Network Homes and Sovereign merger

Merger timeline

• March 2023 – merger proposals announced
• March to August 2023 – carried out legal, financial and other checks
• June to July 2023 – gathered feedback from residents and our partners to inform decisions and help shape integration and future services
• August to September 2023 – final decisions on whether to merge
• October 2023 – Step 1: create Sovereign Network Group, with Network Homes known as ‘Sovereign Network Homes’ during the transition
• October 2023 to March 2025 – gradually bring people, processes and systems together
• April 2025 – Step 2: fully merged as a single organisation

Why are we doing this?

We're merging because:

1. We’re confident it will deliver benefits to residents and put us in a better position to deliver on our social purpose and priorities.
2. 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.
3. 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.

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.

Alike but different

We are merging 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 82,000 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