Regulatory Judgement Under New Consumer Standards

Peabody Group - Regulatory Judgement under new Consumer Standards

Peabody has welcomed the outcome of its inspection by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) under the new consumer standards, following a rigorous and detailed process over a six-month period.

The RSH has given Peabody the following ratings:

·      Governance (G1)

·      Viability (V2)

·      Consumer (C2)

The judgement confirms that we are fully compliant, with unchanged Governance and Viability grades. It notes the organisation's detailed plans to restore financial capacity and improve services for residents.

The regulator identified some key strengths, including:

·      Residents being treated with fairness and respect, with meaningful opportunities to scrutinise performance and influence decision-making.

·      Effective Board oversight, governance and risk management, with appropriate skills and experience

·      Sound financial planning, stress testing and access to funding, with capacity to meet lender covenants

·      A clear understanding of assets and investment requirements, supported by accurate, property-level understanding of the condition of homes

·      Effective arrangements for managing a "significant and complex" building safety programme, with a risk-based approach to higher-risk buildings

·      Good tenancy management and support for residents

The regulator also confirmed areas where we need to improve and achieve consistently good outcomes for residents. In particular:

·      Repairs performance remains a challenge, particularly the speed and reliability of emergency and priority repairs

·      Addressing damp and mould in a more consistently timely way

·      The use of data to drive service improvement

·      Continuing to improve complaints handling so complaints are addressed fairly, effectively and promptly.

The C2 consumer rating is in line with expectations and our current three-year group strategy which focuses on better services, better homes and places and an improved resident experience throughout our operations.

Progress this year includes:

·      Strengthening our local repairs service and improving response times

·      Embedding clear, co-designed service standards

·      Improving complaints handling and using feedback to learn

·      Enhancing communication with residents and increasing local visibility of services

·      Increasing data quality and insight to better understand residents' needs and tailor services accordingly

·      Establishing new resident-led panels, sounding boards and forums.

Caroline Corby, Peabody Group Chair said: "This inspection under the new consumer standards provides a clear and helpful assessment of our performance.

This year we've made progress and are laying the foundations for further improvement, but resident satisfaction is still lower than we would all like. However, we have clear plans to reduce service failures and boost standards for the residents we serve.  I'm grateful to all Peabody residents and colleagues who engaged with the regulator throughout the process."

Ian McDermott, Peabody Chief Executive said: "We welcome the regulator's assessment of where we need to do better, which are consistent with our own views and plans to improve.  We're entering the second year of our three-year strategy which is focused on further improving services for residents.

The V2 rating reflects our investment in providing better homes, places and services but we're working hard to be more effective and efficient for the benefit of residents.

This has been a comprehensive inspection, and I'm pleased we've been able to show how we're listening more, acting faster, and learning from what residents tell us in local areas.

Over the next three years, residents will continue to see our services become more reliable, with fewer issues, quicker fixes and better outcomes all around."

Read more here

https://www.peabodygroup.org.uk/media/sxmjzmm2/peabody-group-strategy-year-2a.pdf

https://www.peabodygroup.org.uk/media/hz5lxusi/resident-engagement-report-2025.pdf

ENDS