Sovereign and Network Homes plan to come together
UPDATE OCTOBER 2023
In September, the boards of Sovereign and Network Homes formally agreed to proceed with the proposed merger and this took place on 1 October, creating SNG (Sovereign Network Group). Read our merger news story.
What the proposed merger means for you
Sovereign and Network Homes are proposing to come together as one organisation that takes the best of both and makes it even better. This will be called the Sovereign Network Group.
The aim is to do this in October 2023, when we will come together into a group structure. We’ll then fully integrate both organisations over the next 18 months.
This proposal won’t affect your right to live in your home. You’ll still have the same lease or tenancy agreement. There will be little immediate difference for residents: you’ll still contact your landlord the same way and deal with the teams you do now.
In the longer-term though, both housing associations believe that coming together will let us do more for all our customers and residents. As one organisation we’ll be able to invest more into existing homes, into services, into local communities and into building more homes.
Find out more and have your say
This webpage tells you a bit more about the merger and how customers could give us their views (please note: this feedback period is now closed and you can see a summary of the results here.). Near the bottom we've included answers to some questions you may have.
There won’t be a formal resident vote but both Boards will take your feedback into account when they make their decisions.
We’re committed to being open and honest and to strengthening the trust you have in us. This information, and our plans for gathering your feedback, have been checked by a group of residents from both associations and updated from what they said.
We’re confident the merger will deliver benefits to residents and put us in a better position to deliver on our social purpose and priorities.
We want to give our current and future residents better-quality existing homes and build more new homes for thousands of people who still need one.
We want to get the basics right and give you great services and support if you need it. From repairs and safety checks to helping you access any financial assistance you’re due. From training courses which help you get a great job to grants for local groups, so your communities can thrive.
As housing associations, we both face a challenging future (such as rising costs that affect our services and ability to invest in homes) at a time when we’re trying to keep rents affordable for residents. These challenges could last for years. That’s why we believe it’s the right time to merge – and the right merger for both associations.
Together, we’ll be in a better position to get through these challenges. Our bigger size will let us carry on providing locally focused services but make efficiency savings and have better access to new funding.
We can also keep investing in better services and doing more to make homes energy-efficient - so they’re warm, more affordable to run and help fight climate change.
Our ambition for the new organisation is to:
Provide better services for residents
- We can offer new and better digital ways for you to get in touch (and to keep you informed) and provide more accurate, personalised and efficient services.
- We can find new ways to listen and engage with you: building on the best of both groups of engaged residents to make sure more of you can shape what we do.
- We can have the scale to test new approaches in different places and learn from these to the benefit of all residents.
Invest more in improving homes and building new ones
- We can invest even more (£9.2 billion over the next ten years) in improving the quality of existing homes, regenerating estates and building new homes.
- We can build 25,000 new homes over the next decade: that’s 4,000 more as a combined organisation than we could separately.
Invest more in supporting residents and communities
- We’re committed to setting up a Community Foundation to invest £100 million over a ten-year period into our local communities, such as through charitable grants.
We want to merge because we share the same vision. We have a lot in common that will help us work well together, but with the strength and capacity to do more.
We also have some differences where we can complement and learn from each other.
What we’ll be like as Sovereign Network Group
- Strong locally focused customer-facing services
- Creating a Community Foundation investing £100m over the next decade
- Proudly serving around 210,000 residents in over 84,000 homes across the South of England and London
- Financially stronger so we can still be around in the future for our residents and communities
- Savings and efficiencies from combining central teams, that we can invest into services and homes
| A bit about Sovereign | A bit about Network Homes |
|---|---|
| Charitable housing association based in Basingstoke with various regional offices, including in Bristol, Christchurch, Newbury and Exeter. | Charitable housing association based in North-West London with offices in London and Hertford. |
| Set up in 1989 in West Berkshire as one of the first stock transfers from a local authority. Has grown through mergers and a strong building programme. | Set up in 1974 as Brent People’s Housing Association. Has grown through the transfer of council homes, acquiring smaller associations and building new homes. |
| 61,000 affordable homes across south and south-west England. | 21,000 affordable homes across London, south and south-east England. |
| Wide mix of houses and flats for social and affordable rent and shared ownership. Some key worker and private rent homes plus some for outright sale. | Wide mix of houses and flats for social and affordable rent and shared ownership. Some key worker homes and some for outright sale. |
| Built around 1,600 affordable new homes last year. | Built around 220 affordable new homes last year. |
| Invested around £3.7 million into community projects last year. | Invested around £167,000 into communities last year, via a charitable fund. |
We held a feedback exercise on these proposals during June and early July, so the Sovereign and Network Homes Boards can consider your views when they make their decisions. This included a survey and two drop in events for customers. This feedback period is now closed and you can see a summary of the results here.
Each association is also speaking to other groups, such as the financial institutions we have funding agreements with and to its local authority partners.
The Sovereign Board takes all your feedback very seriously and considered this at its August meeting so that this can be built into our ongoing plans.
Here is a summary of the feedback and we’ll also update customers after the joint board decision in early September.