Why we are engaging with Forth
We are engaging with Forth about its governance and financial management.
COVID-19 has significantly impacted the services provided by social landlords in 2020 and will continue to influence how services are provided in 2021. We will continue to monitor, assess and report upon how each landlord is responding and we will keep our regulatory engagement under review so that we can continue to respond to the challenges of COVID-19.
We have received information that means we are reviewing the regulatory status of Forth. We will update the regulatory status as soon as this review is complete.
The information relates to potential failures of governance and internal financial control. These matters are now subject to two independent investigations and we require Forth to provide us with a copy of the final report of each investigation as soon as it is complete. In addition we require Forth to provide us with information regarding its leadership capacity, risk management, management of conflicts of interest and its consideration of its compliance position.
Forth has told us it wants to work transparently with us though it has been slow in providing some information.
We continue to seek further information and assurance from Forth about governance and leadership capacity, its improvement action plan and financial review.
Forth is developing new homes and has plans for development projects in 2021/22. We are now seeking assurance that Forth remains a suitable recipient of public and private funds.
What Forth must do
In order to allow us to complete our review of its regulatory status Forth must provide us with:
- a timescale for the report of the independent investigations and a copy of each report;
- the further information that we require on risk management, conflicts of interest and compliance;
- an assessment of Forth’s development plans against our good practice principles.
What we will do
We will:
- consider Forth’s response to the issues we have raised; and
- engage further with Forth and update its regulatory status as soon as we have the information we require.
Regulatory returns
Forth must provide us with the following annual regulatory returns and alert us to notifiable events as appropriate:
- Annual Assurance Statement;
- audited financial statements and external auditor’s management letter;
- loan portfolio return;
- five year financial projections; and
- Annual Return on the Charter.
It should also notify us of any material changes to its Annual Assurance Statement, and any tenant and resident safety matter which has been reported to or is being investigated by the Health and Safety Executive or reports from regulatory or statutory authorities or insurance providers, relating to safety concerns.