Paradigm and Settle enter merger talks

The boards of Paradigm and Settle approved the initial business case this week to formally explore the partnership. The landlords said if proposals go ahead, the new organisation, initially known as SettleParadigm, would be the largest housing association working in the region.

The two housing associations aim to enter the partnership in October this year. This partnership will be subject to further approval by both boards and the relevant shareholders.

Both organisations involved in the partnership will now begin a period of due diligence and resident consultation, with the expectation that decisions about whether to proceed with the partnership are made later this summer.

In a joint statement, Matthew Bailes, chief executive of Paradigm, and Rod Cahill, interim chief executive at Settle, said: “We are delighted to announce these proposals today. Paradigm and Settle share the same geography and focus on core social housing.

“Both organisations want to deliver excellent services, high-quality homes and more new affordable homes to help tackle the housing crisis.

“We believe that by joining together, we can work more efficiently and cost-effectively, achieving more for our residents and the communities where we work. With the proposed addition of the homes from L&Q, we will be able to deliver the advantages of scale while remaining locally focused.”

Paradigm has the regulatory grades of G1/V1 while Settle is rated G1/V2.

According to its results for 2023-24, Paradigm posted a pre-tax surplus of £20.3m, a rise from £18.5m in the previous year.

Meanwhile, Settle reported a pre-tax surplus of £6.9m during the year in its results, a fall from a restated pre-tax surplus of £10.9m in 2022-23.

The news of the proposal for the partnership follows several large mergers in the sector recently.

In March this year, Bromford and Flagship completed their merger to create an 80,000-home housing association called Bromford Flagship.

In December, Grand Union Housing Group and Longhurst Group completed their merger to form a 37,000-home group called Amplius. 

In addition, in March this year, two Essex-based landlords, CHP and Estuary Housing Association, entered talks over a potential merger to become a 16,000-home group.

Vicky Savage, executive director for development and sales at L&Q, said that the G15 landlord had started to discuss the details of a possible transfer to Paradigm and residents will be formally consulted before a final decision is made.

This comes after L&Q sold 201 homes to fellow London landlord RHP in September.

“We believe that Paradigm, a locally based organisation, may be better placed to provide an excellent service in the area,” Ms Savage said.

“As an organisation, we consider homes for transfer where they sit outside our core areas of Greater London and Greater Manchester.

“This supports our strategic decision to focus our activity on areas where we have the greatest concentration of homes, enabling us to provide responsive, joined-up services which offer best value for residents.”