have been here for more than 15 years
1.16% gender pay gap - reduced from 3.1% in 2021
-4.12% median pay gap in favour of women
-2.37% diversity pay gap in favour of PGM (people of the global
majority) colleagues
-0.45% median diversity pay gap in favour of PGM colleagues
20% of new recruits from PGM backgrounds
12.26% ethnic diversity, up from 10.51% in 2021
94.76% average colleagues using our intranet each month
K2 Academy
22 courses run
145 delegates trained
606 learner hours
4.8/5 post-learning recommendation score
48 CIH memberships
18 certified practitioners
22 CIH qualified colleagues with 2 more currently studying
For our partners
31 stakeholders and partners took part in a perception survey
aimed at better understanding their needs and how we can work
better together
-- 2 vitally important rural housing schemes started in
partnership with Northamptonshire Rural Housing Association
-- Green compliance audit for Homes England programme, including
schemes delivered on behalf of our development partner, First
Garden City Homes
-- GBP850k Local Authority Delivery (LAD) grant successfully
achieved in partnership with West Northants Council to improve
energy efficiency of homes
The Board presents its Strategic and Board reports on the
affairs of Grand Union Housing Group Limited ("the Group") together
with the financial statements and auditor's report for the year
ended 31 March 2022.
The Group is comprised of
Our strategic commitments for now and the future
Going further together
In February 2022 we were officially half-way through our
corporate plan, Further together, which sets out Grand Union's
aspirations and goals up until 2023.
At its heart is the theme of trust - Further together is aimed
at deserving and retaining the trust of our customers, our
colleagues and our wider stakeholders.
To build this trust, we've based Further together on four clear
commitments:
For today and tomorrow
We take our responsibilities seriously and our goal is to be a
financially strong organisation, delivering on our social purpose
and our environmental responsibilities. We build great homes where
people can live great lives, and we use our influence for the
benefit of our communities.
For our customers
We serve our customers and their communities fairly and with
integrity. Our goal is for customers to trust us to provide advice
and support when they need it. We want them to know we're on their
side.
For each other
We support our people in their service. Our goal is that people
choose to come to Grand Union because they know they'll get the
support they need to fulfil their potential and we're in it
together.
For our partners
We're an honest and constructive partner. Our goal is for
different organisations to choose to work with us because they
trust us to share our expertise and help them to get things
right.
We know that we have the power to change things for good. That's
why we build more homes, stronger communities, better lives.
Because what we do matters.
You can read more details about each of the commitments in
Further together here .
Grand Union Housing Group delivery map
We are based in the heart of the long-term growth area between
Oxford and Cambridge. Here we have made a long-term commitment to
building new affordable homes, within our operating area, that
enables us to deliver efficient services and support our customers
both now and in the future, as shown in the map below.
Outlook and Risk Management
As we enter a difficult economic environment with ongoing
uncertainty, planning for the next three years remains a challenge
and it's clear that we'll need to further develop the insight we
have on our customers to ensure we are supporting them, and to
closely monitor emerging risks through active risk management. In
order to maintain our organisational performance and financial
strength, we have modelled scenarios derived from our risk register
focusing on the combined economic impacts of inflationary
increases, materials shortages, property market decline and the
cost of living crisis.
The stress testing undertaken on the business plan has shown
that we have been able to demonstrate that our plan is robust
enough to withstand these additional pressures; these scenarios
will be under continuous review. Through our Financial Inclusion
team, we continue to support our customers through assistance with
disability and benefits claims.
We operate in an area of planned economic growth, and we have a
responsibility to help ensure that everyone in our communities
benefits from the opportunities that brings. That means playing our
part in tackling the housing crisis by building new homes at scale
and at pace and making as many as possible available at genuinely
affordable rents. It means supporting our customers to achieve
their potential through education and training, employment and
getting involved in their communities and it also means supporting
the people who work for Grand Union.
Our values
Further together is underpinned by the values that shape our
organisation's culture. Our values guide everything that we do and
are included below.
We're driven to do more. We empower staff to achieve more and
help us evolve into a more efficient, flexible and ambitious
organisation that has a positive impact on our customers and
communities.
We're in it together . Our can-do attitude and collaborative
approach help us achieve our goals and provide what our customers,
colleagues and partners need from us.
We deliver on our promises. We're committed to making a
difference to people's lives and by acting with integrity, being
open-minded and taking ownership, we can be trusted to do what we
say we will.
Strategy update
Our corporate plan, Further together, is split into four key
strategic commitments:
For today and For our customers For each other For our partners
tomorrow We serve our We support our We're an honest
We take our responsibilities customers and people in their and constructive
seriously their communities service partner
fairly and with
integrity
For today and tomorrow
Financial and operational performance analysis
We are financially strong, and any surplus made is reinvested in
what we do, delivering more homes and support services for our
customers.
Assets GBP'000
Housing properties 669,895
---------------
Other fixed assets 1,667
---------------
Investment properties 31,942
---------------
Intangible assets 336
---------------
Current assets 36,177
---------------
Total 740,017
---------------
Financed by GBP'000
-------------
Debt 340,253
-------------
Pension liability 15,695
-------------
Reserves brought forward 335,324
-------------
Creditors (excluding
debt) 39,636
-------------
Surplus for the year 9,109
-------------
Total 740,017
-------------
Group financial performance 2022 2021 2020
three-year summary GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
Total turnover 85,858 74,943 71,166
--------- --------- ---------
Cost of sales 12,031 5,821 4,165
--------- --------- ---------
Operating costs 50,994 48,374 45,942
--------- --------- ---------
Surplus on disposal of property,
plant and equipment 2,397 1,764 3,455
--------- --------- ---------
Operating surplus/(deficit) 25,230 22,512 24,514
--------- --------- ---------
Comprehensive income for the
year 9,109 6,820 13,420
--------- --------- ---------
Fixed assets 703,840 660,281 633,025
--------- --------- ---------
Net current assets 21,479 18,622 21,980
--------- --------- ---------
Creditors - more than one year 365,191 328,896 312, 922
--------- --------- ---------
Revenue reserve 160,368 150,917 143,139
--------- --------- ---------
Financial Viability
The Board governs the affairs of the Group, which is regulated
by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH). Following an in-depth
assessment in 2019, the Group retained its highest-level ratings
from the RSH for both Financial Viability and Governance (G1/V1).
The Group continues to be rated A3 (Stable) by Moody's.
Governance
Following the implementation of a new governance structure,
which was launched in October 2020, the structure continues to work
well and an interim review in September 2021 of how effective it
was resulted in one or two minor changes being made. The Board
adopted the new NHF Code of Governance 2020 from 1 April 2021 and
in June 2021 the Board approved the Board Succession Plan.
Therefore, in the financial year 2021-22 there have a been a few
changes on the Board with four members stepping down and the
Independent member Audit & Risk Committee appointed to the
Board. We have recruited three new Board members, appointed one
member from a co-optee position and one Independent Audit &
Risk Committee member, who joined us last September. Having
revamped our induction process, we were pleased to have good
feedback from the new members on the whole experience.
Grand Union is fully compliant with the NHF 2020 Code of
Governance and the Governance and Financial Viability Standard from
the Regulatory Framework at the year end. In November 2021 the
Regulator of Social Housing confirmed a rating G1/V1 once
again.
Environmentally responsible (as a business and a landlord)
Results for SECR (Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting)
remain atypical due to the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions during
2021/22. Energy emissions from our offices have reduced due to a
reduction in the number of office sites. We have REGO (Renewable
Energy Guarantees of Origin) certificates to demonstrate that we
have sourced our own energy from our office sites from renewable
sources. Fleet transport emissions have increased as a result of a
backlog of jobs from 2020/21 due to COVID-19 restrictions. Scope
three business mileage does not include the mileage for home to
office; this is deducted from our reporting as part of the expense
claim. Carbon intensity has remained the same as pre-COVID-19
despite growth.
SECR reporting - energy and carbon
Scope one
Energy use and emissions from use of purchased gas.
2019/20 2020/21 2021/22
kWh 53,677 940 -
-------- -------- --------
tCO(2)
e 9.87 0.17 -
-------- -------- --------
Energy use and emissions from fleet transport and machinery.
2019/20 2020/21 2021/22
kWh 1,116,954 1,503,794 1,997,725
---------- ---------- ----------
tCO(2)
e 273.08 366.53 473.02
---------- ---------- ----------
Scope two
Energy use and emissions from purchase of electricity for Grand
Union offices and sites.
2019/20 2020/21 2021/22
kWh 358,122 289,934 179,710
-------- -------- --------
tCO(2)
e 91.54 67.60 38.16
-------- -------- --------
Scope three
Energy use and emissions from business travel in rental cars or
employee-owned vehicles where Grand Union is responsible for
purchasing the fuel or awarding mileage allowance
2019/20 2020/21 2021/22
kWh 631,815 249,828 387,616
-------- -------- --------
tCO(2)
e 158.15 62.59 95.63
-------- -------- --------
Totals
Total annual energy and emissions
2019/20 2020/21 2021/22
kWh 2,160,569 2,044,496 2,565,052
---------- ---------- ----------
tCO(2) e 532.64 496.89 606.80
---------- ---------- ----------
Intensity ratio:
tCO(2) e per property
managed 0.05 0.04 0.05
---------- ---------- ----------
This year we launched our Environmental and Sustainability
Strategy which commits us to becoming a net zero carbon
organisation by 2050. We undertook 1,931 energy performance
certificate (EPC) ratings, which has helped to plan and scope our
retrofit programme and will enable us to upgrade all properties to
band C by 2028.
To commence our retrofit programme, we have applied for funding
for phase 2 of the Local Authority Delivery scheme (LAD 2) for
properties with EPC ratings below D across North Northamptonshire
and Central Bedfordshire. This will retrofit energy efficiency
measures for potentially over 200 properties. We have also been
working alongside Warmfront, who deliver energy company obligation
(ECO3) Funding, and are awaiting the results of technical surveys
which may recommend further insulation to several properties across
our portfolio.
The benchmarking exercise of carbon emissions that we undertook
during the year demonstrated to us that our largest scope one and
two emissions were from our fleet transport. As a result, we have
begun looking into the decarbonisation of the fleet and the EV
charging infrastructure that will be required to support this.
We are currently reporting on Scopes one and two with partial
reporting on Scope three. Scope three emissions will undoubtedly be
our largest emissions and we are eager to start reporting on this
voluntary scope so that our reporting is transparent and our
commitment to be a net zero carbon organisation by 2050 is
reflected throughout all operations. We are commissioning a piece
of work that will address what scope three reporting will look like
for us in line with the GHG (greenhouse gas) protocol.
We also started work on our environmental management system
ISO14001 and have made a commitment to invest in colleague
sustainability training at every level.
Building more new homes
Despite ongoing challenges from the economic environment and the
COVID-19 pandemic, we have managed to build and market new homes
and grow our future pipeline, whilst following government
guidance.
This year we completed 308 new homes - our largest number of new
homes delivered in one year. T he vast majority, 284, are
affordable new homes, including 57 new social rent homes. This year
represents the most affordable new homes we've ever added to our
stock in one year and the most social rent homes we have built for
10 years.
We continue to build a strong pipeline of future affordable new
homes. We have an identified pipeline of over 900 new homes, with
over 95% of these being affordable. We have seen strong interest in
shared ownership new homes, selling 103 and generating over GBP10m
of sales receipt, and customers continuing to reserve homes off
plan across our operational area.
We successfully let our first new build market rent scheme in
Central Milton Keynes, quickly followed by one in Bedford. In
Bedford we worked closely with Bedford Borough Council and Homes
England to provide 18 new supported and 16 shared ownership homes,
alongside the 15 market rent homes.
Through Homes England, the Group continues to have access to
Affordable Housing Grant as head of a consortium of three other
local housing associations which has enabled the significant
development programme to continue. This year we secured grant under
the new Affordable Homes Programme (2021-26) and added another
registered provider to our grant consortium.
During 2022/23 we are on course to deliver more new homes with a
strong pipeline to follow in subsequent years. Our New Business and
Development Strategy places greater emphasis on land led
opportunities, relationships with local authorities, creating our
road map to net zero carbon homes and delivery by partnerships.
Success story: The Ball family - a purpose-built home for
full-time carers
Kaysey and Andrew, from Biggleswade, are full-time carers to
their profoundly disabled daughters, Liyla, 10, and five-year-old
Delcie. Their rented Grand Union home, where they also live with
son Freddie, 11, and two dogs, is no longer fit for purpose,
despite providing them happy memories for the past nine years.
Liyla and Delcie are reliant on hoists, electric beds, a
specialist extension and other adaptations to help them. But with
the girls getting older, their needs have outgrown their home. They
require new hoists, a wet room, and, importantly, a property where
they aren't reliant on stairs.
We've worked in partnership with Central Bedfordshire Council to
build the Balls a bespoke property - both affordable and fit for
purpose. Their new home enables the family to live safely, happily
and with independence, with both girls' bedrooms being downstairs,
next to a Jack and Jill wet room, improved hoists and other
much-needed adaptations.
Mum Kaysey said: "We loved our old home, but sadly, due to our
circumstances, it just wasn't able to fulfil our needs. Liyla and
Delcie require one-to-one care; they struggle with daily tasks,
from going down the stairs to getting in and out of bed.
"Our eldest, Freddie, was born in 2010, without complications.
Just a year later, we welcomed Liyla into our family, who was born
with an extremely rare condition which doesn't even have a name;
she is the only person in the world to live with it. It affects her
development - she only started walking aged seven, and that was a
big, happy surprise.
"Delcie came along a bit further down the line. I had a fine
pregnancy, so there was no inkling that anything was untoward with
her health. But, just two days before she was born, we received the
lifechanging news that she had a chromosome disorder known as
'inverted duplication and deletion of 8p'.
"We're fortunate that Delcie isn't paralysed, is happy and can
understand what's going on. But, due to her low muscle tone, she
can't hold her weight, so often relies on a wheelchair.
"There was nothing in our genes which led to our daughters being
disabled; we were told it was merely bad luck and, for each
pregnancy, there was less than 1% chance such disabilities would
occur. No one could believe what happened.
"Due to their conditions, we require adaptations in our home to
get by. We have ceiling hoists, downstairs bedrooms, electric beds
which move up and down, alongside a specialist extension. But with
the girls getting older, and heavier to carry, the house was simply
no longer suitable."
Both Kaysey and husband Andrew are unable to work, instead
providing full-time care for their children. While Kaysey would
like nothing more than a job, she struggles to find an employer
that understands her situation and enables her to take long periods
of leave to stay with Delcie in hospital.
Instead, Kaysey volunteers for Home Start, a charity which
supports new parents and their children facing tough times, and at
Luton Crown and Magistrates Courts, supporting victims during
trials. "It's a way of giving something back", she says.
Desperate for help regarding their home, the family contacted
Central Bedfordshire Council who liaised with Grand Union.
"Both the council and Grand Union took us seriously and knew we
couldn't carry on like this. There were a number of solutions
suggested to us, one of which involved knocking two houses down
into one large, adapted home. But trying to find two empty
properties next to one another in Biggleswade was a struggle!
"When Grand Union informed us that we would have a brand-new
chalet bungalow built for us, bespoke to our needs, it was beyond
our wildest dreams."
Now settled in their new home, Kaysey added: "It's been
fantastic to be involved in the project from the very start. We've
had access to building plans and had a direct input in the design
of the home.
"We're fortunate the bungalow is a new build, as it finally
gives us the space we require.
"We're so grateful for the help of Grand Union and Central
Bedfordshire Council, who listened to us and helped provide us with
a fully-adapted home we simply couldn't have afforded on our
own."
Using our voice for good
We recognise that we have a duty to highlight what is important
to us and promote the things we stand for.
In March 2022 we took part in No More Week, a national campaign
dedicated to ending domestic abuse and sexual assault by increasing
awareness, inspiring action and creating a culture change.
In June 2021 we signed up to Harry's Pledge, a united national
commitment to support, recognise and champion carers.
Across the country social housing providers like us are looking
to commit to four pledges to help to recognise the commitment of
carers and to ensure they have the support they need.
During the year, Grand Union colleagues joined forces with
several other organisations in the housing sector, to raise almost
GBP60,000 for Mind charity and Harry's Pals - the charity at the
heart of Harry's Pledge.
This fundraising effort included the 24 peaks challenge - a
34-mile trek, in the Lake District that included a whopping
12,234ft of ascent - close to halfway up Mount Everest and three
times up Ben Nevis.
During the summer we backed the ' Keep the lifeline ' campaign,
led by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and backed by PlaceShapers.
It called for the Government to reconsider cutting back the extra
Universal Credit payment which helped millions of families
throughout the pandemic.
We also responded to the Regulator of Social Housing's
consultation on a new set of tenant satisfaction measures, as
proposed in the government's Social Housing White Paper. This was
done both as a standalone organisation and as part of Build East, a
group of housing associations in the East of England.
Throughout the year, our Group Chief Executive, Aileen Evans has
also used her platform as former President of the CIH to highlight
and discuss key issues including customer poverty, mental health
awareness and the need for us to build much more affordable housing
to help end the housing crisis.
For our customers
Delivering on our promises
Our customers know that they can rely on us to deliver. We're
always clear about our promises. In order to earn and retain our
customers' trust, we have been working hard to create a truly
customer-centric culture where all customers are treated fairly and
with integrity.
In 2021 we delivered the most comprehensive piece of customer
research to date: 2,530 customers participated in a comprehensive
survey which enabled us to create a statistically robust
psychographic segmentation. Through this work we now have a greater
understanding of our customers' needs and experiences. We also
captured some baseline metrics in consideration of the new
regulatory tenant satisfaction measures.
We know that we are on a journey to deliver the great customer
service that our customers deserve, and we will be developing a
detailed Customer Service Strategy over the next year.
We continue to capture transactional feedback through Rant &
Rave and on the occasions when we fall short, our Resolutions team
acts quickly to recover service failure.
Customer voice
We have evolved our approach to customer voice and insight and
at the end of 2021 we delivered our most extensive piece of
customer research to date. This work now provides us with detailed
understanding of our customers' needs, capability and experience.
Through this, we have a strong evidence position to drive our
business change agenda and inform decision making and service
design. In the summer of 2022, we will be launching our new
Customer Involvement Framework. This creates a capability to
deliver a strong, continuous and statistically robust customer
voice to the business and will combine a new digital platform with
a sophisticated methodological toolkit, alongside an enhanced
transactional feedback capability.
We are also increasing our internal capacity and expertise with
the recruitment of specialist insight colleagues.
Shaping the business around the customer experience
We continue to assess and shape our service model to ensure it
meets the needs of our customers. Great customer experience is
shaped as much by the quality of the home and neighbourhoods as it
is by the services that we provide. Our research has provided us
with detailed information about who our customers are and what they
need.
Our Customer Partners are deployed to support customers and
communities that need extra help. In the coming months, we will be
focussing on looking at our services through the lens of
vulnerability and accessibility to ensure we are operating a fully
inclusive service offer.
Our Service Improvement team is responsible for the delivery of
service innovation and continuous improvement initiatives across
customer-facing teams. Their role is to identify and deliver
service improvement activity across the business using a range of
service improvement methodologies, using our customer feedback and
insight to inform service design. The team has completed service
reviews across a number of key customer touchpoints including rent
arrears recovery and the repairs service. This work is enabling us
to ensure our services meet the needs of our customers whilst
delivering beneficial outcomes for the business.
Mindful of our goal to achieve an 80% channel shift, we have
continued to develop our customer communication channels and
digital services. Webchat has been expanded with the introduction
of a virtual assistant to enable us to offer this service at any
time of the day or night. Our new customer portal was launched in
March 2021 and we are continuing to evolve and develop its
functionality to ensure our customers can complete the tasks they
need to.
Online viewings and sign-ups have continued to be a huge benefit
to our customers, enabling us to continue to provide much needed
homes safely throughout the pandemic. Our online repairs service
continues to evolve, enabling customers to report repairs and book
their appointments 24/7.
Customer engagement and influence
During the last year we have undertaken a complete review of our
customer engagement and influence arrangements. Considering key
recommendations from the white paper and speaking to over 2,500
customers through our research survey, we have designed a new
involvement framework that will enable us to have an ongoing
dialogue with more customers than ever before. We will be launching
our new framework and a new digital engagement platform 'Grand
Union Voice' in the summer of 2022.
Our existing homes
The condition of our homes is continually reviewed, with the
results determining a long-term repair and component replacement
programme.
Key highlights of 2021/22 spend and works:
Component Cost GBP'000 Total
no.
Central heating GBP1,708 Boiler changes 429
--------------------- -------------------- ------
Full systems 138
------------------------------------------------------------------ ------
Upgrades 27
------------------------------------------------------------------ ------
Air source heat pumps Included in heating Full systems 5
--------------------- -------------------- ------
Roofing GBP1,318 High level works 384
--------------------- -------------------- ------
Upgrades 153
------------------------------------------------------------------ ------
Electrical testing Electrical jobs in
and upgrades GBP1,172 total 2,628
--------------------- -------------------- ------
Kitchens GBP791 Kitchens 114
--------------------- -------------------- ------
Upgrades 13
------------------------------------------------------------------ ------
Bathrooms GBP363 Bathrooms 62
--------------------- -------------------- ------
Upgrades 6
------------------------------------------------------------------ ------
Windows and doors GBP1,936 Windows and doors 512
--------------------- -------------------- ------
Upgrades 159*
------------------------------------------------------------------ ------
External works GBP1,040 Programmed works 193
--------------------- -------------------- ------
Upgrades 33
------------------------------------------------------------------ ------
*This includes 48 garage doors
Keeping homes safe
We consider that the successful management of all health and
safety activity is essential to the delivery of our business and
are committed to providing a safe environment within which our
customers can live without concern.
We deliver a comprehensive property compliance programme
comprising the following areas (FLAGE):
-- Fire safety
-- Legionella management
-- Asbestos management
-- Gas safety
-- Electrical safety
-- Lift management (KPI reporting introduced 2021-22)
In terms of governance, each month we track several key health
and safety performance indicators relating to the above core
compliance activities, covering work undertaken both by our
colleagues and contractors. Last year we enhanced our KPI reporting
in this area, following feedback from our Board; these improvements
included the reporting of our:
-- Statutory asbestos management compliance against each of the
risk categories - percentage and number in each category.
-- Fire risk actions arising from the latest fire risk assessments by their individual priority.
-- Electrical compliance against those over five and over ten
years as we move to a five-year cycle of Electrical Installation
Condition Reports (EICR).
-- Lifting equipment compliance - percentage and number of
pieces of equipment overdue inspection.
Each year, two areas of our FLAGE are subject to independent
audit. In 2021/22 these were asbestos and Legionella, and in the
forthcoming year fire risk and electrical safety will be
audited.
The wellbeing of our colleagues and customers is overseen by the
Health & Safety Group, which meets four times a year, with
reports going from this group to the Audit & Risk Committee. We
also report to the Board, through the Audit & Risk Committee,
annually on all health and safety related activities; the
compliance areas are also subject to an independent annual
audit.
Challenging stigma, celebrating diversity
In May last year we published our Belonging Strategy, which
focuses on equality, diversity and inclusion at Grand Union.
We chose the name because we believe that everyone has a right
to feel that they belong in their workplace and their
community.
The strategy's overall aim is to look at how we achieve a sense
of belonging for all our colleagues and Board members, and a sense
of fairness and inclusion for our customers. We want to celebrate
diversity and challenge stigma, speaking up when we see others
being treated badly.
To help do this, we set up the Belonging Group, a team of
colleagues from all levels across the business who champion the
work we're doing around equality, diversity and inclusion.
We want everyone to understand and appreciate how diversity
makes us stronger and that we can learn and benefit from each
other's different backgrounds and experiences. That is why we have
been focussing on education and raising awareness of the nine
protected characteristics. Individual members of the Belonging
Group have each taken responsibility for one of the characteristics
and, using our intranet, shared key facts, told stories and engaged
with colleagues to help us all increase our knowledge on the
topics.
Some colleagues have shared their incredibly personal and
powerful stories of how they've been affected by discrimination in
their personal and professional lives to encourage understanding,
growing knowledge, acceptance and support across the
organisation.
In September we held an organisation-wide session on inclusion
with Linbert Spencer OBE, a former professional actor,
international athlete, television presenter and CEO of a national
not-for-profit organisation, who has been helping organisations and
individuals to transform themselves for more than 30 years.
During the session, he told us his story, discussed ethnic
diversity in the UK and then finished up by helping us get to grips
with the IDEA (Inclusion Diversity, and Equality Agenda).
At the start of 2022 we also began further EDI training for the
entire organisation, working with Righttrack Training to deliver an
interactive and thought-provoking series of learning sessions to
all colleagues.
We've also celebrated several religious festivals throughout the
year. Via authentic food and decorations in the office, and blogs
and posts on our intranet, we've helped each other learn more about
colleagues' religions and faiths.
During the year we have also celebrated Black History Month, and
supported the Milton Keynes Pride festival, which we will be doing
again this year.
We have a Single Equality Statement which goes beyond the legal
requirements and is reviewed annually. Progress has been made with
collecting customer data on diversity with the customer
segmentation work already mentioned. We have also made progress
with an improvement in colleague ethnic diversity representation
from 10.51% in 2020/21 to 12.26% in 2021/22.
Support where it's needed
Our customers turn to us when they need support, and we make
sure they get the advice or practical support they need. Our
Independent Living Strategy and our Community Investment Strategy
clarify our approach.
Grand Union provides a range of services to support its
customers through the ongoing complexities of welfare reform
changes which have impacted them. These include direct support and
advice, which has contributed to the continued low level of
customer rent arrears within the Group.
2021/22 2020/21
Welfare Benefits - opened
cases 1,267 1,230
-------- --------
Money Advice - opened cases 182 193
-------- --------
Benefits gains for customers GBP2.4m GBP3.2m
-------- --------
Success stories: Supporting Kara
Kara and her son moved to their Grand Union home from a women's
refuge three years ago. Having been through some tough times, they
were excited to finally have a place of their own.
"At first, I was happy, but then I went downhill. I was on
Employment Support Allowance, then it was taken away from me.
"The bills were racking up; I was behind with my rent and my
Universal Credit wasn't getting sorted either.
"I was too scared to look at my bank account and I didn't even
open the curtains because if I saw the postman coming, I knew the
mail would just be bills and bad news.
Kara was referred to our Wellbeing and Support team due to the
extent of her rent arrears and Katy, one of our Wellbeing and
Support Co-ordinators who support customers to sustain their
tenancies, got in touch with Kara.
"Katy had so much faith in me and helped me to organise my
standing orders for my rent and my bills so I could stop worrying
about them. These might sound like small things to some people, but
this was a big step for me. I'm proud how far I've come, from
thinking that I couldn't do it.
"I've even built furniture and laid laminate flooring - it's
given me a real sense of accomplishment.
"All I needed was that bit of help and it's shown me that every
step is a step towards good times.
"Katy is so lovely and approachable. Even now I can email her if
I have a problem. She puts my mind at ease and makes me realise
that things won't be as bad as you think.
"I can afford to live now and treat myself and my son
occasionally.
"Katy even secured me some family funding so we could go on a
much-needed holiday. It was fantastic!"
Since Kara moved into her flat, she's not only tackled her
finances, she's also taken to doing something she's dreamt of doing
for years.
"I've been wanting to learn to drive for many years, but that
hadn't been an option for me before. So, one day, whilst on a
computer in the library, I went on to the driving theory test
website and booked my theory test. I'm pleased to say I passed
first time!
"I have the best driving instructor - she's also a great agony
aunt, listening and giving me advice. Sometimes my son sits in the
back of the car when I'm having lessons and he looks out the
window, or sometimes plays on his tablet. It gives me confidence
knowing that he's ok in the car and won't distract me.
"My driving test had to be postponed due to Covid, but it's
rescheduled for September. I've got a car sitting on my dad's
driveway, just waiting for me to pass my test.
"All this new-found confidence has given me a real boost.
"Now I have hopes for the future. I want to get my divorce
sorted out, pass my driving test and give something back to
refuges, seeing as they helped me so much, and I want to go
abroad.
"I was like a shell back then and just so tired. I was existing
but not living and had buried my head in the sand. I've learnt the
sooner you get things done, the sooner they're not an issue.
"Thankfully, now I'm a world away from the person Katy met at
the start."
Katy added: "It has been an absolute pleasure to support Kara.
The first time I visited her, the curtains were drawn, and she was
full of worry. We discussed everything that needed to be done and
together we made a plan of how we were going to tackle each task in
manageable bits.
"Since then Kara has gone from strength to strength and it is
great to see her and her son happy and thriving after all they have
been through."
Inclusive, supporting wellbeing
We understand our customers and their different needs, and we
use technology intelligently. Our Wellbeing Strategy makes it clear
that, when there are obstacles to overcome, we make sure we're
always part of the solution and never part of the problem. We
provide bespoke housing and support solutions for a diverse range
of customers. We work collaboratively with local authorities,
National Health Service England, clinical commissioning groups,
charities and family carers. Our aim is to provide a seamless
service for all of our customers.
Between April 2021 and March 2022, our Life24 service made
54,669 wellbeing checks. This was vitally important as we went
through lockdowns and customers were feeling socially isolated. We
also responded to 233 out-of-hours calls where a customer had
no-one else to respond or had fallen but not injured themselves and
needed our help. We invested in a raizer chair, an emergency
lifting chair that provides a fast and safe solution to help fallen
people get back on their feet with ease. This chair, which only
needs one person to operate, has been used on numerous occasions,
helping to reducing the number of ambulance service calls. When the
service has been stretched, these types of calls can often have a
wait time of up to 18 hours as they are classified as
non-emergency.
Following the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, a number of
activities are now back up and running, including coffee mornings
across schemes, lunch clubs, bingo and exercise groups.
We have also started to build new partnerships with the aim of
offering new and exciting activities at our schemes, including
working with Age UK, Daventry Volunteers and Brook House in
Northamptonshire, and ELFT and MIND in Bedfordshire. This should
help reduce social isolation and encourage a sense of community
again.
Success stories: supporting the victim of an abusive hoarder
Twelve months ago, 61-year-old Helen was sleeping on a corner of
a sofa in a home that wasn't fit to live in, due to a family
member's issues with their mental health and hoarding. Now Helen
has a place of her own, one where she's not embarrassed to have
family round.
Helen says: "I'd been in my last house about 20 years, with my
two youngest children. About 10 years ago, I had a new kitchen
fitted, but I never managed to put everything back that had come
out of there. I left boxes still sitting in the living room.
"Looking back, I realise that it was probably grief that stopped
me in my tracks. I'd just lost my mum and trying to get organised
at home, even just the housework, felt overwhelming.
"I was fed up arguing with the kids to keep the place clean and
then their bedrooms started to slip too. It got so bad I could
actually go six months without opening the kids' bedroom doors. I
felt so weighed down by it all, so I just didn't look.
"One of my sons would help me clean, the other got steadily more
and more untidy. He had his own issues, and I felt helpless.
"Then a few years ago, I gave them an ultimatum. I said that
they had one year in which they either had to help me get the place
in order, or they could find somewhere else to live. One son left,
the eldest stayed.
"His mental health issues got worse. His hoarding got worse. The
bigger the problem got, the less I felt I could do.
"I felt responsible and I was too ashamed to let anyone
know.
"I was sleeping on the corner of the sofa. I had no heating or
hot water because I'd dodged every offer of improvement works so
no-one would see the state of the house. In the end my gas got
capped.
"I was working in retail at the time, and my employer kept
sending me to work in other shops miles from here, so I enjoyed
having hotel accommodation. The only problem with that was that I
dreaded going home. I'd put off coming home as long as I possibly
could.
"In 2018 I was away for 18 weeks - it was heaven.
"When the pandemic hit last year, I was away in a hotel. The
hotel closed the restaurant but instead of coming home, I bought a
pot noodle from a local shop so I could have something to eat and
stay the last night.
"Being at home felt so dark and heavy. I would have no idea what
mood my son would be in, or if he'd start a fight.
"One night, things came to a head and I had to call the police.
They called Grand Union and told them my house wasn't fit to be
lived in.
"Katy from the Wellbeing Support team called me to assess the
situation. I remember feeling embarrassed during that
conversation.
"But I also remember thinking that I didn't have to live like
that any more. It was like a light had been switched back on. I
knew there were possibilities at last.
"I'd been in a downward spiral, caught at the bottom and unable
to get back up. Katy pulled me out of that spiral. I was amazed
that such a weight could be lifted off my shoulders so quickly.
"It was the fact that Katy wasn't judging me or blaming me. I
knew that these things can, and do, happen and I was sure they'd
seen this sort of thing before. I was made to feel like it was all
going to be okay.
"It was an incredible feeling to know that someone was there,
someone actually cared."
In November 2020, Helen was moved into temporary accommodation
while the police, social care and staff from various teams within
Grand Union (welfare benefits, relocations, customer partners,
wellbeing & support) discussed a way forward.
Helen continues: "That first night in the temporary
accommodation I admit that I struggled. I was so warm! I wasn't
used to having heating on or it being quiet.
"It should have been the best night's sleep I'd ever had, but I
couldn't believe I wasn't at home. I thought if I fell asleep, I'd
wake up and it would have all been a dream, I'd be back in the old
place.
"I felt so ungrateful. I had a safe, warm and cosy place to stay
but I couldn't sleep. I felt like I should have been taking proper
advantage of it - I'd wanted it for so long, somewhere just for me.
I didn't sleep like a baby, like I thought I should have done.
"It was December, so I bought a Christmas tree, my first in over
10 years! Working in retail I'd only ever had one day off at
Christmas, plus the kids were old enough to be doing their own
thing, and the house, well it was a mess.
"I had always said that Christmas had been cancelled because I
couldn't afford presents. Last Christmas I felt excited - I was
dancing round my tree like a five-year-old!
"Then I was given my new flat. I moved in a few days before
Christmas.
"I love this place; it's everything I could possibly have
wanted. I love the village too.
"My neighbours are close, if there's an emergency. But I still
have my privacy. There's a lovely communal garden and a bench where
I can sit and chat with my neighbours if I feel like it.
"Having my granddaughter here is the best thing in the world. I
loved looking after her before, which was always at my daughter's
house, but the first time she came to visit me here, she stood in
the middle of the room and said: 'Grandma's house and Harriet's
house. It's good!'
"Life is so different now. As much as this place is clean, I've
changed inside too and it's all down to that moment - a week in
time when everything turned around.
"I didn't think Grand Union would help with my situation. I
thought they'd tell me off. I didn't realise they offered this kind
of help and support.
"Tina in the Financial Wellbeing team has been great with
helping me get my benefits sorted.
"But Katy's the one who saved my life, who gave me hope and a
way out. I can't ever thank her enough."
Helen is keen that no-one else goes through what she has and has
advice for anyone who is in this kind of situation:
"Don't be scared to tell someone, because the strain and
pressure just builds up. This took so much longer than it needed
to. If only I'd known I could have reached out and that there was
someone to reach out to.
"I couldn't see a future, apart from a downward spiral for the
rest of my life. Now I can look forward to things again.
"I'm so amazed at what a change there's been in my life and that
help is there. It feels like what happened wasn't to me, it
happened to someone else.
Providing safe spaces
Grand Union is committed to do all we can to tackle domestic
abuse and support those in need so they can rebuild their
lives.
In September we opened our newest, and fifth, domestic abuse
refuge which can accommodate up to ten women, either with or
without dependent children.
Designed to be a secure home and built to a high-standard as
part of our role as the specialist accommodation landlord, the
Bedford refuge comprises self-contained flats that provide a safe
and stable place for women and their children to live, whilst
accessing therapeutic recovery support.
These refuges provide survivors with a safe place and work
towards living a life free from trauma. We have many resources
available to us, in particular the Life24 pendant alarm that we
have adapted to support our customers experiencing domestic abuse
in order to make their home safe. Since January 2021 we have
installed 77 alarms. In December 2021, we also started to provide
video doorbells to our customers, with 20 installed so far.
Since January 2021, our Domestic Abuse & Safeguarding team
has supported 165 customers with domestic abuse varying in support
from being safer in their home, to moving across the country or
into a refuge.
We are also in the process of working towards the Domestic Abuse
Housing Alliance accreditation, which we hope to complete by spring
2023.
Now more than ever, every housing provider has a duty to do all
it can to prevent people suffering from abuse in their homes with
the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 providing some foundations.
For each other
Trust and respect
Our values and associated behaviours are incredibly important to
us and it's fantastic to see colleagues living them every day.
Via GUS, our intranet, colleagues can thank and give shout-outs
to each other, and #team-player and #together are the most
regularly used value and behaviour. This highlights how colleagues
recognise that working with each other is key to our success.
To help with decision making, we've had an overhaul of our Joint
Consultative Committee. Our plan is to engage a smaller group of
colleagues to work through issues we face as an organisation.
As lockdown eased, we were able to run Financial Education
workshops with the Centre for Financial Education (Cfed). These
were well attended and well received and helped a number of
colleagues with their finances.
We have seen absence increase, mainly due to the large number of
colleagues contracting COVID-19. Mental health absence has
continued to be high due to the pandemic, but colleagues have made
use of the available Mental Health Champions and other support
available.
Celebrating our diverse workforce
We continue our work to ensure Grand Union is an employer of
choice, attracting diverse colleagues who embrace our values and
want to grow, achieve their full potential and stay at the
organisation. We want everyone to feel like they belong and believe
that we should be representative of the customers and communities
that we serve. Via our Belonging Strategy we continue to make
changes, including positive action when recruiting and using the
NHF data tool, to ensure that this is the case.
Whilst we are proud that we have a 50:50 gender split at the
senior levels, that we have a high representation of those from the
LGBTQ+ community, and that PGM representation is also currently
higher than our communities when compared with the NHF data, there
is still more work to do. We do not believe that all our colleagues
who have a disability have declared it, therefore we need to give
those with disabilities the reassurance they need in order to
declare any disability and show our true representation. We also
need to increase the number of younger people we are recruiting.
This will be helped by our apprentice recruitment. We will continue
to work hard to ensure equality and diversity representation across
all levels of the organisation including the Board.
Grand Union fully complies with its obligations on gender pay
gap reporting. We have produced an ethnicity pay gap report for the
second time this year, which again shows no ethnicity pay gap. We
will continue to report on this annually. Both can be found on our
website: www.guhg.co.uk/about-us/performance
A brief overview of our equality and diversity monitoring
2022
Gender
-- 54.9% of colleagues are female
-- 45.1% are male
Grand Union's female to male ratio is over 4% higher than the
population in the areas in which we operate.
50/50 - our Executive and Leadership teams are 50% female and
50% male
We will actively attempt to attract more females onto our Boards
in upcoming recruitment.
Ethnic origin
-- 81.6% of colleagues identify as white
-- 12.3% identify as PGM
-- 6.1% did not say
This compares to the population data which reports 7.3% of those
in our operational area are from PGM groups. This suggests that the
workforce, Leadership team and Board are fairly representative,
based on this data.
The representation of PGM groups has increased when compared to
last year when it was 10.5%. During the year we took positive
action to improve the mix of candidates we sourced and improve the
numbers of colleagues recruited with PGM backgrounds. This
increased the representation of those recruited with PGM
backgrounds to 20% during the year. This is a fantastic achievement
and one that we are continuing to focus energy on.
Age
Our workforce has only half the representation of 16 to
24-year-olds when compared to the population. The Leadership team
and Board have no representation in this age group. However, whilst
the Board has improved the age profile when compared to last year,
the Leadership team does not have representation in the 25-34 age
group either.
The workforce is also under-represented in the over 65 group,
but that is to be expected as most colleagues will have retired by
65. The Board is over-represented from 45 years and above when
compared to the population.
We continue to recruit apprentices and there has been some
improvement in the 25-34 age group where we have improved our
representation from 17.44% last year to 19.47%. This compares with
15.82% of the population.
Sexual orientation
-- 2.13% categorised themselves as gay or lesbian. This compares to 0.39% of the population.
-- 1.07% categorised themselves as bisexual. This compares to 0.17% of the population.
No members of the Board or Leadership team have categorised
themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual.
Religion
-- 37.6% of colleagues identify as Christian, which is similar
to the percentages for the Leadership team and Board.
-- In total, 6.1% of colleagues are Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim or
follow another religion. This compares to 3.9% of the
population.
-- 41.9% of colleagues have no religious beliefs
The Leadership team and Board are less diverse in the area of
religion. Our full diversity monitoring report shows that 37.5% of
the Board are Christian, 25% have no religion, 12.5% prefer not to
say and we don't know the data for 25%.
The data gap has also improved on the reporting of religion,
with only 14.4% now missing. This includes those who prefer not to
say which was 4.3%.
Disability
-- 3.2% of the workforce categorise themselves as disabled compared to:
-- 0% of the Leadership team
-- 6.6% of Board (one member)
-- This compares to 19.42% of the population.
This is an area that shows under-representation, and as part of
the Belonging Group agenda, we are currently talking to disability
specialist organisations about how they can help us raise awareness
around disabilities, improve individual colleague reporting and
take positive action to attract and recruit more candidates with
disabilities. The first step will be to consider how we improve the
data as we believe there are more colleagues with disabilities than
those reported.
Positive and empowering
We believe colleagues are proud to work for Grand Union and we
want our customers to feel this passion. As we move to accepting
that we must learn to live with COVID-19, colleagues have been
returning to the office. We're pleased to see colleagues embracing
the opportunity to work from home more, while still wanting to come
into the office and meet with colleagues. We have not had any
long-term issues with colleagues not returning to work in the
office.
Supporting growth and wellbeing
During the year we set ourselves the target of achieving
Investors in People (IIP) Silver accreditation. We were delighted
when, in the spring 2022, we achieved this.
Our CEO, Aileen Evans, was shortlisted at the InsideOut Awards
in the category of Executive Sponsor for her work promoting mental
health within the Housing sector. This continues to be an important
area of focus for us. That's why, in January 2022, we teamed up
with Thrive Homes so that colleagues from both organisations can
benefit from the support of trained mental health first aiders.
As well as being able to support Grand Union colleagues, our
Mental Health Champions - who include a Board member - are also
available for Thrive colleagues should they want to talk in
confidence to someone from outside their organisation.
Grand Union colleagues can then do the same with one of Thrive's
Mental Health Champions.
Via our check-in process, colleagues can let their managers know
more about their mental health and wellbeing. This has had a
positive impact on the quality of conversations, ensuring
colleagues are keeping mentally well. The check-ins are now much
more personal thanks to this as well as colleagues having a chance
of having career discussions during them. Having them online also
helped to improve compliance.
Our centre of excellence, the K2 Academy, continued to grow
during the year, running 22 courses, with almost 150 delegates
trained. Some of these were part of our Leadership Elevator, a
series of development programmes to support team leaders and
managers to gain the skills, experience and qualifications to move
to the next level of leadership. The first floor is Aspire, an
introduction to management for colleagues who are interested in
taking this next step in their career. Floor two is Firm
Foundations, our management development programme for those taking
their first supervisory role or newly appointed managers. The third
floor is the Operations Leadership Programme, which helps managers
from across the business learn the skills needed to move into more
senior leadership roles. Those who attended the course have all
said how beneficial they've been, and we've now accepted our first
external delegate on the next cohort of Firm Foundations.
For our partners
Understanding what matters
Being clear about our operating area and our purpose means that
we can spend quality time understanding our partners' priorities
and values, so we know how, together, we can deliver more, by being
stronger than the sum of our parts.
Positive engagement
We're proactive as well as responsive in our stakeholder
management. We bring our focus on solutions to every
partnership.
We know that many of the projects are long term, such as our
award-winning community transformation work at Bilberry Road,
Clifton. We have been part of a project alongside colleagues at
Central Bedfordshire Council, the Police and BLMK Public Health
Teams to develop a community action plan that transforms the
experience of customers living on the estate.
The project involved community safety work and the development
of a community hub for the Police and other agencies, significant
physical changes to improve the environment and some innovative
partnership work with Public Health to identify and address health
inequalities. Some of the activities now available include smoking
cessation classes, weight management, drug and alcohol support as
well encouraging physical activities for all, especially young
people.
Success story: Helping to find homes for refugee families
Since 2011, millions of Syrians have been forced to flee their
home in what remains the largest displacement crisis in the
world.
They have been forced to seek asylum, as refugees, in countries
across Europe and in the Middle East, and since January 2014 the UK
has resettled over 20,000 Syrian refugees through the Syrian
Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme - the Government's response
to the crisis.
As a housing provider, it's our duty, and our mission, to
provide homes that people can call their own, where they can feel
safe and put down roots. That's why we've been working with Central
Bedfordshire Council (CBC) and the King's Arms Project, a
not-for-profit organisation who have provided housing and support
for the homeless since 1989, to find new homes in Bedfordshire for
Syrian families fleeing conflict in their home country.
Since 2016, King's Arm Project have supported 84 people in 19
families, with 16 of these families moving into Grand Union
properties across the county.
Grand Union started working on rehousing the refugees back in
2017 when CBC approached us to support the project.
Cllr Sue Clark, Executive Member for Families, Education and
Children, from Central Bedfordshire Council said: "As a local
authority, we have an ongoing commitment to resettle an average of
three refugee families each year. Since 2016 we've resettled 59
people and had the joy of welcoming three new babies since the
start of the programme. I am pleased that, through our partnership
work, we've been able to provide safe homes for families who have
already lost so much."
While finding homes for the families is crucial, so is the
support work provided by the King's Arms Project. Hannah Joy,
Refugee & Migrant Services Manager, said: "Our role is to
ensure the families moving to the region have everything they need
to feel at home and to settle into the area. Our aim is to help
empower people for independence and integration, we do this by
helping people to access housing, finances, education, training,
healthcare and English classes.
"The families we support have had their lives on hold, often for
many years, and our support helps people to finally fully utilise
their skills and pursue their dreams."
And that is exactly what many of the families who have resettled
in Bedfordshire have done so far.
Basel and his family (pictured above) live in a Grand Union home
and it's made a massive difference to them. He said: "Frankly,
everything is fantastic. We feel safe and we feel very settled now.
The house is perfect for our needs. It's new and clean, and it's
perfect for my family.
"One thing I like is that our neighbours are really nice, and we
get on well. The area is nice, the people are kind and the area is
quiet. We feel very comfortable here. We have started to make
friends through my son's school, meeting other parents. We go to
each other houses and see each other."
"I volunteer at a local park, helping to keep it tidy and with
the gardening. I really enjoy doing this as it's an opportunity to
help the local community. The area is very pretty, and I get to
meet new people all the time.
"I am very grateful to the King's Arms Project for helping us
and also Grand Union for our home."
Another Grand Union customer, 27-year-old Dema, came to the UK
in 2017 from Syria. Almost 10 years ago she lost her leg when a
bomb hit her house and since then she's overcome enormous personal
and physical challenges.
After settling into her new home, she set her sights on her
dream - to run again. Now, after raising over GBP11,500 via a
GoFundMe donations page, she's been able to achieve that dream by
buying a specialist running prosthetic.
In a delighted post on her Instagram account, she said: "I'm so
thankful for everyone who has been part of this journey. I want to
thank everyone for all you have given me, of the support and belief
shown in me. All the words of thanks can't describe my
feelings."
There are so many other inspiring stories that show everyone's
hard work, including the families themselves, the hard work is
paying off.
Hannah Joy added: "We are very proud that one of the young
ladies who we helped to resettle in the region in 2017 has learnt
English and is now working for us as part of our ESOL Team.
"We're also working with a gentleman who is looking to start his
own business. He dreams of setting up a food truck selling Syrian
cuisine."
It's not just those seeking work they're proud of though.
"When one family first arrived, they didn't know anyone and
spoke very little English. They had multiple health needs, both
physical and mental. Despite these challenges they engaged with
their local community in an amazing way.
"Their support workers assisted with cultural orientation and
social integration, and this laid a good foundation from which the
family were able to build strong connections with people in the
community, including the local church and neighbours.
"They have built deep and meaningful friendships with British
families which has enriched their experience of resettlement and
has helped them build a local network of support which will be
essential for them on their journey to independent living in the
UK."
While the coronavirus pandemic has slowed down the progress of
the resettlement programme, the gradual lifting of restrictions
means that more refugees are now able to find new homes in the
UK.
Aileen added: "Just last week we heard from the Home Office that
we're able to offer another Syrian family one of our homes, so I'm
really pleased we can continue this great work that is giving a
fresh start to those fleeing the crisis.
"Projects like this are so important in helping to creating and
maintain diverse and vibrant communities and hearing stories like
Dima's show you that what we're doing really is making a
difference. It's nice to know that what we do really does matter to
so many people."
Transparent and accountable
We share information to ensure transparency of our performance
because we understand that being held to account makes us
better.
We fully comply with the Housing Service Ombudsman Code and our
self-assessment has been published on our website.
Our Customer Resolutions team meets regularly with service
managers to review complaint trends and make sure recurring issues
are identified and acted on. This has resulted in a number of
changes, the details of which are also published on our
website.
Our biggest customer touchpoint is repairs and the service area
that attracts the most complaints. In the last year we have created
a Service Improvement team, made up of accredited Lean
practitioners, and we have an ambitious programme of Lean service
reviews, including our repairs service.
The repairs service review is continuing customer feedback and
complaint trends have been fed into the review. A key focus will be
on improving our right first time rates and communication, as these
are the main cause of complaints and negative customer
feedback.
Our customer care training programme 'Doing the basics
brilliantly' is continuing. It was designed using learning from
customer feedback and complaints. We have plans to enhance the
delivery using information from our extensive research. The
programme is designed for all customer-facing colleagues in the
Group.
Valuing our reputation
The aim of the Communications and Public Affairs Strategy is to
help Grand Union to go further together, by using our voice for
good, and enhancing and protecting our reputation.
In 2021 we once again ran a perception survey to make sure that
our stakeholders understood us and that we understood them. The
findings of this survey are being used to build on those
relationships and partnerships.
We have also been using different social media channels,
including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter to promote
Grand Union to different audiences. By using different channels,
we've been able to ensure relevant information goes out to the
relevant audience, ensuring they stay up to date with what's
happening at Grand Union.
Value for Money (VfM)
VfM is a key element of our Further together strategy. By being
more efficient we can build great homes where people can live great
lives and where we also provide an excellent service to our
customers.
Being more efficient is delivering both economic and social
value - high quality homes and services, and cash we can invest in
building and doing more.
Highlights in 2021/22
During the year, our focus has been firmly on transformation,
systems and reporting and investing in our people. The key
achievements and savings are highlighted below.
Business Transformation
We continue to transform ourselves into a more agile
organisation to reflect the fast-changing environment we work in,
investing in technology that served us so well through the COVID-19
pandemic, colleagues through our K2 Academy and our understanding
of our customers through our sector-leading psychographic
segmentation work. Our business transformation programme is based
on this detailed customer insight and, by using innovative data
science techniques and adopting lean methodology, we are making
sure that our services are designed around the needs of our
customers and are both effective and efficient.
We're committed to improving and delivering the best possible
services that meet our customers' needs - and by investing in great
technology to support transformation, we are making it simple for
customers and colleagues to get things done and are building trust
in us to deliver a great customer experience. There will be
financial benefits, with net cost savings of GBP1.2m by year five,
meaning we can do more to support current and future customers.
New Business & Development Strategy
Our ambitious corporate plan, Further together, continues our
drive to deliver much needed, genuinely affordable homes, to help
solve the current housing emergency. In 2021/22 we delivered more
homes in a single year than ever before, 308, including 57 at
social rent and by 2027 we aim to have delivered 1,959 homes for
social benefit, a quarter of which will be at social rent. To
support this programme, we will deliver 164 homes for market rent
or sale. Our NHS and Social Care partnerships demonstrate the wider
social value that great housing provides for the most vulnerable
customers; together we have helped deliver NHS efficiencies and
better outcomes through the 'Transforming Care' programme. We also
recognise the importance of working in partnerships to respond to
the housing emergency and are working with investment management
firms to deliver more homes that will benefit from our management
expertise and make a positive contribution to our operational
overheads.
Asset Management
The Government's commitment to achieve net carbon zero by 2050
presents a challenge and opportunity for us. Our Strategic Asset
Management Strategy, supported by our innovative portfolio
management plan, seeks to deliver net carbon zero by 2050 alongside
delivering any future homes standard. We have further invested in
technology that will drive both our investment programme and
support portfolio management decisions, identifying homes where
realising the social capital of the asset presents opportunities to
invest in new, sustainable, cost-effective homes. Alongside the
financial metrics, we have developed our Social Value metrics to
ensure decisions are made in the best interests of the communities
we serve. Using land insight tools, we have also been able to
identify opportunities, such as garage sites and land owned by us
and our partners, to not only regenerate communities and deliver
more homes but also increase the overall value of the asset base.
Our investment programme continues to ensure that homes are well
maintained for our customers and provide security for future
borrowing.
Procurement
In a year that has provided multiple challenges for supply
chains, our procurement partnerships have helped us mitigate the
significant risks we have faced. Our materials procurement ensured
increases limited to an average of 6% compared to the wider market
exceeding 10%. We are members of several procurement partnerships,
ensuring competitive tenders are received in the most efficient
way. Furthermore, Grand Union acts as contracting authorities on a
number of frameworks including materials supply and utilities which
achieves additional value. The fixing of energy prices has
protected Grand Union and customers in schemes from significant
rises this year. During the next year our central procurement
function will develop our wave plan further so that we can be more
proactive in contract negotiation.
Communications
The introduction of the Communications Apprentice role allowed
us to bring more creative work in-house, which brought with it
significant savings. Other team members are not upskilled on design
and video editing software, meaning we can do a lot more in-house,
bringing further savings. For example, by designing a Learning
Offer for our Learning & Development team, we saved what could
have been up to GBP1,000 in design work.
Following work with an external agency producing a case study on
Grand Union, we sourced footage they'd shot to create our own
Life24 promotional video. The agency provided this to us free of
charge, and because we're editing the footage in-house, it means we
saved at least GBP1,000 on this compared to if we'd had a
professional videographer shoot and edit it.
Learning and Development
K2 Academy (K2A) has been open for 15 months, and we launched
our learning offer to the business in January 2022. This offer
commits to deliver 69 planned learning interventions, with more to
come, through a range of blended learning solutions, covering
building resilience and increasing emotional intelligence,
developing our HR Essentials package; mental health awareness, and
we are in the process of writing our own online learning modules.
We also offer internal solutions covering problem solving,
presentation skills and managing conflict, to cater for a range of
needs and represent VfM.
Through our academy, we have developed a management and
leadership development framework, The Leadership Elevator. We
currently have three of four floors operational, and have trained
24 aspiring managers, 29 managers/team leaders and ten operational
managers and have started to explore selling our learning to the
wider housing sector, through a pilot with Greatwell Homes,
bringing in a small revenue. We plan to explore and develop the
sector offer over the next few years, where there is appetite.
Over the six-month period ended 31 March 2022, K2A has made VfM
savings of GBP25,000, by increasing our resource to deliver our own
in-house bespoke learning. During this period, we have run 15
course sessions, training 96 delegates, and 17 programme sessions,
training 32 delegates. We anticipate K2A's VfM trend to continue
this year with forecasted savings to be in the region of GBP50,000,
however, due to a change in our Health and Safety resource and IOSH
working safely reverting to being externally sourced, savings will
be impacted. K2A forecast VfM is therefore realistically likely to
be around GBP40,000.
Systems Development
During the year we have appointed a consultant to undertake a
review of our systems architecture which will underpin the future
investment in our IT systems, including our core housing management
system. The main aims of this review were to understand the best
options available in today's system marketplace and understand the
implications and opportunities of any decision to move away from
the systems currently in use. The need to start moving at pace to
introduce new systems to support the organisation to achieve its
intended outcomes of improved efficiency, customer experience and
in the long-term cost savings have been identified. In doing this,
systems should be fully digitally enabled for everyone (customers,
suppliers and staff) and, where possible, cloud-based for ease of
access.
The future investment in our systems will support our goal to
achieve an 80% channel shift, and we have continued to develop our
customer communication channels and digital services over the last
12 months. Webchat has been expanded with the introduction of
chatbots to enable us to offer this service at any time of the day
or night. Our new customer portal was launched in March 2021 and we
are continuing to evolve and develop its functionality to ensure
our customers are able to complete the tasks they need to.
During the year we have recognised a number of VfM savings on
systems costs and development, these include the following:
Ø A review of the modules required for our Capita Open Housing
system identified annual savings of GBP16,000 pa
Ø By developing a financial management accounting platform
in-house utilising Power BI we saved circa GBP65,000
Ø We developed an application in-house for managing telecare
contracts saving over GBP30,000 over the contract term
Ø By closing down touch points (satellite offices) and reducing
the number of required telephone lines across the business we have
generated annual savings of circa GBP49,000.
Business Intelligence Framework
The Board has recently approved a new Business Intelligence
Framework that has been designed to align our aims set out in the
Further together plan and Data Strategy. There are four pillars
that will act as the cornerstone of our BI Framework: Measuring,
Analysis, Reporting and Forecasting. The aim of this framework is
to implement a more strategic approach with how we use business
intelligence, analytics, and performance management initiatives in
order to provide a single version of the truth that will aid
evidenced-based decisions. It will help to drive a positive
performance culture by enabling all levels of the business to
easily view and understand performance and identify areas for
improvement.
A major factor in all the analysis or reporting we carry out
will be to identify the cost of the services we deliver, and how
these represent VfM. This will be used as a catalyst to enable
quicker decision making and the ability to take remedial action to
make improvements. We will identify how our performance across the
business is driven by implementing cost benefit analysis to
analyse, assess, and evaluate the cost versus action versus
outcome, i.e. is the cost of what we are trying to achieve and how
we will achieve it financially viable.
Financial Reporting
During the year a significant amount of work has been undertaken
developing financial reporting by using Power BI. Power BI enables
a more interactive reporting framework including graphical
analysis, performance dashboards, drill down functionality and
trend analysis. The software is now being used by Finance Business
Partners for the preparation of the monthly management accounts and
by budget managers across the organisation to track and manage
their spend. The enhanced reporting will provide timely insight
into financial performance and provide improved and more timely
decision making to drive value for money.
We have also designed a new VfM reporting dashboard within Power
BI. VfM targets have been prepared on a quarterly basis from the
annual budget to ensure that we are monitoring performance
throughout the year.
Funding the growth
We are in the process of investigating options for a new funding
issue for GBP50m which includes consideration of the Affordable
Homes Guarantee Scheme 2020. The scheme has been established to
provide loans to support the delivery of new-build and additional
affordable housing. Loans are funded by a capital markets bond
programme which will have the benefit of a guarantee from the
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). The
loans require the borrower to utilise the funds in the development
of Approved Pipeline Schemes that will deliver new-build affordable
homes. This new funding demonstrates VfM in two ways, from the cost
of funds (attractive rates due to MHCLG guarantees) and the
continued commitment to develop additional new build affordable
homes.
VfM metrics
The metrics below reflect the challenges of the environment we
are operating in, given the impact of the pandemic and our
continued investment transforming our customer services and
investment in maintaining our homes.
Metric 2021/22 2020/21 **Peer Sector 2022/23
Restated* group scorecard Targets
average 2021/22
2020/21
Reinvestment 7.26% 5.68% 7.90% 5.10% 10.22%
--------- ----------- --------- ----------- ---------
New supply delivered
- social housing 2.36% 0.73% 2.10% 0.90% 2.62%
--------- ----------- --------- ----------- ---------
New supply delivered
- non-social housing 0.20% 0.20% 0.10% 0.00% 0.22%
--------- ----------- --------- ----------- ---------
Gearing 48.57% 46.43% 52.30% 33.82% 47.00%
--------- ----------- --------- ----------- ---------
EBITDA MRI ^ 139.09% 166.83% 179.40% 215.95% 179.00%
--------- ----------- --------- ----------- ---------
Headline social housing GBP3,707 GBP3,358 GBP3,675 GBP3,891 GBP4,150
cost per unit GBP
--------- ----------- --------- ----------- ---------
Operating margin - social
housing lettings only 25.67% 29.56% 31.80% 25.49% 30.20%
--------- ----------- --------- ----------- ---------
Operating margin - overall 26.59% 27.68% 30.50% 23.54% 28.58%
--------- ----------- --------- ----------- ---------
Return on capital employed
(ROCE) 3.48% 3.32% 4.00% 3.10% 3.62%
--------- ----------- --------- ----------- ---------
* Restatement following the separate classification of abortive
scheme costs
** Our peer group consists of, BPHA, Futures Housing Group,
Settle, Stonewater, PA Housing, Longhurst Group, East Midlands
Group, Greatwell Homes, Paradigm Housing and Nottingham Community
Housing Association
^ During the year, loans with Nationwide and Newcastle were
refinanced triggering early repayment breakage costs of GBP4.37m.
Excluding the breakage costs the EBITDA MRI metric for the year
would have been 179.38% so an improvement on the previous year.
Reinvestment has grown significantly during the year at 7.26%
and includes both new supply and investment in existing stock. The
main driver for the increase being new supply with 2021/22 being
our largest year of growth with over 300 new homes completed.
The provision of new supply of social stock trebled this year
due to a catch up from the lower than anticipated development
activity in the previous two years due to the pandemic. This level
of growth is expected to continue into the next financial year with
a target of 359 new homes (2.62%) and then for further growth as
the development programme reaches 400 units per year for years two
to five of the business plan. We continue to look at growth
opportunities including strategic partnerships. There will also be
future growth in the delivery of non-social housing as new tenure
streams are developed, including market sale homes to complement
the market rent portfolio already managed by the Group.
Our gearing ratio has increased over the past 12 months from the
growth in the development pipeline and increases in general
operating costs from inflationary pressures driven from the
external economic environment. Inflationary cost pressures are
being felt most in the construction sector due to a number of
factors including supply chains not recovering since the pandemic,
increases in fuel and energy costs, a shortage of labour and the
war in Ukraine; this is driving up both materials and salary costs
and, as a result, impacting the cost of our repairs service and new
build development. The development market also continues to be
increasingly competitive resulting in price pressures on S106
delivery.
EBITDA MRI would have increased this year to 177.68% had it not
been for the interest breakage costs mentioned above. EBITDA MRI is
broadly in line with our business plan and reflects the Group's
appetite to remain financially strong with long term forecasts
anticipating this metric to grow to over 200% by 2025.
We have financial golden rules which help safeguard the Group
against external risk. These have been assessed and included as
part of the Resilience plan which is included as part of the Risk
Management Framework. Included within these golden rules are
covenant specific metrics (including gearing and interest cover)
which are also considered as part of the annual Treasury Management
Policy review and wider Treasury Strategy.
The Headline Social Housing Cost per unit has increased by
GBP349 (10%); this increase can be broken down as GBP76 for
responsive repairs and GBP90 major repairs, GBP66 for management
costs due to increases in salary and overhead costs, GBP97 increase
in other social housing costs due to increases in pension service
costs and component replacement write-offs and finally a GBP20
increase in service charges due to increases in furniture and
equipment (F&E) purchases in a number of our supported
schemes.
The group is committed to reducing our overall cost per unit
over the coming years and this will be achieved from further
investment in business transformation. The future development of
the K2 Academy will ensure the continued investment and development
in our staff team. We are in the process of reviewing our systems
architecture which will underpin the future investment in our IT
systems, including our core housing management system. In addition
to this, we are committed to improving the service we offer to our
customers and will achieve this through our customer insight
project. By having a greater understanding of our customers, we can
use segmentation analysis to tailor our services to ensure that
they are effective, efficient and represent real value for money to
every customer group.
The operating margin has been negatively affected for both
social housing lettings and overall, as a result of the increased
operating costs mainly from routine and planned maintenance costs,
component replacement write outs, pension service costs and overall
management costs. The overall operating margin is higher than
social housing lettings margins for the first time this year; this
is due to increasing cost pressures on the management of the social
housing portfolio as mentioned above and the strong margins
achieved this year on shared ownership first tranche sales at 28.1%
(24.3% 2020/21).
Sector scorecard
Sector scorecard
Metric 2021/22 2020/21 2020/21
Customer satisfaction 4.4* 4.4* N/A
-------- -------- -----------------
Investment in communities GBP0.8m GBP0.9m N/A
-------- -------- -----------------
Occupancy 99.07% 99.49% 97.33%
-------- -------- -----------------
Ratio of responsive
to planned maintenance
spend 0.73 0.79 0.71
-------- -------- -----------------
Rent collected 99.44% 99.87% 100.00%
-------- -------- -----------------
Overheads as a % of
adjusted turnover 12.99% 12.42% 13.35%
-------- -------- -----------------
*Grand Union now monitors customer satisfaction through the Rant
& Rave platform. The score is out of a possible 5
Customer satisfaction has remained relatively stable throughout
the year, ending the year as the same average score as last year.
Service managers have responsibility for reviewing feedback from
Rant & Rave to identify opportunities for service improvement
and make sure service improvements are prioritised and acted
on.
Our biggest customer touchpoint is the repairs service and,
unsurprisingly, this is the service area that attracted the most
negative feedback during the year. We continue to closely monitor
and review the performance of the repairs service by both internal
and external contractors, and to tackle recurring service issues,
strip out unnecessary waste and ensure our processes are aligned to
and enhance the customer experience. Learning from complaints and
Rant & Rave is a key part of the review. A prime focus
continues to be on improving our right first time rates as this is
the cause of many complaints and adverse customer feedback.
Our plans for further improvement
As for many in the sector, the main concern is how the current
economic situation will play out over the next year or two. The
rapid increases in inflation experienced over recent months is
creating a cost of living crisis which is likely to not only have a
significant impact on our customers' finances but also on the
organisation's ability to control costs, grow, develop systems and
enhance services whilst ensuring rents remain affordable. Next
year's VfM targets represent another record year for development
with an identified pipeline of 359 new homes and the inevitable
increases in average social housing costs per unit. We have some
key projects planned for next year which support our value for
money strategy, some of which are detailed below.
Ø To review the recommendations and outputs from the systems
architecture review, design a project plan and commence
implementation phases
Ø The development of the new Business Intelligence Framework
including new performance reporting to Board and improvements
through enhanced benchmarking with our peers.
Ø Further developments in our financial reporting to understand
margin analysis at tenure level.
Ø Commence our carbon stock investment programme in line with
our Sustainability Strategy to ensure our stock meets EPC C by
2030
Ø In accordance with our Strategic Asset Management Strategy,
commence our proposed stock disposal programme in order to maximise
the social value our property portfolio provides.
Ø Progress our work on the Customer Segmentation project to
redesign our services to meet the expectations and requirements of
our customers in an efficient and cost-effective way. We are also
planning to offer a management service to other housing providers
for similar Customer Segmentation research.
Group Board
The members of the Board are shown on page 1. Board members are
drawn from a wide background, bringing together professional,
commercial and local experience. At 31 March 2022 the Group had
issued 10 GBP1 shares.
The Grand Union Housing Group Board met formally eight times
during the year and undertook one strategy workshop and a Board
risk appetite and stress testing workshop. The increase in the
number of the meetings was due in part to the new governance
structure, which now allows for six meetings per year. In addition,
the Group Board was supported during the year by the following
group-wide committees.
Subsidiary Boards
Grand Union Homes Ltd
This subsidiary was established in 2015 to build quality homes
and create sustainable places catered to local markets across
Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire. It prides
itself on creating vibrant communities in great locations, which
offer a range of housing choices for every stage of life. By
reinvesting all profits into affordable housing, Grand Union Homes
is able to help realise Grand Union's mission of building more
homes, stronger communities and better lives.
Grand Union Group Funding PLC
This subsidiary was formed in late 2013 and the principal
activity of the Company is to act as the funding vehicle for Grand
Union Housing Group. As the Company's activities are limited to the
raising and management of private finance for Grand Union Housing
Group Limited, it employs no staff and all administration functions
are carried out by Grand Union's Finance team.
GUHG Development Company Limited
This subsidiary began trading on 1 April 2022. The company's
principal activities are limited to providing design and build
services for members of the group. It employs no staff directly,
with recharges made by Grand Union Housing Group for staff
resources provided.
Committees
Audit & Risk Committee
The Group's Board has delegated the monitoring of the risk
management framework and internal controls to the Audit & Risk
Committee. The Committee met five times during the year and reports
to the Board on its activity throughout the year. The Committee is
responsible for recommending the appointment of both internal and
external auditors and considers the scope of their work each year.
It also receives regular reports from both sets of auditors. The
Committee reviews in detail the annual report and financial
statements and recommends them to the Board.
Governance & Remuneration Committee
The Group's Governance & Remuneration Committee met four
times during the year. The Committee has responsibility for
remuneration policies and reviews Chief Executive performance and
pay and that of the other executive directors. The Committee
overseas Board, Committee and Executive recruitment and facilitates
the annual Board appraisal and effectiveness reviews. In addition,
the Committee has delegated responsibility for governance best
practice and works with the Governance team including matters such
as Board and Committee appraisal, training and improvement
initiatives.
Customer Experience Committee
This Committee met four times during the year. The Committee has
responsibility to report to the Group Board on all areas of the
business which have an impact on the quality and efficiency of the
services we provide and evidenced by the monitoring of feedback
from our customers.
Regulator of Social Housing Regulatory Framework
The Board reviews annually its compliance with the Regulatory
Framework and confirms that it complies fully with its requirements
at year end. We did identify a minor beach of the rent standard in
January 2022 which was reported to the regulator along with the
action we had taken to address the breach. The feedback received
from the regulator was that they were taking no further action.
National Housing Federation Code of Governance 2020
In April 2021, the Board adopted the National Housing
Federation's new Code of Governance 2020. The Board reviews the
Code annually and confirms it complies fully.
Executive Directors
Grand Union's Executive Officers have no interest in the Group's
share capital, and although they do not have the legal status of
Directors, they act as an Executive within the authority delegated
by the Board and are termed Director. The Board has delegated the
day-to-day management and the implementation of its strategy and
policies to the Group Chief Executive and other senior officers.
The Executive Management team meets regularly, and its members
attend Boards, Committees and the Groups outside of the governance
structure, which are Investment & Development Group and Funding
Group.
Directors' and Officers' Liability Insurance
The Group has purchased Directors' and Officers' Liability
Insurance for the Board, Executive Officers and staff of the
Group.
Employees
The ability of the Group to meet its objectives and commitments
to customers in an efficient and effective manner depends on the
contribution, commitment and quality of its colleagues. Grand Union
provides training programmes focusing on quality and customer
service requirements, and the Group's objectives and progress are
discussed at regular management and departmental meetings. Managers
throughout Grand Union attend training to improve their leadership
and management skills.
Grand Union is committed to equal opportunities for all its
employees, and strives to attain an inclusive culture and building
on achieving a diverse as possible workforce through its Belonging
Strategy. We have effective employment policies in place, which are
reviewed on a regular basis. All existing colleagues have been
provided with diversity and inclusion training, whilst new members
of staff are trained during the induction process.
The Board is aware of and kept up to date with its
responsibilities on matters relating to health and safety. The
Health & Safety Group hold quarterly meetings and review in
detail key aspects of health and safety regarding employees. This
is reported to Customer Experience Committee and a summary goes to
the Board at each of its meetings
The Governance and Viability Standard
Following the annual review, the Regulator of Social Housing
reconfirmed the status of the Group as G1/V1 in November 2021,
indicating that the highest standards of governance and financial
viability are being met. The Board confirms compliance with this
standard.
Risk management & internal controls
At Grand Union we recognise that some managed risk-taking is
essential if we are to meet our objectives. Therefore, we are
committed to a 'risk aware' rather than a 'risk averse' culture and
we acknowledge that risk cannot always be eliminated from the
activities we undertake. We ensure that we have a robust approach
to risk management with enough resources allocated to ensure risk
is managed effectively and reported regularly.
The Regulator of Social Housing requires that we have an
effective risk management and internal controls assurance
framework. Our framework includes our strategic approach to risk,
our methodology for the assessment of risks, reporting mechanisms,
timing, and specific risk management responsibilities. A
restructure of the Governance team will allow for greater emphasis
on risk.
Risk Management Framework
Our risk management framework and risk management policy include
robust processes to manage risk in support of the achievement of
Grand Union's objectives, protect our staff and business assets and
ensure financial sustainability.
Like all businesses, Grand Union's activities are not free from
risk. We have a moral and statutory duty of care to our customers
and employees and as such we safeguard and make proper use of our
assets through the practical application of the methods our risk
management framework describes. The risk management strategy at
Grand Union is built upon fundamental principles that recognise
that ultimate responsibility for risk management lies with the
Board, and that the management of risk is a continuous process
involving regular monitoring and, where necessary, re-tuning.
The Board and Audit & Risk Committee review the Group risk
register each quarter. Other Committees (made up of members from
either Board or the Executive Management Team) also review the risk
register on a regular basis and our independent internal auditors
set out an annual audit plan, created from our risk register and
their knowledge of the housing sector. In addition, the management
of risk is subjected to external scrutiny on a periodic basis.
The Risk Management framework is reviewed and amended, if
appropriate, on an annual basis and is approved by the Audit &
Risk Committee and the Board.
Roles and responsibilities
Board
* Overall responsibility for the management and control
of risks and the risk management framework
* Agrees the strategic risk that Grand Union faces in
delivery of its business plan
* Set the risk appetite
* Receives regular risk reports from the Audit & Risk
Committee
Audit & Risk Committee
* Review of strategic and operational risks at each
meeting
* Annual review of the group-wide risk register
* Review of inherent and residual risk scores
* Reports its findings and recommendations to the Board
-------------------------------------------------------------
Executive Management
team * Owns strategic risks and assurances
* Reviews strategic and operational risks and
assurances
* Reviews risk reports prior to them being taken to
Audit & Risk Committee and Board
* Review and agreement of emerging risks
-------------------------------------------------------------
Leadership team
* Reviews Group risk registers
* Operational risks owned at a leadership team level
* Annual review of the Group risk register
-------------------------------------------------------------
All colleagues
* Responsibility for identification of new risks
-------------------------------------------------------------
Emerging risk
Everyone at Grand Union (colleagues, Leadership team, Committees
and Board) has a responsibility to identify risks. All newly
identified risks are logged on the Group risk register. The
emerging risks are then assessed as part of regular strategic risk
review meetings.
Risk appetite
The annual performance and financial targets at Grand Union are
set in line with the risk appetite, where quantitative measures can
be identified. The risk appetite statements set out guidance for
the qualitative areas of the business.
On an annual basis the Board will review and set its risk
appetite against all our key risk areas, ranging from averse to
hungry, defined as follows:
-- Averse - avoidance of risk and uncertainty is a key organisational objective.
-- Minimal - always opt for very safe delivery options that have
a low degree of inherent risk even though they may give limited
potential reward.
-- Cautious - preference for safe delivery options that have a
low degree of inherent risk that may only have limited potential
for reward.
-- Open - willing to consider all potential delivery options and
choose the option that is most likely to result in successful
delivery and which provides an acceptable level of reward.
-- Hungry - eager to be innovative and to choose options based
on higher rewards despite potential greater inherent risk.
A risk appetite matrix has been developed, and is updated
annually as a minimum, that reflects what each risk appetite range
means for all key risk areas. Activities which could potentially
have a major adverse impact on Grand Union (regardless of any
control mechanisms in place) are not undertaken without explicit
approval by the Board.
Wherever possible, all Board reports include an assessment of
risk to Grand Union. Risk appetite is not a single fixed concept.
Grand Union has a range of appetites for different risks, and
indeed these appetites may well vary over time as circumstances
change. The appropriate risk appetite statement areas are expressed
in words and then a score assigned to each specific statement area.
Our risk framework defines the extent to which risk is encouraged
and tolerated.
Three lines model
Grand Union uses the three lines model which provides us with a
standardised and comprehensive risk management process that clearly
outlines the roles of various leaders within Grand Union, including
oversight by the Board. An assurance can include a key performance
indicator, an internal audit report, external validation, a
document, report, or other method of verification which provides an
opinion on the operation of the controls in place to manage the
risk.
The three categories of assurance are recorded based on an
increasing level of independent oversight of the risk and current
performance. Assurances are noted against each risk on the risk
register.
Strategic risks
Our 13 strategic risks at the year-end are detailed below with
the residual risk score (out of 20). The residual risk score
relates to the amount of risk that remains after taking account of
the controls that Grand Union has in place.
Strategic Risk Mitigations in place
Data Processing Mandatory training is in place for data
Breach protection and GDPR, a Data Strategy and
Risk score 16 action plan are in place, there is regular
reconciliation automated where possible
to reduce the human error risk, there are
new roles within the Data and Information
team, and there is exception reporting on
what has changed since last updated.
--------------------------------------------------
Sales Income There is a New Business & Development Strategy
Risk score 16 in place, stress testing is undertaken,
there is a scheme approvals process, clear
delegated decision-making framework, dependent
on sales exposure.
--------------------------------------------------
Pension Liability A new defined contribution scheme has been
Increase established - we have stopped admittance
Risk score 12 to the defined benefit schemes for new employees
and receive independent pension advice.
--------------------------------------------------
Political Environment There is Business Plan stress testing, lobbying,
Risk score 12 development feasibility assumptions and
rent setting approach in place, monitoring
of Right to Buy levels, adjusting rents
within LHA Cap limits, a dedicated Policy
and External Affairs Manager in place and
we are a member of the NHF Influencing Academy
--------------------------------------------------
Regulatory Framework There is a New Scheme of Delegation, the
Failure Terms of Reference are reviewed, and a new
Risk score 10 Statement of Preferred Composition produced.
--------------------------------------------------
Liquidity Requirement An annual assessment is in place, there
Levels is a strong internal framework, regular
Risk score 9 monitoring and reporting is undertaken,
there is a Business Plan and stress testing
- working with Board, Quarterly finance
and funding return, Annual approval of Treasury
Management Strategy.
--------------------------------------------------
Achievement of We have financial golden rules, the Business
Business Growth Plan is not reliant on sales (stress tests
Risk score 9 include no sales), there are programme review
meetings, the financial feasibility model
is reviewed annually and agreed by Board,
there is a PR and promotion plan, and regular
stakeholder liaison.
--------------------------------------------------
Ineffective Business There are finance reports to Board, a sensitivity
Planning analysis, the assumptions provided by advisors
Risk score 8 and reviewed by Board, the sector risk profile
was reviewed, and an update presented to
Board, business plans are prepared to respond
to changing environment.
--------------------------------------------------
Environmental Sustainability There is a Strategic Asset Management Strategy
Risk score 6 and action plan in place, we are members
of Vantage Zero Carbon Club, and there is
a dedicated Environmental Sustainability
team in place.
--------------------------------------------------
Strategic Partnerships A stakeholder management review was undertaken,
Risk score 6 and the results incorporated into branding
and new strategic offer, there are regular
liaison meetings, and we have membership
of regional groups such as SEMLEP, E7, NHF,
CIH.
--------------------------------------------------
Staffing Levels A recruitment process exists, there is an
Risk score 6 annual review of market rates, performance
benchmarking and exit interviews are undertaken,
resources are regularly reviewed, there
are secondment and promotion opportunities
and policy, and trainee and apprenticeship
posts. Training and personal development
is available, and a skill gap review carried
out.
--------------------------------------------------
Project Change There are EMT and Board reports, action
Management planning and incident manager system (to
Risk score 4 monitor action plans), there are programme
delivery and service improvement teams in
place, and Programme Overview Group reviews
projects across organisation
--------------------------------------------------
COVID-19 Outbreak We have been closely following guidance
Risk score 4 issued from the UK Government, we have Gold
Command as part of our Incident Management
process, there has been supply of PPE, and
the UK Government roll-out of vaccines.
--------------------------------------------------
Disclosure of information to the auditor
The Board members at the date of approval of this report have
confirmed that:
-- as far as the Board members are aware, there is no relevant
audit information of which the Group's auditor is unaware
-- the Board members have taken all the steps that they ought to
have taken as Board members in order to make themselves aware of
any relevant audit information and to establish that the Group's
auditor is aware of that information.
Going concern
The Group's activities, together with the factors likely to
affect its future development, its financial position, financial
risk management objectives, details of its financial instruments
and derivative activities, and its exposures to credit, liquidity
and cash flow risk are described above and in the Board Report.
The Group has considerable financial resources and, as a
consequence, the Board believes that, despite the considerable
external economic uncertainty, the Group is well placed to manage
its business risks successfully even in these unprecedented
times.
After making enquiries, the Board expects that the Group and all
of its subsidiaries has adequate resources (group support where
necessary) to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable
future. Accordingly, it continues to adopt the going concern basis
in preparing the financial statements.
Approved by the Board and signed on its behalf by:
James Macmillan 26 July 2022
Chair
Details of Grand Union Housing Group Limited's principal
activities, its financial performance, VfM and factors likely to
affect its future are given in the Strategic Report, which preceded
this report.
Statement of Board members' responsibilities
The Board has overall responsibility for establishing and
maintaining the whole system of internal control and for reviewing
its effectiveness within Grand Union.
The Board recognises that no system of internal control can
provide absolute assurance or eliminate all risk. The system of
internal control is designed to manage risk and to provide
reasonable assurance that key business objectives and expected
outcomes will be achieved. It can also give reasonable assurance
about the preparation and reliability of financial and operational
information and the safeguarding of Grand Union's assets and
interests.
In meeting its responsibilities, the Board has adopted a
risk-based approach to internal controls which is embedded within
normal management and governance processes. This approach includes
the regular evaluation of the nature and extent of risks to which
the Group is exposed.
The process adopted by the Board in reviewing the effectiveness
of the system of internal control, together with some of the key
elements of the control framework, includes:
-- Identification and evaluation of key risks - management
responsibility has been clearly defined for the identification,
evaluation and control of significant risks. There is a formal and
ongoing process of management review in each area of Grand Union's
activities. The Executive Management team regularly considers
reports on significant risks facing Grand Union and is responsible
for reporting to the Board any significant changes affecting key
risks.
-- Monitoring and corrective action - a process of control
self-assessment and regular management reporting on control issues
provides hierarchical assurance to successive levels of management
and to the Board. This includes a rigorous procedure for ensuring
that corrective action is taken in relation to any significant
control issues, particularly those with a material impact on the
financial statements.
-- Control environment and control procedures - the Board
retains responsibility for a defined range of issues covering
strategic, operational, financial and compliance issues including
treasury strategy and new investment projects. The Board has
adopted the NHF Code of Governance 2020 from 1 April 2021. In
addition, Grand Union has policies with regard to the quality,
integrity and ethics of its employees and these are supported by a
framework of policies and procedures with which employees must
comply. These cover issues such as delegated authority, segregation
of duties, accounting, treasury management, health and safety, data
and asset protection and fraud prevention and detection.
-- Information and financial reporting systems - financial
reporting procedures include detailed budgets for the year ahead
and forecasts for subsequent years. These are reviewed and approved
by the Board. The Board also regularly reviews key performance
indicators to assess progress towards the achievements of key
business objectives, targets and outcomes.
-- Fraud - Grand Union has in place policies in respect of
preventing, detecting and investigating fraud and the Board is
satisfied that these effectively manage the risk of fraud. Grand
Union has a Whistleblowing policy that covers Board members,
employees and customers.
The internal control framework and the risk management process
are subject to regular review by Internal Audit who are responsible
for providing independent assurance to the Board via its Audit
& Risk Committee.
The Board has received the Group Chief Executive's annual
report, has conducted its annual review of the effectiveness of the
system of internal control and has taken account of any changes
needed to maintain the effectiveness of the risk management and
control process. No attempts or successful frauds were carried out
against the Group in 2021/22.
The Board confirms that there is an ongoing process for
identifying, evaluating and managing significant risks faced by the
Group. This process has been in place throughout the year under
review, up to the date of the annual report, and is regularly
reviewed by the Board.
Auditor
KPMG were appointed as Internal Auditors in May 2019, and Beever
and Struthers were appointed as External Auditors in January
2020.
Statement of Compliance
The Board has followed the principles set out in the Statement
of Recommended Practice (SORP) for Registered Social Providers
2018. The Group has fully complied with the Accounting Direction
for Private Registered Providers of Social Housing 2019.
Approved by the Board and signed on its behalf by:
James Macmillan 26 July 2022
Chair
Opinion
We have audited the financial statements of Grand Union Housing
Group Limited (the 'Association') and its subsidiaries (the
'Group') for the year ended 31 March 2022 which comprise the
Consolidated and Association Statement of Comprehensive Income,
Consolidated and Association Statement of Financial Position,
Consolidated and Association Statement of Changes in Reserves,
Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows and the notes to the financial
statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies
in notes 1 and 2. The financial reporting framework that has been
applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom
Accounting Standards, including FRS 102 "The Financial Reporting
Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland" (United
Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
In our opinion, the financial statements:
-- give a true and fair view of the state of the Group's and of
the Association's affairs as at 31 March 2022 and of the Group's
income and expenditure and the Association's income and expenditure
for the year then ended;
-- have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom
Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
-- have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the
Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014, the
Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies (Group Accounts)
Regulations 1969, the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 and the
Accounting Direction for Private Registered Providers of Social
Housing 2019.
Basis for opinion
We conducted our audit in accordance with International
Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our
responsibilities under those standards are further described in the
Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial
statements section of our report. We are independent of the Group
and Association in accordance with the ethical requirements that
are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK,
including the FRC's Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our
other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these
requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained
is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our
opinion.
Conclusions relating to going concern
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the
Board's use of the going concern basis of accounting in the
preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any
material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that,
individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the
Group's or the Association's ability to continue as a going concern
for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial
statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the Board with
respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of
this report.
Other information
The other information comprises the information included in the
Strategic Report, other than the financial statements and our
auditor's report thereon. The Board is responsible for the other
information. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover
the other information and we do not express any form of assurance
conclusion thereon.
In connection with our audit of the financial statements our
responsibility is to read the other information and in doing so,
consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent
with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the
audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we
identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material
misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a
material misstatement in the financial statements or a material
misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we
have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement
of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
Matters on which we are required to report by exception
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in
relation to which the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies
Act 2014 or the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 requires us to
report to you if, in our opinion:
-- the Association has not maintained a satisfactory system of control over transactions; or
-- the Association has not kept proper accounting records; or
-- the Association's financial statements are not in agreement with books of account; or
-- we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.
Responsibilities of the Board
As explained more fully in the Statement of Board Members'
Responsibilities set out on pages 48 - 49, the Board is responsible
for the preparation of the financial statements and for being
satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such
internal control as the Board determines is necessary to enable the
preparation of financial statements that are free from material
misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
In preparing the financial statements, the Board is responsible
for assessing the Group's and the Association's ability to continue
as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to
going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting
unless the Board either intends to liquidate the Group or the
Association or to cease operations, or has no realistic alternative
but to do so.
Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial
statements
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether
the financial statements as a whole are free from material
misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an
auditor's report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is
a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit
conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a
material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from
fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in
the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the
economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial
statements.
A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of
the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting
Council's website at www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities . This
description forms part of our auditor's report.
Extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting
irregularities, including fraud
We identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the
financial statements, whether due to fraud or error, and then
design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks,
including obtaining audit evidence that is sufficient and
appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
In identifying and addressing risks of material misstatement in
respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with
laws and regulations, our procedures included the following:
-- We obtained an understanding of laws and regulations that
affect the Group and Association, focusing on those that had a
direct effect on the financial statements or that had a fundamental
effect on its operations. Key laws and regulations that we
identified included the Co-operative and Community Benefit
Societies Act 2014, the Statement of Recommended Practice for
registered housing providers: Housing SORP 2018, the Housing and
Regeneration Act 2008, the Accounting Direction for Private
Registered Providers of Social Housing 2019, tax legislation,
health and safety legislation, and employment legislation.
-- We enquired of the Board and reviewed correspondence and
Board meeting minutes for evidence of non-compliance with relevant
laws and regulations. We also reviewed controls the Board have in
place, where necessary, to ensure compliance.
-- We gained an understanding of the controls that the Board
have in place to prevent and detect fraud. We enquired of the Board
about any incidences of fraud that had taken place during the
accounting period.
-- The risk of fraud and non-compliance with laws and
regulations was discussed within the audit team and tests were
planned and performed to address these risks. We identified the
potential for fraud in the following areas: laws related to the
construction and provision of social housing recognising the
regulated nature of the Group's activities.
-- We reviewed financial statements disclosures and tested to
supporting documentation to assess compliance with relevant laws
and regulations discussed above.
-- We enquired of the Board about actual and potential litigation and claims.
-- We performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or
unexpected relationships that might indicate risks of material
misstatement due to fraud.
-- In addressing the risk of fraud due to management override of internal controls we tested the appropriateness of journal entries and assessed whether the judgements made in making accounting estimates were indicative of a potential bias.
Due to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an
unavoidable risk that we may not have detected some material
misstatements in the financial statements, even though we have
properly planned and performed our audit in accordance with
auditing standards. For example, as with any audit, there remained
a higher risk of non-detection of irregularities, as these may
involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions,
misrepresentations, or the override of internal controls. We are
not responsible for preventing fraud or non-compliance with laws
and regulations and cannot be expected to detect all fraud and
non-compliance with laws and regulations.
Use of our report
This report is made solely to the Association, in accordance
with section 87 of the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies
Act 2014 and Section 128 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008.
Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the
Association those matters we are required to state to it in an
auditor's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent
permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to
anyone other than the Association for our audit work, for this
report, or for the opinions we have formed.
Beever and Struthers
Statutory Auditor
St George's House
215-219 Chester Road
Manchester
M15 4JE
Date: 3 August 2022
2022 2021
Note GBP'000 GBP'000
Turnover 3a 85,858 74,943
Cost of sales 3a (12,031) (5,821)
Operating expenditure 3a (50,994) (48,374)
Gain on disposal of housing properties,
plant & equipment 4 2,397 1,764
Operating surplus 25,230 22,512
Interest receivable 5 233 251
Interest and financing costs 6 (13,253) (14,313)
Break costs on early redemption of
loans 6 (4,371) -
Movement in fair value of investment
properties 13 1,470 (895)
Surplus before tax 9,309 7,555
Taxation 10 - -
Surplus for the year 9,309 7,555
Other comprehensive income
Actuarial deficit in respect of defined
benefit pension schemes 19 (200) (735)
Total comprehensive income for the
year 9,109 6,820
All of the activity above relates to continuing activities.
James Macmillan Richard Broomfield Mona Shah
Chair Vice Chair Company Secretary
Date: 26 July 2022
The notes on pages 62 - 95 form an integral part of these
financial statements.
Note 2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000
Turnover 3a 80,488 72,527
Cost of sales 3a (7,095) (3,687)
Operating expenditure 3a (50,994) (48,374)
Gain on disposal of housing properties,
plant & equipment 4 2,397 1,764
Operating surplus 24,796 22,230
Interest receivable 5 588 604
Interest and financing costs 6 (13,253) (14,313)
Break costs on early redemption of loans 6 (4,371) -
Movement in fair value of investment
properties 13 1,470 (895)
Surplus before tax 9,230 7,626
Taxation 10 - -
Surplus for the year 9,230 7,626
Other comprehensive income
Deficit in respect of defined benefit
pension schemes 19 (200) (735)
Total comprehensive income for the year 9,030 6,891
All of the activity above relates to continuing activities.
James Macmillan Richard Broomfield Mona Shah
Chair Vice Chair Company Secretary
Date: 26 July 2022
The notes on pages 62 - 95 form an integral part of these
financial statements.
2022 2021
Note GBP'000 GBP'000
Fixed assets
Housing properties 11 669,895 634,188
Other property, plant and equipment 12a 1,667 2,136
Investment properties 13 31,942 23,500
Intangible assets 12b 336 457
703,840 660,281
Current assets
Stock 15 15,172 15,684
Debtors 16 9,140 7,312
Cash and cash equivalents 21 11,865 18,255
36,177 41,251
Creditors: Amounts falling due within
one year 17 (14,698) (22,629)
Net current assets 21,479 18,622
Total assets less current liabilities 725,319 678,903
Creditors: Amounts falling due after
more than one year 18 (365,191) (328,896)
Defined benefit pension liability 19 (15,695) (14,683)
Net assets 344,433 335,324
Capital and reserves
Share capital 20 - -
Revenue reserve 160,368 150,917
Revaluation reserve 184,065 184,407
Total reserves 344,433 335,324
The financial statements of Grand Union Housing Group were
approved by the Board and signed on its behalf by:
James Macmillan Richard Broomfield Mona Shah
Chair Vice Chair Company Secretary
Date: 26 July 2022
The notes on pages 62 - 95 form an integral part of these
financial statements.
2022 2021
Note GBP'000 GBP'000
Fixed assets
Housing properties 11 669,895 634,188
Other property, plant and equipment 12a 1,667 2,136
Investment properties 13 31,942 23,500
Fixed asset investments 14 50 50
Intangible assets 12b 336 457
703,890 660,331
Current assets
Stock 15 11,368 8,622
Debtors 16 13,360 14,911
Cash and cash equivalents 21 11,834 18,184
36,562 41,717
Creditors: Amounts falling due within
one year 17 (14,734) (22,667)
Net current assets 21,828 19,050
Total assets less current liabilities 725,718 679,381
Creditors: Amounts falling due after
more than one year 18 (365,191) (328,896)
Defined benefit pension liability 19 (15,695) (14,683)
Net assets 344,832 335,802
Capital and reserves
Share capital 20 - -
Revenue reserve 160,767 151,395
Revaluation reserve 184,065 184,407
Total reserves 344,832 335,802
The financial statements of Grand Union Housing Group,
registered number 7853, were approved by the Board and signed on
its behalf by:
James Macmillan Richard Broomfield Mona Shah
Chair Vice Chair Company Secretary
Date: 26 July 2022
The notes on pages 62 - 95 form an integral part of these
financial statements.
Revenue Revaluation Total
reserve reserve reserves
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
At 1 April 2021 150,917 184,407 335,324
Surplus for the year 9,309 - 9,309
Other comprehensive income:
Actuarial deficit in respect of defined
benefit pension schemes (200) - (200)
Total comprehensive income 9,109 - 9,109
Reserve transfers 342 (342) -
At 31 March 2022 160,368 184,065 344,433
Revenue Revaluation Total
reserve reserve reserves
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
At 1 April 2020 143,139 185,365 328,504
Surplus for the year 7,555 - 7,555
Other comprehensive income:
Actuarial deficit in respect of defined
benefit pension schemes (735) - (735)
Total comprehensive income 6,820 - 6,820
Reserve transfers 958 (958) -
At 31 March 2021 150,917 184,407 335,324
Reserves
Revenue reserve
The revenue reserve represents cumulative surpluses and deficits
of the Group.
Revaluation reserve
The revaluation reserve relates to cumulative historic valuation
uplifts arising before 1 April 2014 .
The notes on pages 62 - 95 form an integral part of these
financial statements.
Revenue Revaluation Total
reserve reserve reserves
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
At 1 April 2021 151,395 184,407 335,802
Surplus for the year 9,230 - 9,230
Other comprehensive income:
Actuarial deficit in respect of defined
benefit pension schemes (200) - (200)
Total comprehensive income 9,030 - 9,030
Reserve transfers 342 (342) -
At 31 March 2022 160,767 184,065 344,832
Revenue Revaluation Total
reserve reserve reserves
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
At 1 April 2020 143,546 185,365 328,911
Surplus for the year 7,626 - 7,626
Other comprehensive income:
Actuarial deficit in respect of defined
benefit pension schemes (735) - (735)
Total comprehensive income 6,891 - 6,891
Reserve transfers 958 (958) -
At 31 March 2021 151,395 184,407 335,802
Reserves
Revenue reserve
The Revenue reserve represents cumulative surpluses and deficits
of the Association .
Revaluation reserve
The revaluation reserve relates to cumulative historic valuation
uplifts arising before 1 April 2014.
The notes on pages 62 - 95 form an integral part of these
financial statements.
Note 2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000
Net cash generated from operating
activities 21 33,718 27,451
Cash flows from investing activities
Purchase of property, plant and equipment (48,871) (36,493)
Purchase of investment property (7,133) (6,499)
Proceeds from sale of property, plant
and equipment 5,595 5,812
Grants received 3,030 7,411
Taxation - -
Interest received 233 251
Net cash flows from investing activities (47,146) (29,518)
Cash flows from financing activities
Interest paid (13,253) (14,313)
Break costs on early redemption of
loans (4,371) -
Net loan movement 24,662 16,450
Net cash flows from financing activities 7,038 2,137
Net increase/(decrease) in cash and
cash equivalents (6,390) 70
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning
of year 18,255 18,185
Cash and cash equivalents at end of
year 11,865 18,255
The notes on pages 62 - 95 form an integral part of these
financial statements.
1. Accounting policies
Grand Union Housing Group Limited (the 'Association') is a
private limited company incorporated and domiciled in England. The
address of the registered office is K2, Timbold Drive, Kents Hill,
Milton Keynes, Bucks, MK7 6BZ. The registered number is 7853.
The main activities of the Group are the provision of affordable
homes for people in housing need. The principal accounting policies
are summarised below. They have all been applied consistently
throughout the year and to the preceding year.
General information and basis of accounting
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical
cost convention, modified to include certain items at fair value,
in accordance with FRS 102 "The Financial Reporting Standard
applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland" (FRS 102) and comply
with the Statement of Recommended Practice for Registered Social
Housing Providers 2018 (SORP), the Housing and Regeneration Act
2008 and the Accounting Direction for Private Registered Providers
of Social Housing 2019. The Group is a public benefit entity, as
defined in FRS 102 and applies the relevant paragraphs prefixed
'PBE' in FRS 102.
Grand Union Housing Group meets the definition of a qualifying
entity under FRS 102 and has therefore taken advantage of the
disclosure exemptions available to it in respect of its separate
financial statements, which are presented alongside these
consolidated financial statements. Exemptions have been taken in
relation to the following:
-- A Statement of Cash Flows has not been presented for the parent company
FRS 102 allows a qualifying entity certain disclosure exemption,
subject to certain conditions, which has been complied with. In
preparing the Association's individual financial statements, the
Association has taken advantage of the exemption not to provide
certain disclosures as required by Section 11 "Basic Financial
Instruments" and Section 12 "Other Financial Instrument Issues" and
"Related Party Transactions" on the basis that equivalent
disclosures are given in the consolidated financial statements.
Property, plant and equipment - housing properties at cost
Housing properties are stated at cost less accumulated
depreciation and accumulated impairment losses. Cost includes the
cost of acquiring land and buildings, directly attributable
development costs and borrowing costs directly attributable to the
construction of new housing properties during the development
calculated at the weighted average cost of capital during 2020/21.
Capitalisation ceases when substantially all the activities that
are necessary to prepare the asset for use are complete.
Property, plant and equipment - housing properties at deemed
cost
Where housing properties were measured at fair value at the date
of transition to FRS 102 and this valuation was used as deemed
cost, taking advantage of the exemption available on transition to
FRS 102 from previous UK GAAP, this was considered to be a
valuation and a revaluation reserve established to account for the
movement.
A release of the revaluation reserve is calculated to reflect
the additional depreciation that has been charged on the uplift to
the structure cost upon moving to deemed cost.
Depreciation is charged so as to write down the net book value
of housing properties to their estimated residual value, on a
straight-line basis, over their useful economic lives. Freehold
land is not depreciated.
Major components
Major components of housing properties, which have significantly
different patterns of consumption of economic benefits, are treated
as separate assets and depreciated over their expected useful
economic lives at the following annual rates:
Structure:
Standard 100 years
- Properties built by pre-reinforced concrete method with certificate 50 years
- Properties built by pre-reinforced concrete method without certificate 10 years
Roofs 50 years
Heating systems 40 years
Doors, windows, bathrooms, lifts, wiring, insulation and high-level works 30 years
Solar panels 25 years
Kitchens and heat pumps 20 years
Heating boilers 15 years
If the component is replaced before the end of its economic
life, the resulting charge will be reflected in the overall
depreciation charge rather than a loss on its replacement.
Properties held on long leases are depreciated over their
estimated useful economic lives or the lease duration if
shorter.
Improvements
Where there are improvements to housing properties that are
expected to provide incremental future benefits, these are
capitalised and added to the carrying amount of the property. Any
works to housing properties which do not replace a component or
result in an incremental future benefit are charged as expenditure
in surplus or deficit in the Statement of Comprehensive Income.
Sales of Housing Property
Sales of housing property are taken into account on completion
of contracts. The surplus or deficit arising from the sale is shown
net after deducting the carrying value of the property and any sale
related expense.
Non-housing property, plant and equipment
Non-housing property, plant and equipment are stated at historic
cost less accumulated depreciation and any provision for
impairment. Depreciation is provided on all non-housing property,
plant and equipment, other than investment properties and freehold
land, at rates calculated to write off the cost or valuation, less
estimated residual value, of each asset on a straight-line basis
over its expected useful life.
Expected useful lives are as follows:
Office improvements 25 years
Leasehold improvements 10 years
Office fixtures 10 years
Office heating and mechanical 5 years
Furniture and fittings 5 years
Vehicles 4 years
Computer equipment 3 years
Intangible assets
Intangible assets are stated at historic cost, less accumulated
amortisation. Amortisation is provided on all intangible assets at
rates calculated to write-off the cost of each asset on a
straight-line basis over its expected useful life, as follows:
Computer software 3 years
Investment properties
The classification of properties as investment property or
property, plant and equipment is based upon the intended use of the
property. Properties held to earn commercial rentals or for capital
appreciation or both are classified as investment properties.
Properties that are used for administrative purposes or that are
held for the provision of social housing are treated as property,
plant and equipment. Mixed use property is separated between
investment property and property, plant and equipment.
Land is accounted for based on its intended use. Where land is
acquired speculatively with the intention of generating a capital
gain and/or a commercial rental return it is accounted for as
investment property. Where land is acquired for use in the
provision of social housing or for a social benefit it is accounted
for as property, plant and equipment.
Investment properties are measured at fair value annually with
any change recognised in surplus or deficit in the Statement of
Comprehensive Income.
Impairment of social housing properties
Properties held for their social benefit are not held solely for
the cash inflows they generate and are held for their service
potential. The Group has identified a cash generating unit for
impairment assessment purposes at a property scheme level.
An assessment is made at each reporting date as to whether an
indicator of impairment exists. If such an indicator exists, an
impairment assessment is carried out and an estimate of the
recoverable amount of the asset is made. Where the carrying amount
of the asset exceeds its recoverable amount, an impairment loss is
recognised in surplus or deficit in the Statement of Comprehensive
Income. The recoverable amount of an asset is the higher of its
value in use and fair value less costs to sell. Where assets are
held for their service potential, value in use is determined by the
present value of the asset's remaining service potential plus the
net amount expected to be received from its disposal. Depreciated
replacement cost is taken as a suitable measurement model.
An impairment loss is reversed if the reasons for the impairment
loss have ceased to apply and is included in surplus or deficit in
the Statement of Comprehensive Income.
As part of the end of year review no impairment of the carrying
value of properties under construction was identified.
Social Housing Grant and other government grants
Grants received in relation to assets that have been treated as
deemed cost at the date of transition to FRS 102 have been
accounted for using the performance model. In applying this model
such grant has been presented as if it were originally recognised
as income within the statement of comprehensive income in the year
it was receivable and is therefore included within brought-forward
general reserves.
Grants received since transition in relation to newly acquired
or existing housing properties are accounted for using the accrual
model. Grant is carried as deferred income in the balance sheet and
is amortised on a systematic basis over the useful life of the
housing property structure, even if the fair value of the grant
exceeds the carrying value of the structure in line with SORP 2018.
No grant is recognised against other components.
When a housing property is sold which was partly funded by
social housing grant (SHG) the grant becomes repayable and is
transferred to a Recycled Capital Grant (RCGF) fund until it is
either reinvested in a replacement property or repaid to the
Regulator of Social Housing.
Leased assets
At inception the Group assesses agreements that transfer the
right to use assets. The assessment considers whether the
arrangement is, or contains, a lease based on the substance of the
arrangement.
Operating leased assets
Leases that do not transfer all the risks and rewards of
ownership are classified as operating leases. Payments under
operating leases are charged to surplus or deficit in the Statement
of Comprehensive Income on a straight-line basis over the period of
the lease.
Interest payable
Borrowing costs are interest and other costs incurred in
connection with the borrowing of funds. Borrowing costs are
calculated using the effective interest rate, which is the rate
that exactly discounts estimated future cash payments or receipts
through the expected life of a financial instrument and is
determined on the basis of the carrying amount of the financial
liability at initial recognition.
Under the effective interest method, the amortised cost of a
financial liability is the present value of future cash payments
discounted at the effective interest rate and the interest expense
in a period equals the carrying amount of the financial liability
at the beginning of a period multiplied by the effective interest
rate for the period.
Taxation
The majority of the Group's activities are charitable and are
conducted through the Registered Provider which has charitable
status. No taxation is payable on activities relating to charitable
purposes. Any charge for taxation is based on the surplus/deficit
for the year and recognises deferred taxation because of timing
differences between the treatment of certain items for taxation and
accounting purposes. Provision is made for deferred tax on a full
provision basis.
Value Added Tax (VAT)
The Group is registered for VAT but a large proportion of its
income, including rents, is exempt for VAT purposes. The majority
of the Group's expenditure is subject to VAT which cannot be
reclaimed, and expenditure is therefore shown inclusive of VAT
where appropriate. For those areas where VAT is recoverable, a
group partial exemption formula has been agreed with HM Revenue and
Customs (HMRC). The recoverable amount is credited against the
relevant expenditure.
Pensions
Local Government Pension Scheme
The group participates in a local government pension scheme
which is a multi-employer scheme where it is possible for
individual employers as admitted bodies to identify their share of
the assets and liabilities of the pension scheme. For this scheme
the amounts charged to operating surplus are the costs arising from
employee services rendered during the period and the cost of plan
introductions, benefit changes, settlements and curtailments. They
are included as part of staff costs. The net interest cost on the
net defined benefit liability is charged to revenue and included
within finance costs. Re-measurement comprising actuarial gains and
losses and the return on scheme assets (excluding amounts included
in net interest on the net defined benefit liability) are
recognised immediately in other comprehensive income.
Defined benefit schemes are funded, with the assets of the
scheme held separately from those of the Group, in separate trustee
administered funds. Pension scheme assets are measured at fair
value and liabilities are measured on an actuarial basis using the
projected unit credit method. The actuarial valuations are obtained
at least triennially and are updated at each reporting date. This
scheme was closed to new members from 1 April 2013.
Multi-employer defined benefit pension scheme - Social Housing
Pension Scheme (SHPS)
The company participates in the Social Housing Pension Scheme
(the Scheme), a multi-employer scheme which provides benefits to
some 500 non-associated employers. The Scheme is a defined benefit
scheme in the UK. The Scheme is subject to the funding legislation
outlined in the Pensions Act 2004 which came into force on 30
December 2005. This, together with documents issued by the Pensions
Regulator and Technical Actuarial Standards issued by the Financial
Reporting Council, set out the framework for funding defined
benefit occupational pension schemes in the UK.
The Scheme is classified as a 'last-man standing arrangement'.
Therefore, the company is potentially liable for other
participating employers' obligations if those employers are unable
to meet their share of the scheme deficit following withdrawal from
the Scheme. Participating employers are legally required to meet
their share of the Scheme deficit on an annuity purchase basis on
withdrawal from the Scheme.
Defined contribution scheme
The Group participates in a defined contribution scheme where
the amount charged to surplus or deficit in the Statement of
Comprehensive Income in respect of pension costs and other
post-retirement benefits is the contributions payable in the year.
Differences between contributions payable in the year and
contributions actually paid are shown as either accruals or
prepayments in the Statement of Financial Position.
Investments
Investments are measured at cost less impairment.
Turnover
Turnover represents rental and service charge income, fees and
revenue-based grants receivable from local authorities and from
Homes England, the proceeds of first tranche sales of shared
ownership properties and open market property sales, housing
management services, feed in tariff income and assistive technology
services income.
Revenue for the main income streams is recognised as
follows:
Rent Revenue is measured at the fair value of
the consideration received or receivable
and represents the amount receivable for
the services rendered net of empty properties.
Service charge Fixed service charge income is recognised
income in the year to which it relates. Variable
service charge income is recognised in the
year the related cost is recognised.
------------------------------------------------------------
First tranche shared Property sales income is recognised when
ownership property the risks and rewards of ownership have passed
sales and properties to the buyer upon legal completion of the
developed for outright sales, except in circumstances where specific
sale legal contractual terms dictate that risks
and rewards of ownership pass at different
times.
------------------------------------------------------------
Revenue grants Revenue grants are recognised when the performance-related
conditions are met or when the grant proceeds
are received or become receivable if no conditions
are imposed.
------------------------------------------------------------
Amortisation of Grants provided to construct social housing
government grant assets are recognised on a systematic basis
over the useful economic life of the asset
for which the grant is intended to compensate.
------------------------------------------------------------
Interest receivable Interest income is recognised on a receivable
basis.
------------------------------------------------------------
Gift Aid Gift Aid is recognised on a received or receivable
basis.
------------------------------------------------------------
Other income Other income relates to housing management
services, feed in tariff income and assistive
technology services which are recognised
on a receivable basis.
------------------------------------------------------------
Supported housing and other managing agents
Where the Group has ownership of a supported housing or other
scheme but also has an agreement with a third party to manage the
scheme (including Supporting People funded schemes or services),
where there has been a substantial transfer of the risks and
benefits attached to the scheme to the third party, any scheme
revenue and expenditure is excluded from these financial
statements.
Shared ownership property sales
Shared ownership properties, including those under construction,
are split between non-current assets and current assets. The split
is determined by the percentage of the property to be sold under
the first tranche disposal which is shown on initial recognition as
a current asset, with the remainder classified as a non-current
asset within property plant and equipment. Where this would result
in a surplus on the disposal of the current asset that would exceed
the anticipated overall surplus, the surplus on disposal of the
first tranche is limited to the overall surplus by adjusting the
costs allocated to current or non-current assets.
Proceeds from first tranche disposals are accounted for as
turnover in the Statement of Comprehensive Income of the period in
which the disposal occurs and the cost of sale is transferred from
current assets to operating costs. Proceeds from subsequent tranche
sales are treated as disposals of fixed assets.
Inventories/WIP
Inventories and work in progress (WIP) relate to the percentage
of shared ownership properties to be sold under the first tranche
disposal which is shown on initial recognition as a current asset
under Inventories/WIP. These properties held for sale are measured
at the lower of cost and estimated selling price less costs to
complete and sell. Cost includes materials, direct labour and an
attributable proportion of overheads based on normal levels of
activity.
Financial instruments
Financial assets and financial liabilities are recognised when
the Group becomes a party to the contractual provisions of the
instrument.
Financial assets carried at amortised cost
Financial assets carried at amortised cost comprise rent
arrears, trade and other receivables and cash and cash equivalents.
Financial assets are initially recognised at transaction value plus
directly attributable transaction costs. After initial recognition,
they are measured at amortised cost using the effective interest
method. Discounting is omitted where the effect of discounting is
immaterial.
If there is objective evidence that there is an impairment loss,
the amount of the loss is measured as the difference between the
asset's carrying amount and the present value of estimated future
cash flows discounted at the financial asset's original effective
interest rate. The carrying amount of the asset is reduced
accordingly.
A financial asset is derecognised when the contractual rights to
the cash flows expire, or when the financial asset and all
substantial risks and reward are transferred.
If an arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, the
financial asset is measured at the present value of the future
payments discounted at a market rate of interest for a similar debt
instrument.
Financial liabilities carried at amortised cost
These financial liabilities include trade and other payables and
interest-bearing loans and borrowings.
A financial liability is initially recognised at transaction
value adjusted for any directly attributable transaction cost and
subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective
interest method, with interest-related charges recognised as an
expense in finance costs in the Statement of Comprehensive Income.
Discounting is omitted where the effect of discounting is
immaterial.
A financial liability is derecognised only when the contractual
obligation is extinguished, that is, when the obligation is
discharged, cancelled or expires.
Loan issue costs relating to the housing loans and bond issue
are amortised to the Statement of Comprehensive Income over the
repayment period of the loans. Interest payable on the loans and
bond is charged to the Statement of Comprehensive Income in the
year it is due.
On long-term lending, the interest rate to be charged is
calculated by reference to the interest rates, margins and banking
charges within the loan agreements, with the funders, on the day
the loan is made.
Public benefit entity concessionary loans
Where loans are made or received between a public benefit entity
within the Group or an entity within the public benefit entity
group and other party at below the prevailing market rate of
interest that are not repayable on demand and are for the purposes
to further the objectives of the public benefit entity or public
benefit entity parent, these loans are treated as concessionary
loans and are recognised in the Statement of Financial Position at
the amount paid or received and the carrying amount adjusted to
reflect any accrued interest payable or receivable.
Cash and cash equivalents
Cash and cash equivalents comprise cash on hand, and on demand
deposits, together with other short term, highly liquid investments
(with original maturities of three months or less) that are readily
convertible into known amounts of cash and are subject to an
insignificant risk of changes in value.
2. Significant management judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty
The preparation of the financial statements requires management
to make judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect the
application of policies and reported amounts of assets and
liabilities, income and expenses. The estimates and associated
assumptions are based on historical experience and various other
factors that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances,
the results of which form the basis of making the judgements about
carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily
apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these
estimates.
Estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing
basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the
period in which the estimate is revised and in any future periods
affected.
Significant management judgements
The following are management judgements in applying the
accounting policies of the Group that have the most significant
effect on the amounts recognised in the financial statements.
Impairment of social housing properties
The Housing SORP 2018 requires the Group to assess if there are
any triggers for impairment. Management have considered the
triggers and confirmed no further impairment is required.
Categorisation of investment properties
Property assets are classified as investment property or
property, plant and equipment depending on the intended use of the
property. In determining the intended use of each property,
management considers various factors in making this judgement such
as whether the asset is held for social benefit at below a market
rent for the wider benefit of the community and whether the
properties are subsidised and operated at a loss in order to
continue providing a service. The accounting treatment will be
different depending upon the categorisation.
Loan issue costs
Where loan issues costs are deemed to be immaterial, they will
be amortised on an accruals basis instead of applying an effective
rate of interest basis.
Classification of financial instruments between basic and
other
Financial instruments are classified as either basic or other,
with differing accounting treatments depending on the
classification. Section 11 of FRS 102, 'Basic Financial
Instruments', sets out the requirements for the recognition,
measurement and de-recognition of basic financial instruments and
the conditions that must be satisfied in order to classify a
financial instrument as basic and therefore account for it in
accordance with Section 11.
Modification of financial liabilities
Where the Group has modified a loan agreement, an assessment is
carried out as to whether the modification results in substantially
different terms. If it does, the loan is de-recognised, and a new
financial liability recognised. If the new terms are not considered
substantially different, there is a re-measurement of the financial
liability using the original effective interest rate. In making
this assessment, judgement is applied in considering a combination
of quantitative and qualitative factors.
Capitalisation of property development costs
The Group capitalises development expenditure in accordance with
the accounting policy on housing properties. Judgement is exercised
over the likelihood that projects will continue.
Mixed tenure developments
Where the Group develops mixed tenure development schemes
including more than one element, the costs incurred in acquiring
and developing the land are attributed to each element of the
scheme depending on the intended usage to reflect the different
tenure types.
Estimation uncertainty
The Group makes estimates and assumptions concerning the future.
The resulting accounting estimates will, by definition, seldom
equal the related actual results. The estimates and assumptions
that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to
the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next
financial year are addressed below.
Fair value measurement
Management uses valuation techniques to determine the fair value
of assets. This involves developing estimates and assumptions
consistent with how market participants would price the instrument.
Management base the assumptions on observable data as far as
possible but this is not always available. In that case, management
uses the best information available. Estimated fair values may vary
from the actual process that would be achievable in an arm's length
transaction at the reporting date.
Provisions
Provisions are only recognised where the Group has an obligation
to incur future expenditure as a result of a past event. The
provision is recognised as a liability in the Statement of
Financial Position. These would include Service Charge Sinking
Funds, provision for an outstanding insurance claim.
Valuation of investment properties
The Group carries its investment property at fair value and
engages independent valuers to determine fair value using a
valuation technique based on a discounted cash flow model. The
calculated fair value of the investment property therefore uses
assumptions, of which the most sensitive relate to the estimated
yield and the long-term vacancy rate.
The future economic environment is uncertain due to the pandemic
and although the full impact and long-term implications are yet to
be fully understood, the Group has confidence in the values
disclosed in the financial statements. The Group has undertaken
internal reviews of the most recent investment property valuations
and assessed the financial performance of the portfolio and are
confident that when taking into consideration the financial
strength of the Group, any potential downturn in the value or
financial returns from its investment properties would not have an
impact on the Group's long term financial viability.
Defined benefit pension scheme
The Group has obligations to pay pension benefits to certain
employees. The cost of these benefits and the present value of the
obligation depend on a number of factors, including life
expectancy, salary increases and the discount rate on corporate
bonds. Management estimates these factors in determining the net
pension obligation in the Statement of Financial Position. The
assumptions reflect historical experience and current trends.
Variations in these assumptions could significantly impact the
liability.
The cost of the LGPS and SHPS defined benefit pension plans are
primarily determined using actuarial valuations. The actuarial
valuation involves making assumptions about discount rates, future
salary increases, mortality rates and future pension increases. Due
to the complexity of the valuation, the underlying assumptions and
the long-term nature of these plans, such estimates are subject to
significant uncertainty. In determining the appropriate discount
rate, the scheme employers consider the interest rates of corporate
bonds in the respective currency with at least AA rating, with
extrapolated maturities corresponding to the expected duration of
the defined benefit obligation. The mortality rate is based on
publicly available mortality tables for the specific sector. Future
salary increases and pension increases are based on expected future
inflation rates for the respective sector.
The future salary increases provided by the actuaries ranged
between 3.70% and 4.25%.
The future CPI assumptions (basis for pension increases)
provided by the actuaries ranged between 3.16% and 3.25% and
discount rates ranged between 2.6% and 2.79%. We have assumed the
same rates across all three schemes as follows:
Ø Salary increases 3.70%
Ø CPI inflation assumption 3.20%
Ø Discount rate 2.70%
The net impact of the changes to the applied standard actuary
assumptions detailed above is to reduce the pension liability by
GBP2.2m, reducing the actuarial loss for the year from GBP2.4m to
GBP0.2m. Further details are given in note 19.
Inventory
Inventory includes properties for sale under market sale and
shared ownership programmes. In addition, the Group holds work in
progress on schemes where properties are being developed for sale.
The value of each asset is assessed for impairment by review
against its selling price less costs to complete and sell and each
scheme in progress against expected proceeds less costs to be
incurred.
Whilst the long-term economic environment is uncertain due to
the pandemic, the Group's immediate exposure to a downturn in the
property market is fairly limited as its market sales and shared
ownership programmes over the next 12 months are on a relatively
small scale. In a situation where there was a significant shock to
the market, the Group would consider short term conversion to
rented products for which there is a strong demand in the areas the
Group operates in.
The Group effectively monitors sales risk by monitoring the
market and stress testing the business plan including scenarios of
a 33% reduction in-house prices, delays in sales and completions of
up to five years and an increase in build costs over and above
current inflation forecasts. The Group is able to withstand all
these scenarios and can ensure that suitable mitigation strategies
are in place to protect its long-term financial viability.
Components of housing properties and useful lives
Major components of housing properties have significantly
different patterns of consumption of economic benefits and
estimates are made to allocate the initial cost of the property to
its major components and to depreciate each component separately
over its useful economic life. The Group considers whether there
are any indications that the useful lives require revision at each
reporting date to ensure that they remain appropriate.
3a Particulars of turnover, cost of sales, operating costs and
operating surplus - Group and Association
2022
---------- ------------------------- ----------
Cost of Operating Operating
Turnover sales costs Surplus*
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
Social housing lettings (note 3b) 65,100 - (48,390) 16,710
Other social housing activities
* First tranche property sales 10,231 (7,095) - 3,136
* Leasehold properties 77 - - 77
* Development - - (19) (19)
* Community services - - (813) (813)
* Other assistive technology 1,127 - (572) 555
Non social housing activities
Garages 1,127 - (89) 1,038
Market rent accommodation 1,303 - (184) 1,119
Solar panel feed-in tariff 941 - (228) 713
Other 419 - - 419
Management services 163 - (115) 48
Development legal costs w/off - - (286) (286)
Abortive scheme costs - - (298) (298)
Total Association 80,488 (7,095) (50,994) 22,399
Open Market Property Sales 5,370 (4,936) - 434
Total Group 85,858 (12,031) (50,994) 22,833
2021 Restated ^
---------- ------------------------- ----------
Cost of Operating Operating
Turnover sales costs Surplus*
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
Social housing lettings (note 3b) 63,023 - (44,396) 18,627
Other social housing activities
* First tranche property sales 4,873 (3,687) - 1,186
* Leasehold properties 83 - - 83
* Development - - (40) (40)
* Community services - - (854) (854)
* Other assistive technology 1,142 - (550) 592
Non social housing activities
Garages 1,124 - (75) 1,049
Market rent accommodation 947 - (133) 814
Solar panel feed-in tariff 820 - (151) 669
Other 210 - - 210
Management services 305 - (156) 149
Abortive scheme costs - - (959) (959)
Impairment losses - - (716) (716)
One off costs - - (344) (344)
-
---------- ----------- ------------ ----------
Total Association 72,527 (3,687) (48,374) 20,466
Open Market Property Sales 2,416 (2,134) - 282
Total Group 74,943 (5,821) (48,374) 20,748
* operating surplus excluding gain/loss on disposal of housing
properties, plant and equipment
^ restatement following the separate classification of abortive
scheme costs
3b Particulars of income and expenditure from social housing
lettings
Group and Association Rented
Year ended 31 March 2022 social Shared Supported Total 2021
housing ownership housing Restated
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
Income
Rents receivable 47,833 3,246 11,265 62,344 60,454
Supporting People - - 303 303 281
Service charge income 298 158 1,656 2,112 1,979
Amortised government grant 165 99 77 341 309
---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Turnover from social
housing lettings 48,296 3,503 13,301 65,100 63,023
---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Expenditure
Management (7,027) (795) (2,613) (10,435) (9,515)
Service charge costs (416) (189) (2,037) (2,642) (2,361)
Routine maintenance (9,564) - (2,576) (12,140) (11,621)
Planned maintenance (2,205) - (1,022) (3,227) (2,637)
Major repairs expenditure (4,711) 3 (2,341) (7,049) (6,556)
Write out components (734) - (567) (1,301) (485)
Bad debts (295) - (109) (404) (372)
Depreciation of housing
properties (7,715) (466) (1,723) (9,904) (9,973)
Depreciation - other (380) (43) (141) (564) (591)
Amortised intangible assets (168) (19) (62) (249) (225)
Pension (320) (36) (119) (475) (60)
---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Operating costs (33,535) (1,545) (13,310) (48,390) (44,396)
---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Operating surplus social
housing lettings 14,761 1,958 (9) 16,710 18,627
Void losses 420 2 140 562 626
4. Surplus on disposal of property, plant and equipment
Group and Association 2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000
Sale of property 5,203 3,746
Sales proceeds from the sale
of land 108 89
Costs of sale (2,970) (1,961)
Loss from other fixed asset
disposals 56 (110)
Surplus on disposal 2,397 1,764
5. Finance income
Group Association
2022 2021 2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
Bank interest receivable 233 251 233 251
Interest receivable from a group
member - - 355 353
233 251 588 604
6. Interest and financing costs
Group Association
2022 2021 2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
Interest payable on loans and overdrafts (14,751) (15,195) (8,764) (9,670)
Interest payable to group member - - (5,987) (5,525)
Break costs on early redemption
of loans (4,371) - (4,371) -
Net interest on defined benefit
liability (note 19) (337) (309) (337) (309)
Borrowing costs capitalised 1,835 1,191 1,835 1,191
(17,624) (14,313) (17,624) (14,313)
Borrowing costs on properties during construction have been
capitalised based on a capitalisation rate of 4.5% (2021: 4.9%).
The break costs relate to the early redemption of Group's Newcastle
Building Society and Nationwide Building Society loans during the
financial year.
7. Surplus on ordinary activities before taxation
Surplus on ordinary activities before taxation is stated after
charging:
Group Association
2022 2021 2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
Depreciation of housing properties 9,904 9,973 9,904 9,973
Depreciation of other property, plant
& equipment 564 591 564 591
Amortised government grants (289) (257) (289) (257)
Amortised intangible assets 249 226 249 226
Auditor fees - statutory 56 54 41 36
Auditors fees - other services 18 17 18 17
Internal audit fees 77 79 77 79
Operating lease rentals - hire
of motor vehicles 526 361 526 361
(Surplus) on disposal of fixed
assets (2,397) (1,764) (2,397) (1,764)
8. Staff costs
Group Association
2022 2021 2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
Wages and salaries 12,978 11,916 12,978 11,916
Social security costs 1,318 1,246 1,318 1,246
Other pension costs (see note 19) 1,995 1,881 1,995 1,881
16,291 15,043 16,291 15,043
The full-time equivalent number of staff who received
emoluments, excluding pension contribution, in excess of GBP60,000
are as shown below.
Group Association
2022 2021 2022 2021
Salary Band GBP
60,000 - 69,999 5 4 5 4
70,000 - 79,999 3 - 3 -
80,000 - 89,999 5 7 5 7
130,000 - 139,999 - 1 - 1
140,000 - 149,999 1 1 1 1
150,000 - 159,999 1 - 1 -
170,000 - 179,999 1 1 1 1
The average full-time equivalent Association
number of employees was: Group
2022 2021 2022 2021
358 337 358 337
The basis of the calculation of the full-time equivalents was
the total number of working hours per week from all employees at
the reporting date, divided by a standard working week.
9. Board and Executive Directors' remuneration
Directors are defined as Board Members and the Executive
Management Team, who are key management personnel. Board members
are remunerated at different levels dependent upon their role.
Board members are also reimbursed for travel expenses totalling
GBP2.1k (2021: GBP1.0k)
Non-Executive Board GBP'000 Grand Governance & Audit Grand Grand GUHG Customer
Member/Committee Union Remuneration &Risk Union Union Development Experience
Member Housing Group Homes Ltd Company Ltd
Group Funding
PLC
James Macmillan 15.0 ü ü
-------- --------- ------------- ---------- --------- ---------- ------------ -----------
John Edwards 8.5 ü ü ü ü ü
(Resigned from ARC
10/11/2021,
appointed to GU
Homes 06/10/2021
and appointed
to GUHG DevCo
11/03/2022)
-------- --------- ------------- ---------- --------- ---------- ------------ -----------
Richard Broomfield 8.5 ü ü ü
-------- --------- ------------- ---------- --------- ---------- ------------ -----------
Gillian Walton 10.5 ü ü
-------- --------- ------------- ---------- --------- ---------- ------------ -----------
Peter Fielder 8.5 ü ü ü
-------- --------- ------------- ---------- --------- ---------- ------------ -----------
Kami Nuttall (Left 4.3 ü ü ü
30/09/21)
-------- --------- ------------- ---------- --------- ---------- ------------ -----------
Thomas Paul 3.0 ü
(Started 01/09/21)
-------- --------- ------------- ---------- --------- ---------- ------------ -----------
Brent O'Halloran 6.0 ü ü
-------- --------- ------------- ---------- --------- ---------- ------------ -----------
Nicola Ewen (Left 4.0 ü ü ü
30/11/21)
-------- --------- ------------- ---------- --------- ---------- ------------ -----------
David Willis 6.0 ü ü ü ü
(Appointed full
Board member July
2021 and appointed
to GUHG DevCo
11/03/22
-------- --------- ------------- ---------- --------- ---------- ------------ -----------
Craig Thornton 3.0 ü ü
(Started 01/09/21)
-------- --------- ------------- ---------- --------- ---------- ------------ -----------
Ian Bovingdon (Left 6.0 ü
24/04/22)
-------- --------- ------------- ---------- --------- ---------- ------------ -----------
Kalwant Grewal 3.0 ü ü
(Started 01/09/21)
-------- --------- ------------- ---------- --------- ---------- ------------ -----------
Rajesh Shah (Left
30/11/21) 4.0
-------- --------- ------------- ---------- --------- ---------- ------------ -----------
Michael Pattinson 1.8 ü ü
(Left 16/07/21)
-------- --------- ------------- ---------- --------- ---------- ------------ -----------
Vanessa Connolly 2.0 ü ü ü
(Left 31/07/21)
-------- --------- ------------- ---------- --------- ---------- ------------ -----------
Kevin Gould 7.3 ü ü
(Appointed to
Board and Chair of
ARC 01/10/21)
-------- --------- ------------- ---------- --------- ---------- ------------ -----------
Nannette Sakyi ü
(Started 01/04/22)
-------- --------- ------------- ---------- --------- ---------- ------------ -----------
Colin Dennis ü ü
(Appointed Chair
incumbent
01/07/22)
-------- --------- ------------- ---------- --------- ---------- ------------ -----------
Emma Killick 6.0 ü ü
(Appointed to
Board 01/07/22)
-------- --------- ------------- ---------- --------- ---------- ------------ -----------
Ashleigh Webber 3.5 ü
-------- --------- ------------- ---------- --------- ---------- ------------ -----------
Shawna Barnes 3.5 ü
-------- --------- ------------- ---------- --------- ---------- ------------ -----------
The Executive Management team are ordinary members of either the
defined benefits or defined contribution pension schemes and have
no enhancements or special terms. No further contributions are made
to an individual pension arrangement for the Directors.
Total Directors' remuneration Group Association
2022 2021 2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
Wages and salaries 465 459 465 459
Social security costs 58 60 58 60
Pension payments 70 69 70 69
593 588 593 588
------- ------- ------- -------
Remuneration of the highest paid director
(excluding pension contributions)
Group Association
2022 2021 2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
Group Chief Executive 174 171 174 171
The Chief Executive is a preserved member of the local authority
pension schemes run by Bedfordshire County Council (BCC). No
special or enhanced terms apply to her membership of the
scheme.
10. Taxation
The Group has charitable status for tax purposes and no
liability to Corporation Tax arises on its charitable activities.
In 2021/22 financial year, the Group paid no tax (2020/21: GBPnil)
relating to its non-charitable activities.
In the opinion of the directors, the tax payable by the Group is
not material and therefore full disclosures have not been provided
for.
11. Tangible fixed assets - Housing Properties
Group and Association
Land and
housing Shared
properties ownership
Housing under Leasehold Shared under
properties construction properties ownership construction Total
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
Cost
At 1 April 2021 615,951 27,376 5,607 64,100 14,231 727,265
Additions - 26,672 - - 15,594 42,266
Transfer from
investment property 160 - - - - 160
Schemes completed 30,988 (30,988) - 11,147 (11,147) -
Improvements 6,353 - 20 3 - 6,376
Disposals (805) - - (1,250) - (2,055)
Write Out Component (1,299) - (2) - - (1,301)
At 31 March 2022 651,348 23,060 5,625 74,000 18,678 772,711
Depreciation
At 1 April 2021 (89,742) - (808) (2,527) - (93,077)
Charge for the
year (9,309) - (129) (466) - (9,904)
Disposals 116 - - 49 - 165
At 31 March 2022 (98,935) - (937) (2,944) - (102,816)
Net book value
At 31 March 2022 552,413 23,060 4,688 71,056 18,678 669,895
At 31 March 2021 526,209 27,376 4,799 61,573 14,231 634,188
Freehold land and buildings with an Existing Use Value-Social
Housing of GBP431.2 million (2021: GBP450.8 million) have been
pledged to secure borrowings of the Group, which is surplus to the
covenant requirement. The Group is not allowed to pledge these
assets as security for other borrowings or to sell them to another
entity.
2022 2021
Analysis of works to existing properties GBP'000 GBP'000
Capitalised: replacement of components 4,673 4,068
Capitalised: improvements 1,703 1,545
Charged to Statement of Comprehensive
Income 7,114 6,766
12a. Property, plant and equipment - Other
Group and Association
L/Hold Fixtures Computer Assistive
Improvements and fittings Vehicles equipment tech Total
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
Cost
At 31 March 2021 1,716 200 351 1,280 58 3,605
Additions 4 2 - 40 55 101
Disposals - (7) (224) (35) - (266)
At 31 March 2022 1,720 195 127 1,285 113 3,440
Depreciation
At 31 March 2021 (254) (61) (351) (782) (21) (1,469)
Charge during year (172) (39) - (336) (17) (564)
Disposals - 2 224 34 - 260
At 31 March 2022 (426) (98) (127) (1,084) (38) (1,773)
Net book value
At 31 March 2022 1,294 97 - 201 75 1,667
At 31 March 2021 1,462 139 - 498 37 2,136
12b. Intangible Assets
Group and Association
IT Software
GBP'000
Cost
At 31 March 2021 2,279
Additions 128
At 31 March 2022 2,407
Amortisation
At 31 March 2021 (1,822)
Charge for the
year (249)
At 31 March 2021 (2,071)
Net book value
At 31 March 2022 336
At 31 March 2021 457
13. Investment properties
Group and Association
2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000
Valuation
At 1 April 23,500 17,896
Transfer to housing properties (160) -
Additions 7,132 6,499
Fair value surplus/ (deficit) 1,470 (895)
Carrying value at 31 March 31,942 23,500
Investment properties were valued by Avison Young at fair value
at 31 March 2022. These are independent valuers with recent
experience in the location and class of the investment property
being valued. The method of determining fair value was in
accordance with the RICS Valuation - Global Standards (effective
from 31 January 2020) and significant assumptions were as
follows:
a) that the properties are in a good condition and well managed
and maintained to institutionally acceptable standards
b) that the properties comply with legal or statutory consents.
There are no restrictions on the realisation of investment
property.
c) that the valuation was based on the accommodation being tenanted.
14. Fixed asset investments
Association
2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000
At 1 April 50 50
At 31 March 50 50
Grand Union Housing Group is incorporated in England under the
Co-operative and Community Benefit Society Act 2014 and is required
by statute to prepare Group financial statements.
All shares held as investments are held as ordinary shares.
Grand Union Housing Group Limited is the ultimate controlling party
of:
Holding
Subsidiary Undertakings Principal activity %
Grand Union Group Funding Plc Access funding 100
Grand Union Homes Limited Market sales of properties 100
GUHG Development Company Limited Design and build activities 100
15. Stock
Group Association
2022 2021 2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
Properties in construction 12,070 13,823 8,266 6,761
Completed properties 2,757 1,654 2,757 1,654
Consumable stock 345 207 345 207
15,172 15,684 11,368 8,622
An amount of interest of GBP1,202k (2021: GBP804k) is included
in work in progress and the number of inventories recognised as an
expense in the year was GBP4,272k (2021: GBP5,821k).
16. Debtors
Group Association
2022 2021 2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
Amounts falling due within one
year
Rent arrears 2,859 3,071 2,859 3,071
Provision for bad debts (1,969) (1,782) (1,969) (1,782)
Cash due from collecting agencies 206 228 206 228
1,096 1,517 1,096 1,517
Other debtors 2,598 487 2,529 487
Amounts owed by Group undertakings - - - -
Prepayments and accrued income 1,317 1,068 1,317 1,069
5,011 3,072 4,942 3,073
Amounts falling due after more
than one year
======== ======== ======== ========
Bedford Citizens Housing Association 4,129 4,240 4,129 4,240
Amounts owed by Group undertakings - - 4,289 7,598
4,129 4,240 8,418 11,838
Total debtors 9,140 7,312 13,360 14,911
-
======== ======== ======== ========
No disclosure has been made of the net present value of rental
arrears subject to repayment plans as the amount is considered to
be insignificant.
The Group has a long-term loan owing from Bedford Citizens
Housing Association for the provision of an older persons' scheme
to support the delivery of housing for vulnerable residents in the
Bedford area.
The amounts owed by the group members are secured by floating
charges and interest is charged based on the Group's weighted
average cost of borrowing and is reviewing annually. The final
repayment date on these loans is 31 March 2030.
17. Creditors - amounts falling due within one year
Group Association
2022 2021 2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
Rents received in advance 2,312 2,367 2,312 2,367
Housing loans - 8,890 - 8,890
Amounts owed to group members - - 2,071 2,042
Other creditors 2,033 1,935 2,033 1,935
Government grants - received in
advance 289 257 289 257
Recycled capital grant fund 112 171 112 171
Accruals and deferred income 9,952 9,009 7,917 7,005
14,698 22,629 14,734 22,667
Where not covered by a specific funding agreement the amounts
owed to group members are unsecured, interest free, have no fixed
date of repayments and are repayable on demand.
18. Cre ditors - amounts falling due after more than one year
Group Association
2022 2021 2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
Housing loans 193,205 159,228 193,205 159,228
Bond (due to Group undertakings) 136,000 136,000 136,000 136,000
Bond premium 8,313 8,616 8,313 8,616
Government grants 27,401 24,692 27,401 24,692
Recycled capital grant fund 272 360 272 360
365,191 328,896 365,191 328,896
Housing loans
At 31 March 2022, GBP331.9 million (of the total facility of
GBP411.4 million) had been drawn down, of which GBP247.2 million
was fixed at interest rates between 3.08% and 7.13% and GBP84.7
million was at variable rates. These housing loans are secured by a
fixed charge on a proportion of the assets of the Group.
Housing loans are repayable as follows:
2022 2021
Bank loans GBP'000 GBP'000
Between one and two years 1,928 2,085
Between two and five years 72,286 16,583
After five years 121,726 143,223
On demand or within one year - 9,083
195,940 170,974
Bond
On 4 December 2013, Grand Union Group Funding Plc successfully
issued a GBP115m bond at a coupon of 4.625% with repayment after 30
years in 2043. The bond was issued at a discount of 0.578% so that
funds of GBP114.3m were received.
The cost of issuing the bond was GBP1.4m leaving a net balance
of GBP112.9m. This was on-lent to Grand Union Housing Group Limited
to enable the repayment of some of its existing loans and to fund
future development. The effective interest rate and actual interest
rate associated with the listed bond and on-lent funds is 4.715%
and 4.625% respectively. The underlying assets of the issuance
belong to Grand Union Housing Group Limited through a security
trust arrangement with the Prudential Trustee Company Ltd.
On 15 December 2020, Grand Union Group Funding Plc successfully
tapped the 2043 Bond for a further GBP56m, which included a
retained element of GBP35m. The Bonds were issued at a premium of
44.22%, so funds received totalled GBP30.3m, this was on-lent to
Grand Union Housing Group Limited to fund future development. The
effective interest rate, and actual interest rate, associated with
the 2020 bond tap and on-lent funds is 2.182% and 4.625%
respectively.
Any bond discount/premium and costs of issue are amortised over
the term of the bond, 30 years, with Grand Union Housing Group
Limited being liable to Grand Union Group Funding Plc for both.
Government grants - deferred income
2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000
Original capital grant value
At 1 April 25,738 18,327
Grants receivable 3,030 7,411
------------ ------------
At 31 March 28,768 25,738
Amortisation
At 1 April (789) (532)
Amortisation to Statement of Comprehensive
Income (289) (257)
To recycled capital grant - -
------------ ------------
At 31 March (1,078) (789)
------------ ------------
At 31 March 27,690 24,949
Due within one year (note 17) 289 257
Due after one year (note 18) 27,401 24,692
Capital grants received are recorded as deferred income and
amortised to turnover within the Statement of Comprehensive Income.
The period of amortisation is the remaining years of useful
economic life for the building structure from its date of
construction, or at the time of its acquisition, if this is
later.
Recycled capital grant
2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000
Opening balance 531 750
Grant recycled 51 115
Interest accrued - -
New build (grant utilised) (198) (334)
------------ ------------
Carried forward 384 531
Grants to be recycled less than one
year (note 17) (112) (171)
------------ ------------
At end of the year 272 360
19 Retirement benefit schemes
Since April 2013, Grand Union Housing Group has offered to all
new employees a defined contribution pension scheme, the Grand
Union Housing Aviva Pension Plan. During 2021/22 the Group paid
GBP652,839 (2021: GBP530,162) on behalf of employees who have
joined the scheme. GBPnil (2021: GBP1,207) was outstanding as at 31
March 2022.
The Group participates in two pension schemes as an "Admitted
Body", the local authority pension schemes run by Bedfordshire
(BCC) and Northamptonshire (NCC) County Councils. These schemes
provide benefits based on final pensionable pay for employees of
all participating organisations. Both pension schemes are
multi-employer defined benefit schemes and are funded and
contracted out of the state scheme. Contributions are determined by
a qualified actuary (Hymans Robertson) on the basis of triennial
valuations using the "projected unit credit" method.
The latest available valuati ons were as at 31 March 2019 and
these showed the overall actuarial value of the scheme's assets at
that date of GBP46,571k (market value). The actuarial value was
sufficient to cover 88% of the benefits that had accrued to members
and past members of the pension schemes.
Northamptonshire Bedfordshire
scheme scheme
valuation at valuation at
------------------ --------------
2022 2021 2022 2021
Key assumptions used:
Discount rate 2.70 2.30 2.70 2.30
Future pension increases 3.20 2.60 3.20 2.60
Salary increases 3.70 3.00 3.70 3.00
Mortality assumptions:
Investigations have been carried out within the past three years
into the mortality experience of the Group's defined benefit
schemes. These investigations concluded that the current mortality
assumptions include sufficient allowance for future improvements in
mortality rates. The assumed life expectations on retirement at age
65 are:
Northamptonshire Bedfordshire
Scheme Scheme
Valuation at Valuation at
------------------ -------------------------
2022 2021 2022 2021
Retiring today:
Men 21.7 21.7 22.0 21.9
Women 24.0 24.1 24.4 24.3
Retiring in 20 years:
Men 22.7 22.8 22.9 22.8
Women 25.8 25.8 26.0 26.0
Amounts recognised in the Statement of Comprehensive Income in
respect of these defined benefit schemes are as follows:
Group Association
2022 2021 2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
Current service cost 1,746 1,381 1,746 1,381
Net interest cost 320 305 320 305
Recognised in other comprehensive
income 226 532 226 532
Total cost relating to defined
benefit scheme 2,292 2,218 2,292 2,218
The amount included in the Statement of Financial Position
arising from the Group's obligations in respect of its defined
benefit retirement benefit schemes is as follows:
2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000
Present value of defined benefit obligations 74,175 69,139
Fair value of scheme assets (58,783) (54,809)
Net liability recognised in the Statement
of Financial Position 15,392 14,330
Movements in the present value of defined benefit obligations
were as follows:
2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000
At 1 April 69,139 57,959
Service cost 1,672 1,355
Interest cost 1,579 1,345
Actuarial gains and losses 3,107 9,600
Contributions from scheme participants 292 301
Benefits paid (1,636) (1,407)
Past Service costs 36 -
Unfunded benefits paid (14) (14)
At 31 March 74,175 69,139
Movements in the fair value of scheme assets were as
follows:
2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000
At 1 April 54,809 44,574
Actuarial gains and losses 2,881 9,068
Return on plan assets
(excluding amounts included in
net interest cost) 1,259 1,040
Contributions from the employer 1,230 1,273
Administration expenses (38) (26)
Contributions from scheme participants 292 301
Benefits paid (1,650) (1,421)
At 31 March 58,783 54,809
The analysis of the scheme assets at the Statement of Financial
Position date was as follows:
Fair value of
assets
------------------
2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000
Equity instruments 37,265 37,379
Debt instruments 13,289 10,414
Property 7,288 5,591
Cash 941 1,425
58,783 54,809
The Pension Schemes have not invested in any of the Group's own
financial instruments or assets.
Social Housing Pension Scheme (SHPS)
The company participates in the Social Housing Pension Scheme
(the Scheme), a multi-employer scheme which provides benefits to
some 500 non-associated employers. The Scheme is a defined benefit
scheme in the UK.
The Scheme is subject to the funding legislation outlined in the
Pensions Act 2004 which came into force on 30 December 2005. This,
together with documents issued by the Pensions Regulator and
Technical Actuarial Standards issued by the Financial Reporting
Council, set out the framework for funding defined benefit
occupational pension schemes in the UK.
The last triennial valuation of the scheme for funding purposes
was carried out as at 30 September 2020 and the results of this
valuation revealed a deficit of GBP1.560m (2017: GBP1.522m). A
recovery plan has been put in place with the aim of removing this
deficit by 31 March 2028.
The Scheme is classified as a 'last-man standing arrangement'.
Therefore, the company is potentially liable for other
participating employers' obligations if those employers are unable
to meet their share of the scheme deficit following withdrawal from
the Scheme. Participating employers are legally required to meet
their share of the Scheme deficit on an annuity purchase basis on
withdrawal from the Scheme.
We have been notified by the Trustee of the Scheme that it has
performed a review of the changes made to the Scheme's benefits
over the years and the result is that there is uncertainty
surrounding some of these changes. The Trustee has been advised to
seek clarification from the Court on these items. This process is
ongoing and the matter is unlikely to be resolved before the end of
2024 at the earliest. It is recognised that this could potentially
impact the value of Scheme liabilities, but until Court directions
are received, it is not possible to calculate the impact of this
issue, particularly on an individual employer basis, with any
accuracy at this time. No adjustment has been made in these
financial statements in respect of this potential issue.
2022 2021
---- ----
Key assumptions used:
Discount rate 2.70 2.30
Future pension increases 3.20 2.60
Salary increases 3.70 3.00
Mortality assumptions:
Investigations have been carried out within the past three years
into the mortality experience of the Group's defined benefit
schemes. These investigations concluded that the current mortality
assumptions include sufficient allowance for future improvements in
mortality rates.
The assumed life expectations on retirement at age 65 are:
2022 2021
----- ----
Retiring today:
Men 21.1 21.6
Women 23.7 23.5
Retiring in 20 years:
Men 22.4 22.9
Women 25.2 25.1
Amounts recognised in the Statement of Comprehensive Income in
respect of these defined benefit schemes are as follows:
Group
2022 Association2021
GBP'000 GBP'000
Current service cost 41 47
Net interest cost 8 4
Recognised in other comprehensive
income (26) 203
Total cost relating to defined
benefit scheme 23 254
The amount included in the Statement of Financial Position
arising from the Group's obligations in respect of its defined
benefit retirement benefit schemes is as follows:
2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000
2109
Present value of defined benefit obligations 2,240 2,225
Fair value of scheme assets (1,937) (1,872)
Net liability recognised in the Statement of
Financial Position 303 353
Movements in the present value of defined benefit obligations
were as follows:
2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000
GBP'000
At 1 April 2,225 1,768
Service cost 41 47
Interest cost 51 42
Actuarial gains and losses 17 377
Contributions from scheme participants 8 20
Benefits paid (102) (29)
Unfunded benefits paid - -
At 31 March 2,240 2,225
Movements in the fair value of scheme assets were as
follows:
2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000
At 1 April 1,872 1,574
Actuarial gains and losses 43 174
Return on plan assets
(excluding amounts included in
net interest cost) 34 38
Contributions from the employer 82 95
Contributions from scheme participants 8 20
Benefits paid (102) (29)
At 31 March 1,937 1,872
The analysis of the scheme assets at the Statement of Financial
Position date was as follows:
Fair Value Fair Value
of Assets of Assets
2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000
Equity instruments 326 314
Debt instruments 1,433 1,386
Property 174 168
Cash 4 4
1,937 1,872
The Pension Schemes have not invested in any of the Group's own
financial instruments or assets.
20. Share capital - Association
2022 2021
GBP GBP
At beginning of year 10 10
Issued during the year 4 -
Cancelled during the year (4) -
At end of year 10 10
The share capital of the Association consists of shares with a
nominal value of GBP1 each, which carry no rights to dividends or
other income. Shares in issue are not capable of being repaid or
transferred. When the shareholder ceases to be a board member that
person's share is cancelled, and the amount paid up thereon becomes
the property of the Association.
No shareholders have any rights in the residual interest in the
assets of the Association after deducting all liabilities.
Co-opted Board Members are not shareholders.
21. Statement of cash flows
Group
2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000
Cash flow from operating activities
Operating surplus for the year 25,230 22,512
Adjustment for non-cash items:
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment 10,717 10,793
(Decrease)/Increase in debtors (1,828) 438
Decrease/(Increase) in stock 512 (3,621)
Decrease/(Increase) in creditors 672 (1,276)
Pension costs less contributions payable 812 369
Adjustment for investing or financing
activities:
Less Gain on disposal of tangible fixed
assets (2,397) (1,764)
Cash generated by operations 33,718 27,451
22. Financial commitments
Capital commitments are as follows:
Group Association
2022 2021 2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
Contracted for but not provided
for 67,432 60,285 67,111 59,398
Approved by the directors but not
contracted for 15,663 12,280 15,663 12,280
83,095 72,565 82,774 71,678
The total amount contracted for at 31 March 2021 in respect of
new dwellings relates to approved schemes for which grant approval
has been received and is covered by cash balances and undrawn
revolving credit facilities.
23. Analysis of changes in net debt
Group
At Start Non-Cash At Year
of Year Cash Flows movements end
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
Cash and cash equivalents 18,255 (6,390) - 11,865
Housing loans due in one year (9,083) 9,083 - -
Housing loans due after one year (306,508) (33,745) - (340,253)
(297,336) (31,052) - (328,388)
Association
At Start Non-Cash At Year
of Year Cash Flows movements end
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
Cash and cash equivalents 18,184 (6,350) - 11,834
Housing loans due in one year (9,083) 9,083 - -
Housing loans due after one year (306,508) (33,745) - (340,253)
(297,407) (31,012) - (328,419)
24. Operating lease commitments
Total future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable
operating leases are as follows:
Group Association
2022 2021 2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000 GBP'000
Payments due:
within one year 1,079 893 1,079 893
between one and five years 3,787 3,560 3,787 3,560
In five years or more 1,344 1,758 1,344 1,758
6,210 6,211 6,210 6,211
25. Number of units in management
At the end of the year accommodation owned and / or managed for
each class of accommodation was as follows:
Group and Association 2022 2021- restated
units units
Owned and managed
General needs 8,025 7,919
Supported housing and housing for older
people 3,010 2,973
Shared ownership accommodation 916 821
Market rent 148 134
Intermediate market rent 73 73
Housing accommodation owned at the end
of year 12,172 11,920
Managed not owned
General needs 42 42
Supported housing and housing for older
people 100 184
Shared ownership accommodation 42 43
Market rent - 7
Intermediate market rent 54 54
12,410 12,250
-------------- -----------------
Reconciliation of residential accommodation owned and/or
managed
2021 Additions* Disposals Other 2022
No No No No
General needs 7,919 121 (18) 3 8,025
Supported housing and housing
for older people 2,973 55 (6) (12) 3,010
Shared ownership accommodation 821 108 (13) - 916
Market rent 134 15 - (1) 148
Intermediate market rent 73 - - - 73
11,920 299 (37) (10) 12,172
------- ---------- --------- ----- ------
* the total number of new build property completions during the
year of 308 includes 9 open market sales.
26. Related party transactions
There were no Customer or Leaseholder Members of the Group Board
as at 31 March 2022.
There were no Board members nominated by local authorities.
The directors of Grand Union Housing Group have committed to
providing support to Grand Union Homes Limited to ensure that the
entity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence
for the foreseeable future. This support is anticipated to be
required in the short term as despite the immediate risks from the
current economic climate, post year end the sales market has
continued to be buoyant and the Company has secured sales prices
above forecast appraisal values.
Grand Union Housing Group and its subsidiaries have throughout
the year held balances with each other these balances relate to
normal trading transactions between each of the entities and are
covered in more detail below:
2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000
Payments made to subsidiaries
Grand Union Group Funding Plc - loan interest 5,987 5,525
Grand Union Homes Limited - development
cash flows (2,955) 1,636
Receipts from subsidiaries
Grand Union Homes Limited - intercompany
loan interest 355 352
Amounts owed by subsidiaries at 31 March
Due within one year:
Grand Union Homes Limited - -
Due after more than one year:
Grand Union Homes Limited 4,289 7,598
Amounts owed to subsidiaries at 31 March
Due within one year:
Grand Union Group Funding Plc - unpaid
share capital 38 38
Due after more than one year:
Grand Union Group Funding Plc - Bond 136,000 136,000
There were no transactions made with GUHG Development Company
Limited during 2022 or 2021.
27. Ultimate Controlling Party
The ultimate controlling party of Grand Union Housing Group
Limited is the Board of Grand Union Housing Group Limited. The
Annual Financial Statements of the Group and Association are
publicly available, and copies are available upon request from the
registered office and website.
Grand Union Housing Group is the ultimate controlling party
of:
- Grand Union Homes Limited - a non-regulated private company,
registered in England and Wales, limited by shares set up to
undertake sales of homes on the open market for the Group.
- GUHG Development Company Limited - a non-regulated private
company, limited by shares registered in England and Wales, set up
to provide design and build services on behalf of the Group. This
company did not trade during the year.
- Grand Union Group Funding Plc - a non-regulated public limited
company, registered in England and Wales, formed to on-lend all
proceeds of a bond issue to members of the Group.
28. Financial instruments
The carrying values of the Group's financial assets and
liabilities are summarised by category below:
Group
2022 2021
GBP'000 GBP'000
Financial assets that are measured at amortised
cost
Debtors 3,847 1,556
Debtors falling due after one year 8,418 11,838
Cash 11,865 18,255
24,130 31,649
Financial liabilities that are measured
at amortised cost
Trade and other payables 6,526 6,257
Public bonds 144,313 144,616
Loans and borrowings 195,940 170,975
Accruals and deferred income 7,917 7,004
354,696 328,852
29. Legislative provisions
The Association is registered under the Co-operative and
Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 and is registered with the
Regulator of Social Housing as a Registered Provider as defined by
the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008.
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END
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