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Westmoreland was established in 2002 by the parents of an autistic child who wanted to find a way to provide route to independent living.
Between 2002 and 2016, it grew to an organisation of 56 homes, having registered with the Regulator of Social Housing as a provider of social housing in 2013.
In the few years following 2016, Westmoreland grew rapidly through the acquisition of long-term index-linked leases. As with other Providers accessing these products, a number of leases have proved ineffective as a result of unsuitable properties, poor stock condition and high rental cost resulting in unsustainable numbers of void units and poor financial returns, This caused significant disruption to our customers and the business.
Following a period of poor operating, the Regulator of Social Housing assessed Westmoreland as non-compliant with the governance and viability elements of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard on 30th November 2018.
In July 2019, a creditor chose to act against Westmoreland in respect of some disputed debt, which led to Westmoreland entering the Regulator’s insolvency process and the commencement of a moratorium. The creditor action was withdrawn following action taken by Westmoreland, the creditor and by the Regulator. However, the Regulator of Social Housing subsequently downgraded Westmoreland further in September 2019.
Following this judgement, Westmoreland appointed a new Board, followed in early 2020 with a new chief executive and management team. The new leadership team refocused the organisation on our customers, established a comprehensive recovery plan that – over twenty-four months – saw Westmoreland exit around 700 poor performing properties, remediate all areas of conflict, tackle underperformance and shortfall in capability. By early 2022, Westmoreland was no longer in a period of recovery and is now delivering sustained top quartile operating performance for the sector. The remaining portfolio is comprised of high quality, sector appropriate properties, providing excellent facilities for our customers. We remain 100% compliant with all appropriate health and safety legislation across our portfolio. We have doubled our repair rates and undertaken the largest investment programme in Westmoreland’s history, with a detailed forward investment plan to ensure Westmoreland maintains these standards long into the future. Our occupancy rates remain at 90% and rent collection in excess of 98.5%. Our service scope and quality has been transformed and continues to improve as we move forward.
At the time of writing, we are entering into the second year of our three-year business plan that will see us strengthen our operation further, transform our technology and digital footprint to enable controlled growth to provide long term homes for more vulnerable customers.
Whilst Westmoreland has transformed the business and dealt with the majority of the regulator’s concerns, as at March 2023, Westmoreland remains non-compliant with the Regulator of Social Housing Standards, as we continue to improve the underlying strength of our financial reserves. Our objective is to build sufficient strength to resolve this last regulatory concern by the end of this business plan period. We continue to work closely and openly with the regulator.
