The Sector Risk Profile 2024 highlights the increasing financial pressures on social housing providers. These include record spending on existing homes, higher interest rates, and the need for significant investment in new housing. The financial viability of providers is under strain, requiring careful management and strategic decision-making to balance immediate needs with long-term goals.

Labour’s first budget for 14 years included important announcements for housing, including the first stage of the spending review.

This year’s sector risk and stress testing event is the ideal opportunity to understand the implications for the housing sector and your own business plans.

HQN chief executive Alistair McIntosh and finance lead Ian Parker will be joined by Tom O’Reilly, Senior Financial Analysis Manager at the Regulator of Social Housing to take you through the current sector risks and potential future shocks.

We will look at

• The importance of clear strategic direction to navigate financial constraints and competing demands
• The key points from the budget
• The impact on business plans of rising debt costs and the difficulty of getting and keeping the right staff
• The financial pressures on maintaining tenant safety and stock decency
• The need to improve service delivery and accountability
• The risks related to development and sales, including market volatility and construction process challenges
• Protecting your business from cyberattacks.

Amidst the noise around the new era of consumer regulation, financial resilience is still considered the top priority.  This is the event for finance teams, directors and boards to focus on how to achieve that in the current climate.  You’ll come away with practical tips to hone stress testing and agree your strategic direction.

Essential for:

• Finance Directors
• CEOs
• Chair of the board
• Board members

10:30am Introduction and welcome 

• Chloe Fletcher, Director, HQN

10:40am Sector risk and stress testing: what’s on the RSH radar?

• Tom O’Reilly, Senior Financial Analysis Manager, RSH

11:10am Anticipating stresses and developing accurate scenarios

• Alistair McIntosh, Chief Executive, HQN

11:40am Stress testing and mitigation actions

• Ian Parker, Associate, HQN

12:10pm Break

12:25pm Cyber security: are you protected?

• Laurie Brown, Director of Information Security, Flagship Group

12:55pm The British Library cyber attack; learning lessons

• Jonathan Fryer, Head of Corporate Information Management and Data Protection Officer, British Library

1:25pm Closing remarks from the Chair

• Chloe Fletcher, Director, HQN

1:30pm Close

Chloe Fletcher, Director, HQN

Chloe has worked in the social housing sector for over 25 years since her first role in housing management with JSS Pinnacle as a trainee housing officer. She completed a Masters in Housing with Professional Qualification at the London School of Economics in 1998 and then moved into housing policy, working on behalf of the London boroughs, initially for London Housing Unit and then London Councils. She joined the National Federation of ALMOs (NFA) in 2007 working with members, government officials and wider housing stakeholders to develop NFA policy and support the ALMO movement.  She has recently left her role as Policy Director at the NFA and joined HQN as Director, working across the business and bringing her knowledge and experience to the wider sector.

Tom O’Reilly, Senior Financial Analysis Manager, RSH

Tom is a Chartered Accountant with extensive experience in finance, external audit and regulation. He has worked in a top ten professional services firm in the UK where he was responsible for the financial statement audits of registered providers of social housing. In his current role at the regulator he leads regulatory inspection for a wide portfolio of registered providers, with a focus on the quality of stress testing. As a regulator Tom evaluates providers’ strategic direction, business planning, risk management frameworks, asset management strategies and approaches to VfM. He has a keen understanding of the current challenges and risks facing the social housing sector.

Alistair McIntosh, Chief Executive, HQN

Alistair McIntosh is one of the social housing sector’s most respected and best known personalities.

As founder and Chief Executive of HQN, he is regarded as one of the foremost advisers on governance and regulation, specialising in VfM and stress testing. His hands-on approach sees Alistair leading on all HQN’s in-depth assessment mock exercises and support work, designing and running the popular Iron Grip sessions and chairing/speaking at conferences and events.

Career highlights include setting up and running the National Federation of ALMOs, leading the popular consultation on the regulatory standards for housing, and developing an approach to VfM that won praise from the housing minister.

A regular contributor to the housing press, Alistair’s columns are known for their humorous, pointed and painfully accurate assessment of the state of social housing.

Ian Parker, Associate, HQN

Ian has worked in the public sector for 40 years. During his career he has worked in senior positions in local government and has been the Finance Director at four RPs.  Ian has worked as a consultant for the last eight years and during that period has:

• Developed HQN’s VfM metric model
• Provided advice to clients about the sector’s VfM agenda
• Undertaken in excess of 60+ mock In Depth Assessments (IDAs)
• Developed HQN’s merger model.

Ian is HQN’s Lead Finance Associate and in that role he provides advice to members of the Housing Finance Network and also ensures that they receive relevant news and technical updates.

Laurie Brown, Director of Information Security, Flagship Group

Jonathan Fryer, Head of Corporate Information Management and Data Protection Officer, British Library

Jon is Head of Corporate Information Management at the British Library, and is also the Library’s statutory Data Protection Officer. As such he has been deeply involved in the Library’s response  and recovery activities following the cyber-attack that it suffered in October 2023. Jon has over twenty-five years’ experience of information management/governance roles in both public and private sectors.

If you are unable to attend an event or public training course, please let us know in writing (email is fine) at least 48 hours before. Please email [email protected]

Otherwise, a cancellation fee of £60 plus VAT will be chargeable.

If you are using a package place to attend and do not inform us within the agreed time frame, then a place will be taken to cover your non-attendance.

Cancellations must be made in writing, and will be acknowledged by HQN Limited.