Regulatory grading

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has provided its regulatory judgement of Anchor.

It has given Anchor a G3 grade, which means we are non-compliant with the regulator’s governance standard. This reflects the need for a significant improvement in governance and risk management, specifically relating to improvements in health and safety. 

The rating comes after we voluntarily self-reported to the regulator when we found one of our contractors was failing to complete electrical remediation work to specification and on time. As a result, we sought additional contractors. We also identified that damp, mould and condensation was not always being addressed properly.

The RSH sets standards and regulates social housing providers in England. Organisations are rated for their financial viability (V), governance (G) and consumer standards (C) – where 1 is the best and 4 the worst.

In addition to the Governance grading, the judgement reconfirms a financial viability grading of V1 and consumer grading of C3. The regulator put our governance grading under review when it announced our first consumer grading of C3 in February 2025.  

We fully accept the judgement and are committed to delivering the improvements required to restore confidence in our services and governance processes.

We apologise for the shortcomings identified and recognise the concern and distress they may have caused residents and their families. We have already made progress on addressing the issues identified:  

We have significantly reduced the backlog of electrical safety inspections and remedial works and remain on track to conclude the full plan during 2025. 
We have engaged technical partners in all our compliance areas as part of a comprehensive programme of assurance.   
We have reviewed our data, are strengthening our risk management framework and improving the accuracy of our reporting to support effective oversight.  
We have made changes to our governance structure and key executive leadership appointments in our asset, property services and governance, risk and assurance functions to drive cultural and operational change.

Our residents’ safety and trust remain paramount. Our focus remains on delivering safe, high-quality homes and services and ensuring our improvement plan continues at pace.

In December 2024, we referred ourselves voluntarily to the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH). The RSH sets standards and regulates social housing providers in England and you can find out more about the regulator on their website. 

We made the referral after we found one of our contractors was failing to complete electrical remediation work to specification and on time and as a result we sought additional contractors. We also identified that damp, mould and condensation was not always being addressed properly.

Organisations are rated for their viability (V), governance (G) and consumer standards (C) – where 1 is the best and 4 the worst. Grades of 1 or 2 mean that an organisation is compliant with the regulator’s requirements while grades of 3 or 4 signal non-compliance. You can find out more about the grades on the regulator’s website. 

Before this inspection and judgement, we were graded G1 for governance and V1 for viability. The consumer grading was introduced in April 2024. Our current grading is V1, G3 and C3. 

V1 means that we are meeting the regulator’s viability requirements. We have the financial capacity to deal with a wide range of adverse scenarios. 

G3 means there are issues of serious regulatory concern, while C3 means there are serious failings in us delivering the outcomes of their consumer standards. We are working to address both, in agreement with the RSH.

Our key areas of focus are:  

We have significantly reduced the backlog of electrical safety inspections and remedial works and remain on track to conclude the full plan during 2025. 
We have engaged technical partners in all our compliance areas as part of a comprehensive programme of assurance.   
We have reviewed our data, are strengthening our risk management framework and improving the accuracy of our reporting to support effective oversight.  
We have made changes to our governance structure and key executive leadership appointments in our asset, property services and governance, risk and assurance functions to drive cultural and operational change.  
We are continuing to invest in building capability and capacity in our business, our supply chains and service delivery.

Our responsibility for ensuring residents can live safely in their homes is something we take extremely seriously. Residents' and colleagues’ safety is our number one priority and, as a provider of older people's housing and care, we have a high in-person presence at many of our locations. We have already taken several additional steps to ensure we’re keeping our residents safe. That includes significantly reducing the backlog of electrical safety inspections and remedial works and we are on track to conclude the full plan during 2025. 

Our new repairs platform, Plentific, is having an immediate positive effect on our ability to manage damp, mould and condensation more effectively. We are working closely with the regulator to ensure we resolve the issues we identified comprehensively and as quickly as possible.

For our residential care homes, each of our care homes has a Registered Manager, and is subject to a comprehensive programme of Enhanced Inspections completed by internal teams and by independent third-party inspectors.    

As at 31 March 2025, 84% of our care homes were rated good or outstanding by CQC and we had no inadequate rated homes.

We are working swiftly to implement our improvement plan and are committed to keeping residents updated on our progress. We will do this via this page on our website, regular newsletters and Life magazine. We are also working closely with our Residents’ Council. Our goal is to demonstrate sustained progress and a strengthened governance framework over the coming months.

If you have any concerns, please talk to your local manager or call us on 0800 731 2020, Monday-Friday 8am-6pm and Saturday 8am-4pm.