Strategic Report

These financial statements report against the first year of our new plan which runs to 2030.

The plan sets out our ambition for both what we want to achieve and how we deliver it. As a housing association, we are driven by our core focus of providing safe homes of a decent standard, ensuring residents have the opportunity to shape the services they receive and that we play our part in proving additional, genuinely affordable new homes.

We have four clear priorities guiding our work: being relentlessly resident focused, a responsible social business, providing safe and warm homes and meeting housing need.

We believe that what makes us different at Settle is that we put residents first. We know that everyone is different, so we will ensure that we provide a service that is as individual as each resident.

Our colleagues remain key to realising our ambition. They are passionate about our social purpose and committed to ensuring we support residents and our communities. Our focus is on developing skilled housing professionals working efficiently to deliver the best possible outcomes for residents, with the voice of colleagues, together with what they see and hear, helping to underpin our continuous improvement of services.

Settle's Group Structure

Our governance structure is simple and provides a clear line of sight from the Board to the subsidiary, Rowan Homes (NHH) Limited. The subsidiary Board members are drawn from the Group Board, and this ensures that its activities support Settle’s objectives.

The organisation is known as Settle Group and consists of:

  • Settle – the asset holding Housing Association and group parent. It is registered as a Co-operative and Community Benefit Society and Registered Provider of Social Housing with the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH);
  • Rowan Homes (NHH) Limited (RH) – a wholly owned company limited by shares. RH’s purpose is to develop new housing properties for outright sale and any profits are distributed to Settle.

Settle Group

Settle

co-operative and community benefit society and registered housing provider

Rowan Homes (NHH) Limited

private company limited by shares

Regulation

We are regulated by the Regulator of Social Housing and maintain the highest grade for governance, G1, and V2 for financial viability under the regulator’s Governance and Financial Viability Standard. This grading was confirmed in December 2024 following the RSH’s Stability Check. We are also overseen by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Board and Committee Structure

Our Board and Committees at Settle are crucial to setting the strategic direction of the Group and monitoring performance. Board and Committee membership is based on skills and knowledge and we have adopted the National Housing Federation’s Code of Governance 2020. The Settle Governance Framework in 2024/25 included five Committees of the Board – Audit and Risk Committee, Development and Asset Committee, Nominations and Remuneration Committee, Operations Committee, and Treasury Committee (formerly a Task & Finish Group) – each with delegated responsibilities set out in Terms of Reference and wider Governance Framework.

The Audit and Risk Committee provides oversight and assurance to the Board on risk management, internal controls, and financial reporting. This includes review, scrutiny, and constructive challenge in relation to external audit, internal audit, effectiveness of internal controls, and a wide range of compliance matters. The Committee reviews the audited financial statements and recommends them to the Board for approval.

The Development and Asset Committee considers and makes recommendations to the Board on major proposals relating to property and land transactions in the context of Settle’s Development and Regeneration strategy and approves development and disposal activities in line with delegated authorities. Following a review of Committee remits in early 2025, the Committee is now also responsible for overseeing landlord compliance and building safety matters.

The Nominations and Remuneration Committee oversees Settle’s People strategy, remuneration, including executive pay, employee pay awards, pensions arrangements and Board and committee remuneration. It also supports the Board in reviewing the effectiveness of the governance arrangements of the organisation.

The Operations Committee supports the Board in ensuring effective frameworks and opportunities are in place to enable, encourage and support residents and other customers to engage with, influence and contribute to strategic decision-making, alongside the oversight and delivery of operational plans and resident-facing service delivery. Following a review of Committee remits, the Committee ceased to oversee landlord compliance and building safety matters in early 2025.

The Treasury Committee supports the Board on treasury management activities, the delivery of the treasury strategy and providing assurance on the financial performance, viability and stability of the Group.

The Board reviews the Terms of Reference for each Committee annually, and each Committee reported regularly to the Board during the year on how it discharges its functions.

Purpose, Corporate Strategy and Strategic Objectives

Our 2030 plan, which came into effect in April 2025, sets out our purpose, vision and strategic objectives. These financial statements report on the first year of delivering that plan.

Our plan is shaped around delivery of the purpose “To give residents a firm foundation on which to build their lives”, and vision to provide “A safe, comfortable and affordable home for every household.” We have four strategic priorities to ensure we maximise our delivery against that purpose:

Relentlessly resident focused

We put residents first because they are the reason we exist.

A responsible social business

We take the long view and make decisions to ensure that we can always deliver on our social purpose and provide great value for money for residents.

Safe and warm homes

We want to provide homes and places residents are proud of and help create a more sustainable future for the neighbourhoods where we work.

Meeting housing need

We will improve access to housing, supporting better life chances for residents.

As a well-run business, we remain financially strong and stable. Our risk assurance framework allows oversight of our ability to respond to the challenging and changing environment. We have sufficient financial capacity to meet these challenges and our long-term financial planning demonstrates that we will continue to operate with reasonable headroom above covenant levels.

Our Annual Delivery Plan (ADP), agreed with the Board, provides focus, and is measured on an ongoing basis. We continue to provide services that meet residents’ needs by adopting flexible, creative, and intuitive ways of working.

The following section outlines the detailed targets we are working to meet across each strategic objective, a range of achievements we have delivered during the past year, and some of the priorities we will work towards during the year ahead.

Relentlessly resident focused

We put residents first because they are the reason we exist.

By 2030 we will:

  • Be in the top 25% of all landlords when residents are asked “How satisfied are you with the service provided by your landlord?”
  • Meet all of our service standards by delivering consistently great services.
  • Be low effort for residents. We will have made our services easy to access by improving and increasing the ways in which they can be accessed digitally. This means that residents choose digital as their preferred way to engage with us and we achieve a resident effort score of under 3.
  • Communicate clearly and regularly in ways that work for residents.
  • Achieve the highest possible C1 rating for the Consumer Standards.
  • Continue to meet all requirements of the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code.
  • Know residents and understand how best to meet their diverse needs, offering extra support where we can.
  • Maintain neighbourhoods to a high standard. This means that residents record less than 20% dissatisfaction against the Tenant Satisfaction Measure that communal areas are well maintained. Our focus is on achieving the highest possible resident satisfaction with the services we provide. We ensure our work is driven by feedback, that we provide multiple opportunities for residents to share their views and that we act on what we are hearing to deliver improvements and services that are focused on what is important to residents.

Some of the highlights from the past year and areas of focus for next year – we have:

  • Reported an increase across the year in all 12 of the Tenant Satisfaction Measure perception scores. Overall satisfaction with the services provided by Settle increased from 70% at the end of March 2024 to 75% at the end of March 2025.
  • Continued to ensure resident feedback drives our work, including through our newly launched Resident Engagement Framework which sets clear pathways for resident feedback and involvement, along with Settle Connect, the Top 5 Focus Area projects and work of the Voice of the Resident Panel which are all explained in more detail in the following sections.
  • Identified our Top 5 Areas of priority for service improvement based on resident feedback. Delivering improvements against these service areas will be a priority during the year ahead.

  • Revised and republished our Repairs and Maintenance Service Standard, detailing the repairs we provide, timescales in which we will complete them and areas that are a resident’s responsibility. During the year ahead we will revise and republish our Landlord Resident Strategy, detailing the services we provide to residents and how we will continually improve these.
  • Achieved our target effort score – reporting 2.96 against the target of 3, with the lower the score the better. We have made improvements during the year to digital services, including to the navigation through our online accounts service, and will continue to progress further digital developments next year.
  • Made improvements to how we communicate with residents, particularly around accessibility, for example adding the UserWay Accessibility Menu for website visitors which offers tailored options for viewing, reading and hearing webpage content; improved the provision of information around services, rent and charges in other languages; and increased the use of videos on our website to communicate information around the services and support we provide.
  • Completed an action plan following an independent review of our services against the new Consumer Standards. We will continue rolling out and embedding these improvements during the year ahead with the aim of meeting the expectations of the C1 rating.
  • Continued to embed a positive complaints handling culture. We responded to 99.7% of complaints within the timeframes of the Complaint Handling Code. Whilst just 0.3% - 3 complaints – were responded to outside of the timeframes set, our aim remains to meet the 100% target during the year ahead.
  • Increased use of Settle Connect, as a key focus in our efforts to engage residents digitally – from 164 members at the start of April 2024 to over 1,470 at the end of March, with membership continuing to increase. This has enabled us to create a dynamic, interactive space for residents to share feedback, get involved in decisions, and feel more connected to Settle.
  • We are not yet reporting the Tenant Satisfaction Measure scores that we would want to against the measure that communal areas are well maintained. This remains a focus for us during the year ahead. As part of this, we will provide greater clarity on areas we are directly responsible for.

A responsible social business

We take the long view and make decisions to ensure that we can always deliver on our social purpose and provide great value for money for residents.

By 2030 we will be:

  • Strengthening how we involve residents in running our business.
  • Continuing to use our data and what residents are telling us to improve the services we provide, achieving a resident trust score of 9 or more.
  • Remaining financially strong through any economic challenge, so that we are able to do the right thing for residents.
  • Managing and investing in our people to grow a professional, diverse and inclusive workforce – 35% of our workforce have achieved or are working towards CIH qualifications by 2030.
  • Achieving the highest possible G1 and V1 ratings for governance and viability from the Regulator of Social Housing.

The summary of how we are working to be Relentlessly Resident Focused outlines some achievements and areas of focus that also contribute to us being a responsible social business. In addition, as a Responsible Social Business we have:

  • Strengthened how we involve residents in running our business by appointing two residents, Alex and Christopher, as Independent Committee members of the Operations Committee of the Board.
  • Continued to work with our Voice of Residents panel – made up of 9 residents who meet regularly with Settle colleagues, using their own experiences and local knowledge to check how well we’re doing, ask questions, and make suggestions that help us improve and put residents first. We were delighted during the year to appoint our first resident Chair of the panel.
  • Achieved a resident trust score of 7.3, against a target of 7.5, with the higher the score the better. Our priority is to continue building this trust through incremental improvements towards our target of 9. Projects we have outlined earlier in this section will be integral to this, particularly delivering on the Top 5 Focus Areas which residents have identified as priority areas for the improvements we make.
  • Identified the potential to form a partnership with Paradigm Housing Group, with the expectation that by joining together, we can work more efficiently and cost-effectively together, achieving more for our residents and the communities where we work.
  • Renegotiated a loan covenant with our most restrictive lender, which increased our ability to borrow more and investment in our existing homes alongside new homes. From an operating viewpoint, during the year we identified £1.5m efficiencies and savings and £4.9m in social value which enabled us to invest more in our resident priorities
  • We have continued our focus on managing and investing in our people to grow a professional, diverse and inclusive workforce. We were delighted that our innovative onboarding programme, ‘Housewarming’, was recognised as Recruitment or Retention Campaign of the Year at the UK Housing Awards in December. Launched in July 2023, Housewarming is a week-long induction programme designed to welcome new colleagues to Settle and support current team members transitioning into new roles. It forms a vital part of our Continuous Professional Development (CPD) initiative, which empowers colleagues to deliver outstanding services and support to residents.
  • All Settle colleagues have a target to complete a minimum of 12 hours CPD hours each year, reporting a total 2690 CPD hours, equivalent to 363.5 working days of professional development during the past year. We continue to support colleagues to achieve CIH qualifications, both to support their professional development and ensure we are ready to meet mandatory requirements.
  • We achieved G1 V2 in our annual stability check from the Regulator of Social Housing, announced in December 2024, confirming that we remain compliant with the governance and financial standards the Regulator requires us to work to.

Safe and warm homes

We want to provide homes and places residents are proud of and help create a more sustainable future for the neighbourhoods where we work.

By 2030 we will be:

  • Maintaining safe, comfortable and good-quality homes. This means that 100% of homes meet the Settle standard.
  • Providing safe and good-quality homes for new residents. This means that 100% of lettings meet the Settle empty homes standard.
  • Improving the energy efficiency of homes so they are warm. This means that 100% of homes are at EPC C or above by 2030.
  • Progressing on our journey to Net Zero Carbon.

Maintaining safe and warm homes that meet all regulatory and legislative requirements remains our priority at Settle. Highlights of our work during the past year and areas we will focus on during the year ahead include:

  • Reporting 77.76% satisfaction against the Tenant Satisfaction Measure that we provide a home that is safe, an increase on the 75.05% satisfaction we reported for 2023/24.
  • Reporting 70.36% satisfaction against the Tenant Satisfaction Measure that we provide a home that is well maintained, an increase on the 68.56% we reported for 2023/24.
  • Achieving overall compliance at 99.7%. This is against a target of 100%. It will always be our aim to achieve 100% compliance – we provide more detail below on the compliance we achieved against the 5 areas reported through the Tenant Satisfaction Measures:
  • Proportion of homes for which all required fire risk assessments have been carried out - 100%
  • Proportion for which required asbestos management surveys or re-inspections have been carried out - 100%
  • Proportion of homes for which all required legionella risk assessments have been carried out - 100%
  • Proportion of homes for which all required communal passenger lift safety checks have been carried out - 100%
  • Proportion of homes for which all required gas safety checks have been carried out - 99.96%. This was less than 100% due to challenges gaining access to three properties before the financial year end, and we had begun steps through the legal process to gain access.

  • We have continued to progress our journey to Net Zero Carbon, particularly through delivering the second year of funding secured through the Government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund [SHDF] wave 2. We secured this funding as part of our ‘Greener Herts’ partnership with Hertfordshire-based B3Living, Watford Community Housing and Dacorum Borough Council. During the year, we agreed with Government that we will complete works to 423 homes through the wave 2 funding provided. We finish the reporting period to the end of March 2025 having started works in over 350 of these properties, 141 of which were started during 2024/25 and fully completed works in 320 (267 completions during 2024/25). We have completed 811 improvement measures across these properties during the past year. We expect to complete the works to all Settle homes through the wave 2 funding by summer 2025.
  • We finished the year with 74% of homes at EPC Band C, against a target of 75% or more. This was slightly under target due to access issues. Our target for the year ahead is 80%. We will be implementing improvements to enhance our engagement process during the coming months and are comfortable that we will achieve this higher target.
  • We were delighted to complete the year being offered over £10million for work to Settle homes through the Government’s Warmer Homes Wave 3. We expect to be able to complete works to over
  • 1,000 Settle homes. Our priority during year ahead will be to confirm details of works to be completed with the aim of starting this during summer 2025.

Our two videos, produced following completion of the second phase development, bring our work at John Barker Place to life – showing how we are working with partners to deliver good-quality new affordable homes, and making sure that throughout all we do, we are driven by meeting residents’ needs and putting them first.

Meeting housing need

We will improve access to housing, supporting better life chances for residents.

By 2030 we will be:

  • Building new homes. We will complete at least 500 new homes during the first two years of this plan.
  • Regenerating neighbourhoods to meet the future needs of communities. In particular through progressing our regeneration of John Barker Place, Hitchin, and working directly or in partnership to invest in neighbourhoods in Letchworth.
  • Growing our business by up to 30% through partnerships which enhance outcomes for residents and increase our financial resilience.
  • Working in partnership with local authorities and other partners to understand and meet local housing need.
  • Exploring the best use of existing homes to meet housing need, supporting residents to have homes that best meet their household requirements.

As highlights from the past year and a summary of areas we will continue to focus on, we have:

  • Delivered 242 new homes last year, all of which were affordable. This fell just short of our 250 target, caused largely by a break-in at one of our development sites shortly before year-end delaying hand-over of some properties. We are on track to meet the overall target as the programme expects to deliver 350 new homes in 2025/26.
  • Completed the second phase of our redevelopment at John Barker Place in Hitchin, providing 24 new flats for social rent and 22 new homes for shared ownership. We were delighted to secure planning permission for a third phase of this development at the end of the reporting year, and a priority for the year ahead will be to progress preparations to start development work on site. We also continued work to progress our planning application for 157 new homes at our regeneration site at Campfield Way, Highover Road and Icknield Way in Letchworth, with the hope that we will secure planning permission in 2025/26.
  • Announced our proposals to form a partnership with Paradigm Housing Group, which would create a 30,000-home housing association with the bulk of properties in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire. Priorities as we move into the next reporting year will include the period of detailed due diligence and resident consultation informing next steps for the partnership proposals.
  • Continued to work in partnership with local authorities and other partners to understand and meet local housing need. As part of this we have progressed developments of new homes across North Hertfordshire, Central Bedfordshire, Welwyn Hatfield and Huntingdonshire, supported by £27m grant spend from the 2021-2026 Affordable Homes Funding Programme.
  • Continued to engage residents to provide homes that best meet their household requirements. As part of this, in September 2024 we were delighted to launch our new Estate Design toolkit which will inform decisions we make about future developments of new homes. This was designed in partnership with our Voice of the Resident panel, TPAS and informed by surveys sent to 550 residents who had moved into new homes during the past two to five years.

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