GreenSquareAccord’s governance regraded by regulator

The Regulator of Social Housing has issued a regulatory judgement to Accord Housing Association, having found that the organisation, now trading as GreenSquareAccord, failed to meet statutory health and safety requirements in relation to fire, electrical and asbestos safety. The judgement downgrades Accord’s interim judgement from G1 to G2 and confirms its existing V2 grade.

Ruth Cooke, chief executive officer, said: “Following the merger in April, we have been carrying out thorough data record checks and these have shown that some of the former Accord properties do not have a current fire risk assessment; and for other properties there is no evidence of required asbestos surveys and electrical installation condition reports. Our internal investigations have found that some assessments have not taken place, some have expired, and some have not been recorded properly.

“The health and safety of our customers and their homes is GreenSquareAccord’s highest priority and, when we discovered this breach, we self-reported all details to the Regulator of Social Housing.

“We are genuinely sorry about this breach of standards. We understand that affected customers will feel let down – and we are committed to being open and transparent as we work to put this right.

“The GreenSquareAccord team is already working to correct these mistakes. Our teams of internal and external surveyors and engineers are assessing all the properties where we need assurance that assessments are correct and up to date, and we are carrying out any identified remedial work as a matter of urgency.”