Issuu

A YEAR IN REVIEW 2025/26 ANNUAL REPORT

CONTENTS

02 Our Communities

06 Our Contribution Counted

04 Our Impact

01 Welcome

08 Registration Details 07 Governance Need more time? Click here to pause.

03 Our People

05 Our Partnerships

WELCOME Foreword from the Chair of the Board and Managing Director for Housing

As we approach our 40th anniversary and reflect on another year, we are pleased to share our 2025/26 annual report, which highlights our continued commitment to creating opportunities and changing lives, leading to a better future for our customers and the communities they live in.

Steve Gow

We are proud to announce that overall customer satisfaction reached 94.2%*. This achievement is a direct result of the dedication of our teams, alongside the invaluable support of The Sovini Group. We've continued to work collaboratively with our Customer Empowerment Panel, and to develop a range of activities to ensure our customers’ voices are heard.

Ian Mitchell

hard work, we're proud to once again report 100% responsiveness to all complaints and cases of anti-social behaviour (ASB). Looking ahead, we remain committed to delivering quality, affordable homes and building thriving, inclusive communities for all. Thank you for your continued support.

Our focus throughout 2025/26 has been on delivering excellent customer service, providing safe, sustainable and affordable quality homes, and supporting our diverse communities, with people from ethnic minority backgrounds representing over 56% of our customers.

Additionally, throughout the year we have been guided by the Regulator of Social Housing’s Consumer Standards, which shape how we deliver services and keep our customers informed on matters most important to them.

Our commitment to promoting cultural cohesion within our communities remains unwavering.

Our team's dedication is evident, as they continue to stay up to date with sector best practices. As a direct result of our housing team's

Steve Gow Chair of the Board Ian Mitchell Managing Director (Housing) *data taken from 2025/26 Tenant Satisfaction Measures survey

OUR COMMUNITIES We remain a key contributor to the social and economic development of the Liverpool City Region, driven by our vision of creating a better future. Established in 1986 as a registered social landlord, our original mission was to provide quality homes and inclusive housing services for those in need. Today, we are proud that 56% of our customers come from minority ethnic backgrounds, and we remain committed to positively promoting cultural cohesion and tolerance across the diverse communities we serve.

"Our commitment to providing quality homes and fostering inclusive communities is as strong as ever. We're proud of the positive impact we continue to have in the Liverpool City Region, ensuring everyone has the opportunity to thrive." David Brown, Director of Operations

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

A Safe Place to Call Home

As a leading housing association for ethnic minority communities in the Liverpool City Region, our vision goes beyond providing quality homes and services. We're also deeply committed to nurturing diversity and inclusion within the communities we serve.

We continue to work hard to reduce anti-social behaviour and hate crime for our customers and communities.

We achieve this by collaborating closely with our customers and local partner organisations. Together, we actively break down social, economic, and cultural barriers, ensuring our customers have full access to the services and amenities they need to lead fulfilling lives. During 2025/26, we've significantly increased our impact around inclusion for all to ensure diversity, tolerance and cohesion within our communities. Discover more about accreditations and awards on our website.

In 2025/26, our multilingual housing team collaborated closely with Merseyside Police and partner agencies to effectively identify and tackle cases of ASB and hate crime. Together with our partners, we actively implemented a range of preventative measures, including: Mediation Warning letters Acceptable behaviour contracts Youth diversionary activities Increased security measures for homes and communities Injunctions and evictions During the year, 25.77 reports of anti-social behaviour were opened per 1,000 homes, with no reported hate incidents. Our commitment to responsiveness is evident in these results: 100% of reported cases received a response within 24 hours Customers reported 71% satisfaction with our approach to handling anti-social behaviour* 78.8% of customers expressed satisfaction that we make a positive contribution to their neighbourhoods* *Source: 2025/26 Tenant Satisfaction Measure survey

“Everyone in the street confirms how safe the neighbourhood has now become.” Pine Court Housing Association Customer

Tenancy Standard We are committed to fulfilling our mission of creating opportunities and changing lives through providing quality, safe and affordable homes for our diverse customers. In 2025/26, we delivered:

Customer Engagement Our Come and Chat community drop-in sessions continue to offer a valuable opportunity for customers to speak directly with our multilingual housing team. These sessions are designed to assist with a range of important topics, including: Housing and tenancy Repairs Financial support Translation Reporting ASB and hate crime Opportunities to join the Customer Empowerment Panel During 2025/26, we hosted 30 Come and Chat sessions across Liverpool and the Wirral, with these set to continue.

453

SOCIAL RENT HOMES

AFFORDABLE RENT HOMES

Also in 2025/26, we proudly offered our first Shared Ownership properties at Halis Court in Hale Village.

RENT TO BUY HOMES

Affordable Housing

Customer Experience

We are dedicated to ensuring our customers benefit from accessible, affordable and quality housing.

We believe that customer involvement enhances the effectiveness of our services, while also empowering customers with new skills and increased confidence. We are therefore dedicated to ensuring our customers have a wide range of opportunities to get involved and play a key role in shaping our services and improving what we do.

Our affordable rents remain competitive, typically around 80% of the market rent for the area and property size. On average, our threebedroom properties are over 65% cheaper than the market rate and 86% lower than the local housing allowance. This approach allows us to provide comfortable and affordable homes for a wide range of customers, helping to build inclusive and diverse communities.

Empowering Independence Our multilingual housing team regularly visits customers, ensuring they maintain their independence while having access to support when needed. This dedicated service encompasses crucial areas such as independent living skills, safeguarding measures, access to essential aids and adaptations and a vibrant cultural activity programme designed to enrich their lives.

Code of Behaviours In 2025/26 we established a Code of Behaviour that guides the actions and interactions of our colleagues and Group partners, which can be viewed on our website.

Our Customer Empowerment Panel continued to help shape our services throughout 2025/26.

OUR PEOPLE Investors in People As part of The Sovini Group, we proudly retained both the Investors in People (IIP) Platinum accreditation and Platinumstandard We Invest in Wellbeing accreditation. Investors in People assess corporations across 66 countries, and for every 50,000 organisations assessed, only a few achieve Platinum status, the highest level awarded.

Learning and Development We are proud to invest in the growth and development of our colleagues. During 2025/26, we continued to offer apprenticeships and fund professional qualifications, equipping colleagues with the skills, knowledge and opportunities needed to succeed. This commitment ensures our people have the knowledge and skills to excel in their roles and progress in their careers, making a positive impact. Additionally, the team completed 172 e-learning courses, further enhancing the customer experience.

Social Value Social value captures the positive impact we create in our communities, extending beyond our core housing services. Our commitment to social value is central to our mission of creating opportunities and changing lives. By maximising value for money, we ensure our efforts translate into a legacy of positive impact for our customers and communities.

OUR IMPACT

During 2025/26, we were able to demonstrate (using recognised HACT methodologies*) a combined impact of over £7.6 million, reflecting our work to support employment, community engagement, health and wellbeing, and creating opportunities within the local supply chain.

Decent Homes We provide safe, well maintained homes for our customers. This commitment aligns with the Government’s Decent Homes Standard, and we're proud to report 100% of our homes are compliant. In 2025/26, we invested £1.2m repairing and improving our existing homes.

100%

OF OUR HOMES MEET THE GOVERNMENT’S DECENT HOMES STANDARD AND WE CONTINUE TO INVEST IN OUR PROPERTIES

100% OF OUR PROPERTIES WITH A GAS SUPPLY HELD A VALID GAS SAFETY CERTIFICATE AS OF 31ST MARCH 2026

*Social value is measured using the HACT Social Value Calculator. The figure includes both measured outcomes and estimated values that help demonstrate the wider impact of our activities.

Our Net-Zero Carbon Commitment As a proud member of The Sovini Group, we are on a journey towards achieving Net-Zero Carbon emissions. This crucial commitment shapes not only our daily operations, but also how we sustainably manage our homes, all with the goal of creating a healthier environment for everyone. We continue to make progress in reducing our environmental impact. In 2025/26, The Sovini Group's carbon footprint was around 1.2 million kg of CO₂ emissions, and we remain committed to achieving further reductions year on year. Through initiatives such as agile working, increased use of green energy, solar panel technology, and improvements to waste and water management, we are taking practical steps towards a more sustainable future. Our commitment to achieving Net-Zero Carbon remains a fundamental driver, ensuring we build a more sustainable future for both our customers and communities.

Community Development Our Community Development Fund supports local projects that enhance the quality of life for our customers and their communities. Individuals, customer groups, community groups, charitable organisations, and social enterprises are eligible to apply to the fund. In 2025/26, the Community Development Fund supported several impactful local community initiatives, including: Supporting Chung Hok House Residents Association to offer a range of mental and physical health and wellbeing activities for customers in a bid to tackle social isolation, along with celebratory events such as the annual Moon Festival. A Lunar New Year celebration at Pagoda Arts Community Centre, marking the beginning of the Year of the Fire Horse part of our commitment to integrating diverse cultural experiences into our community engagement.

“We're delighted to be working with The Florrie to spread seasonal goodwill and support to those who need it most in our community."

“Welcoming in the Year of the Fire Horse provides an opportunity for us to bring customers together to celebrate our heritage and in a bid to reduce social isolation, with many of our residents living alone.” David Brown, Director of Operations

Wilson Lau, Bilingual Housing Assistant

Supporting The Florrie to provide local families and vulnerable people with Christmas hampers. “These celebrations are important, they make our customers feel valued and connected to home. It’s these moments that reinforce our commitment to fostering a supportive and inclusive community where everyone can thrive.” Shaun Williams, Housing Manager

OUR PARTNERSHIPS As part of The Sovini Group, our social business solution fosters a culture of collaboration that's deeply ingrained.

Strategic Partnerships Throughout 2025/26, we continued to proudly partner with a diverse range of like-minded organisations, all striving to create a better future for our customers and the communities we serve. Here's a look at some key collaborations:

Pagoda Arts In conjunction with Pagoda Arts, we support the delivery of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) programmes for our customers, and the wider community. This initiative significantly increases independence and promotes vital cross-cultural learning.

The Florrie Together with The Florrie, in the heart of Liverpool’s L8 community, we provided groceries, toiletries, baby essentials and warm clothing, for those in need of support throughout Dingle.

The Joseph Lappin Centre We supported The Joseph Lappin Centre's Family Fun Day, helping to raise vital funds that enable the Centre to continue delivering essential services to people across Liverpool's Old Swan community and surrounding areas.

Liverpool Chinese Business Association We proudly supported Liverpool’s annual Lunar New Year event, organised by Liverpool Chinese Business Association. This established partnership underscores our dedication to supporting community initiatives that enhance cultural understanding and cohesiveness.

Merseyside Police Our strategic partnership with Merseyside Police continues to significantly enhance community safety, resulting in tangible improvements, such as increased police patrols and the installation of new lights and cameras in key areas.

Wirral Chinese Association Working strategically with Wirral Chinese Association, we have engaged local communities to strengthen cohesion, improve mental wellbeing and prevent isolation through activities such as exercise classes for older people, a weekly Luncheon Club for the local community and digital training for those who are less confident about using the internet and its resources.

Wirral Chinese Cultural Association This strategic partnership has supported several events such as Lunar New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations, along with a Century of Wisdom project and a community day trip to Manchester’s Chinatown. We have also supported stress-reducing karaoke wellbeing sessions, and provided a community surgery for local residents.

OUR CONTRIBUTION COUNTED Value for Money In 2025/26, we continued to explore new ways to improve our offer so that we can provide better quality and more efficient services to our customers. Our strategic approach to Value for Money (VfM) planning and reporting means that we are compliant with the Regulator of Social Housing’s VfM Standard. This robust approach has enabled us to generate circa £7.6m in efficiency savings (as of 31st March 2026) since joining The Sovini Group.

Income

Expenditure

Our annual income for 2025/26 was £3.95m, with the majority deriving from rental income. This income enables us to continue to invest in our properties and communities:

Our expenditure for 2025/26 was £5m, with planned new build developments accounting for the highest proportion, showcasing our commitment to building more affordable high-quality homes across the North West.

Rental - 81.90%

Grants - 8.03%

Services Charges - 9.98%

Other - 0.09%

New build development - 42.66%

Employee costs - 8.28%

Investment in existing homes - 11.55%

Build costs - 2.34%

Routine and planned property maintenance - 12.54%

Services provided through The Sovini Group Service Level Agreement - 8.82% Central overheads - 4.92%

Servicing of finance and loans - 8.89%

To maintain our position as a high-performing housing provider, we establish ambitious internal targets annually and evaluate our progress against sector-wide benchmarks. The following outlines our performance metrics and key achievements for 2025/26:

Key: increase in performance since 2024/25

benchmarked against top performing organisations

maintained performance since 2024/25

we are a top performer

decrease in performance since 2024/25

Our Performance RENTS

PERFORMANCE

TARGET

% of rent collected

100.82%

100.00%

% of current rent arrears

0.26%

0.38%

TREND

Customer Service and Complaints MEASURE

REPAIRS AND MAINTENANCE

PERFORMANCE

TARGET

Average number of days to complete a repair

7.5 Days

8.0 Days

% of customers satisfied with gas service

100.00%

PERFORMANCE

TARGET

Average number of days to re-let a property

7.9 Days

5.0 Days

% of rent lost due to empty properties

0.126%

0.070%

% of Lettings to ethnic minorities

75.00%

50.00%

PERFORMANCE

TARGET

97.00%

N/A*

YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD

INVESTMENT PROGRAMME Percentage of PCHA properties with a SAP Energy Banding at or above Band C*

TREND

TARGET

100.00%

% UPHELD

% PARTIALLY UPHELD*

% NOT UPHELD

Stage 1

12.00%

25.00%

63.00%

Stage 2

0.00%

100.00%

*In the majority of cases, a partially upheld complaint would be a multi-faceted complaint in which the investigating officer may agree with some elements of the complaint but not all of them. TREND

*This is a data only performance indicator, meaning it is monitored but does not have a specific target associated to it.

TREND

NUMBER

CLOSED COMPLAINTS

TREND

PERFORMANCE

Complaints responded to in target time

Our Performance PERCEPTION

PERFORMANCE*

TARGET* 90.00%

TREND**

MANAGEMENT

PERFORMANCE*

TARGET*

BS01

Proportion of homes for which all required gas safety checks have been carried out.

100.00%

BS02

Proportion of homes for which all required fire risk assessments have been carried out.

100.00%

BS03

Proportion of homes for which all required asbestos management surveys or re-inspections have been carried out.

100.00%

90.00%

BS04

Proportion of homes for which all required legionella risk assessments have been carried out.

100.00%

92.20%

90.00%

BS05

Proportion of homes for which all required communal passenger lift safety checks have been carried out.

100.00%

Proportion of respondents who report that they are satisfied that their home is safe.

94.20%

90.00%

NM01 (1)

Number of anti-social behaviour cases, opened per 100 homes.

2.57

2.30

TP06

Proportion of respondents who report that they are satisfied that their landlord listens to tenant views and acts upon them.

81.30%

80.00%

NM01 (2)

Number of anti-social behaviour cases that involve hate incidents opened per 1,000 homes***

0.0

N/A*

RP01

0.00%

83.90%

Proportion of homes that do not meet the Decent Homes Standard.

0.00%

TP07

Proportion of respondents who report that they are satisfied that their landlord keeps them informed about things that matter to them.

RP02 (1)

98.10%

90.00%

TP08

Proportion of respondents who report that they agree their landlord treats them fairly and with respect.

Proportion of non-emergency responsive repairs completed within the landlord’s target timescale.

85.40%

RP02 (2)

Proportion of emergency responsive repairs completed within the landlord’s target timescale.

100.00%

99.00%

CH01 (1)

1.50

33.30%

Number of stage one complaints received per 100 homes.

1.47

TP09

Proportion of respondents who report making a complaint in the last 12 months who are satisfied with their landlord’s approach to complaints handling.

CH01 (2)

Number of stage two complaints received per 100 homes.

0.37

0.39

TP10

Proportion of respondents with communal areas who report that they are satisfied that their landlord keeps communal areas clean and well maintained.

86.20%

CH02 (1)

Proportion of stage one complaints responded to within the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code timescales.

100.00%

TP11

Proportion of respondents who report that they are satisfied that their landlord makes a positive contribution to the neighbourhood.

78.80%

85.00%

CH02 (2)

Proportion of stage two complaints responded to within the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code timescales.

100.00%

TP12

Proportion of respondents who report that they are satisfied with their landlord’s approach to handling anti-social behaviour.

71.00%

80.00%

TP01

Proportion of respondents who report that they are satisfied with the overall service from their landlord.

94.20%

TP02

Proportion of respondents who have received a repair in the last 12 months who report that they are satisfied with the overall repairs service.

93.80%

TP03

Proportion of respondents who have received a repair in the last 12 months who report that they are satisfied with the time taken to complete their most recent repair.

91.40%

TP04

Proportion of respondents who report that they are satisfied that their home is well maintained.

TP05

90.00%

85.00%

90.00%

62.00%

85.00%

*Tenant perception results and targets taken from the Tenant Satisfaction Measures surveys from 2025/26. As we have fewer than 1,000 homes, the requirement is to carry out a perception survey every two years. The next survey is to be conducted in Autumn 2027 and will go out to all tenants. **Benchmarked against 2025/26 Housemark results.

TREND**

*Tenant perception results and targets taken from the Tenant Satisfacrion Measures surveys from 2025/26. As we have fewer than 1,000 homes, the requirement is to carry out a perception survey every two years. The next survey is to be conducted in Autumn 2027 and will go out to all tenants. **Benchmarked against 2025/26 Housemark results. ***This is a data only KPI

Housing Ombudsman Compliance The Housing Ombudsman is an independent body established to impartially resolve disputes between Registered Providers of Social Housing and their customers. We operate in full compliance with the Housing Ombudsman’s statutory Complaint Handling Code, which ensures we manage complaints fairly, swiftly and effectively in line with sector best practice. To maintain these standards and foster a continuous learning culture, we complete an annual compliance self-assessment. This review is presented directly to our Board and published on our website, ensuring complete transparency and accountability across our organisation.

During 2025/26, the following improvements were made: We updated our Complaints, Appeals & Feedback Policy to reflect the standard definition of a complaint as set out by the code We introduced a linked but separate Vulnerable Persons and Reasonable Adjustments Policy to significantly improve how we identify, record and actively review individual customer needs across all areas of service delivery We updated all of our complaint letter templates, including acknowledgement and extension letters, to ensure they clearly display the Housing Ombudsman’s contact details and state the customer's desired outcome We integrated the Housing Ombudsman's compensation guidelines into our internal complaint management system to guarantee absolute consistency in the compensation remedies offered by our Investigating Officers We developed a colleague Code of Conduct to promote professional behaviours and respect in all customer interactions, moving ahead of schedule to implement the draft requirements of the social housing regulatory framework's Competency and Conduct Standard We fully equipped and trained our Outbound Survey Assistants (who conduct tenant satisfaction surveys) to recognise dissatisfaction, formally advise customers on how to pursue a complaint and directly log matters raised with the Complaint Coordinator

TO CONTACT THE HOUSING OMBUDSMAN: Housing Ombudsman Service PO BOX 1484 Unit D Preston PR2 0ET info@housingombudsman.org.uk 0300 111 3000

More information about our performance can be found here

GOVERNANCE Transparency, Influence and Accountability In 2023, the Regulator of Social Housing introduced Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs), to assess how well social housing landlords are doing at providing good quality homes and services. These measures are aimed at helping improve standards for people living in social housing, by:

Our Board The Board is responsible for setting our strategic direction. Through robust governance, risk and performance management frameworks, it oversees operational efficiency, long-term sustainability, and progress against our core objectives, keeping us aligned with our vision of a better future.

Providing clear performance transparency, allowing all customers to easily assess our services and hold us to account Providing the Regulator with essential performance insights to identify areas where we need to enhance service delivery for customers

BOARD MEMBER