West Midlands associations complete merger to create 33,000-home landlord

Wayne Gethings, who has been the boss of Wrekin for nearly six years, has become chief executive of the new group.

Sarah Boden, chief executive of Housing Plus, has retired after 38 years in the sector.

Mr Gethings said: “By uniting our strengths and expertise, we are building a housing association that is stronger, more resilient and better positioned to deliver quality landlord services and homes for all our customers.” 

Jon Lamb, who was Wrekin’s finance boss, has become executive director of finance at the new organisation. 

Catherine Dass, a former Housing Plus board member, has been named “transition chair” of the new group. Debbie Griffiths, a former board member of Wrekin, has become vice-chair.

Shortly after the plans were announced last summer, ratings agency S&P downgraded Wrekin’s outlook to negative. S&P said the merger could mean a “weaker creditworthiness” for the combined group.

In its last full year to the end of March 2024, Wrekin reported a post-tax surplus of £9.8m on an increased turnover of £115.8m. The surplus was just over a three-fold rise on the previous year’s figure of £3.2m, despite higher interest and finance costs.

Housing Plus reported an improved group surplus of £10m in its 2023-24 financial year, off a higher turnover of  £126.1m.

Both landlords retained their G1/V2 ratings for governance and financial viability with the English regulator, following stability checks in November. Neither has been assessed under the new consumer standards. 

Housing Plus has grown in the past 10 years through other mergers. This included taking on Severnside Housing in 2016 and 6,000-home Stafford and Rural Homes in 2019.

The sector has seen a string of high-profile mergers in the past few years as landlords grapple with a tough climate amid rising costs.