Chief Executive's Statement
I was delighted to join Settle as interim Chief Executive in October 2024. I am grateful for the warm welcome I received from colleagues, partners and members of the Board and would like to thank my predecessor as Chief Executive, Gavin Cansfield, for all that he achieved at Settle.
My first impressions of Settle were of a good organisation with a great culture, with colleagues focussed on the right things - improving customer experience and our existing homes and building more new affordable ones. Settle’s 2030 plan, developed with colleagues and residents, captures our purpose “To give residents a firm foundation on which to build their lives” and our vision, to provide “A safe, comfortable and affordable home for every household”. My work with colleagues and partners during the following months has confirmed that this purpose and vision really is what guides colleagues and it is the basis for reporting progress to Settle’s Board.
The past year has marked a turning point across the social housing sector, with the introduction of new consumer regulations and a new complaint handling code, along with confirmation of further legislative change in the year ahead. The expectations of us as a sector are rightly increasing. What we do matters more than ever. At Settle, we welcome the focus on improving the quality of services provided to all social housing tenants and ensuring that they influence the services they receive. Meeting these expectations has guided our work during the past year.
Some of the earliest requirements were to publish results of Tenant Satisfaction Measure surveys gathered during the previous year and our first Annual Complaints Performance and Service Improvement Report. I am pleased to confirm all updates were published as required by the end of June, and that meeting the intentions behind these reporting requirements has been driving work at Settle for some time.
Central to this is the strength of engagement running throughout the organisation’s work, ensuring we provide a range of opportunities for residents and colleagues to share their views, and that we use the data and insight we gather to drive ongoing improvement.
I am delighted to confirm that we have seen an increase across the year in all 12 of the Tenant Satisfaction Measure perception scores, with overall satisfaction with the services provided by Settle, rising from 70% at the end of March 2024 to 75% at the end of March 2025.
Settle colleagues have also maintained our focus on a positive complaint handling culture. We are committed to learning from every complaint we receive to improve our service to all residents. In line with sector experience, the number of complaints reported has increased - we responded to 39% more complaints than in the previous year, with 99.7% of these responded to in the timeframes required. Whilst just 0.3% - 3 complaints – were responded to outside of the timeframes set, we recognise the target is 100% and our aim remains to meet this during the year ahead.
I have seen great examples of resident engagement guiding Settle’s work. Our Chair, Sally, references her personal highlights from the past year, including residents joining the Operations Committee of the Board. In our Strategic Report we reference progress with engagement activity including the growth of our online platform Settle Connect and launch of our Resident Engagement Framework. A highlight that I saw shortly after joining Settle, was a new approach to engagement by combining the Big Door Knock and Neighbourhood Action Weeks across one of the biggest neighbourhoods in which Settle works, the Jackmans in Letchworth. It was great to see colleagues gaining feedback from residents (112 colleagues took part in the Big Door Knock, checking in with residents to see how we’re doing and where we could make service improvements) and taking part in Neighbourhood Action Week events to improve the area (136 colleagues took part in activities such as litter picking, planting flowers and improving outside lighting). We saw fantastic engagement, with the feedback gathered shaping our neighbourhood action plan for the area.
Rod Cahill Interim Chief Executive Officer
4th August 2025
"I have seen great examples of resident engagement guiding Settle’s work."
"At Settle, we welcome the focus on improving the quality of services provided to all social housing tenants and ensuring that they influence the services they receive. Meeting these expectations has guided our work during the past year."
Responding to resident feedback, one of our priorities across the year has been improvements to our repairs service. It is a real strength at Settle that we have an in-house Direct Labour Organisation and feedback often shows higher resident satisfaction when repairs are carried out by these colleagues. Our aim is to deliver a more efficient service, with more of these repairs carried out in-house. We have a Repairs Service Improvement Plan in place which has driven performance improvement at year end and will continue doing so into the new financial year. Steps we have taken include an external review of the service, and to review and republish our Repairs Service Standard to be clearer on the services we provide and timescales we will work to. We are already seeing good progress, including more repairs being completed by our in-house teams and a reduction in complaints thanks to clearer communications with residents helping to manage expectations and satisfaction.
Alongside improvements to the repairs service, we have continued our focus on investing in existing homes and support to ensure that no resident lives with damp and mould. We spent over £15.6m on planned investment in existing homes, including additional works thanks to the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) wave 2, through which we will complete works to a total of 423 homes across the two-year programme.
At the end of 2024/25, there were 263 open damp and mould cases, a decrease of 134 (33%) compared to 2023/24. The Board continues to ensure we have the resources in place to prevent any Settle resident living with ongoing damp or mould in their home. This remains a priority and as part of this, we expect to recruit additional resource during the year ahead to meet the requirements of Awaab’s Law.
At the start of this statement, I referenced the strength of the culture I have seen at Settle. One aspect of this is the commitment I see to provide wider support to residents. We detail highlights in the Strategic Report in terms of the achievements and outcomes secured for tenants. From the launch of our in-house Money Advice Service, to ongoing use of the Settle Comfort Fund for those struggling with living costs, to supporting more victims in resolving cases of anti-social behaviour, it is clear that colleagues have worked in partnership with residents helping to support and sustain tenancies. Thanks to the combination of these actions, we have achieved an overall £4.9m social value equivalent, a significant increase on the £1.8m achieved in 2023/24.
A strong balance sheet and healthy operating surplus are fundamental to achieving Settle’s goals. They mean that we can borrow money to improve and build affordable homes on good terms and that we can generate resource to reinvest in our housing and services. I am pleased to confirm that our operating margin for the year was 30.1%, up from 24.6% in 2023/24, and that we are putting plans in place to increase this year on year by a value for money drive and better procurement. It was also pleasing to negotiate improved covenants with one of our lenders and to raise £75m in new loans, which helps to fund the 242 new affordable homes completed this year (up from 211 in 2023/24) and the 350 to be handed over in 2025/26.
I am delighted that we finish the year announcing our proposals to merge with Paradigm Housing Group. We share the same geography, both focus on core social housing, and both organisations want to deliver excellent services, high quality homes and more new affordable homes to help tackle the housing crisis. I believe that by joining together, we can work more efficiently and cost-effectively, achieving more for our residents and the communities where we work.
We close the reporting year planning a detailed period of due diligence and resident engagement to underpin the partnership. I look forward to fully exploring the potential of this partnership with colleagues at Paradigm to ensure both organisations achieve the maximum benefits for residents, colleagues and our communities.
I would like to thank Sally and the Board for their support and the Executive and Leadership Teams and all Settle people for the quality of their work and their commitment to the Settle cause.