By Alistair McIntosh, chief executive, HQN

So now we know. Today the RSH has released from captivity its data on how housing associations spend their cash. You can see who did what during 2022/23 in this report from the RSH. It is an excellent piece of work.

But members of HQN’s Finance Network got the figures last year. A full 56 days ago, to be precise – so they could start budgeting two months earlier than non-members.  Here is a side-by-side comparison of our figures gleaned from published accounts versus the RSH metrics:

 

Comparators  –> Actual RSH Median figures Indicative HQN Median figures 
CPU Year  2022/23 2022/23
Metric 1  – Reinvestment 6.7% 6.8%
Metric 2a – New supply delivered (social) 1.30% 1.30%
Metric 2b – New supply delivered non-social housing units 0.00% 0.00%
Metric 3 – Gearing % 45.3% 45.5%
Metric 4 – EBITDA (MRI) 128.0% 130.0%
Metric 5 – Headline social housing costs per unit  £4,586  £4,530
Metric 6a – Operating margin (SHL) % 19.8% 20.0%
Metric 6b – Operating margin (Overall) % 18.2% 18.7%
Metric 7 – Return on capital employed (ROCE) 2.8% 2.9%

You couldn’t put a cigarette paper between them could you. Well done to our Finance Network lead Ian Parker for ploughing through all those financial reports.

But in years to come we will all need to run different reports. When we have the satisfaction data and inspection results you will be able to tell who is spending their money to good effect.

For the last decade we have only been able to tell half the story. Soon we can pinpoint who actually is delivering value for money.