Housing associations and social housing

Our experience includes housing groups comprising parent associations, charitable and non-charitable subsidiaries, development entities and trading companies. 

Our work spans external audit, regulated assurance, senior finance leadership support and complex property and development activity. This breadth of experience enables us to bring an informed, pragmatic and risk-focused approach that reflects the operational and financial realities facing housing providers.

Alongside registered providers, we audit numerous charities and not-for-profit organisations delivering housing, supported accommodation and homelessness services.

These organisations often operate across housing and wider community provision, with complex funding arrangements, safeguarding considerations and enhanced governance requirements. Our work reflects the balance between financial sustainability, service delivery and regulatory compliance.

Housing association boards operate under increasing regulatory scrutiny, with greater focus on governance effectiveness, financial resilience, consumer standards and risk management.

We work closely with boards, audit committees and executive teams, providing practical reporting and insight that supports effective oversight and informed decision-making. Our approach focuses not only on statutory compliance but also on the effectiveness of internal controls, governance arrangements and the management of strategic risks.

Our specialist sustainable business services team helps clients embed practical and commercially focused ESG and sustainability principles into their operations, delivering benefits such as improved efficiency, stronger stakeholder engagement and enhanced access to funding for environmental initiatives.

Our services include carbon footprint measurement, net zero planning, sustainability data collection and the preparation of ESG disclosures aligned with widely recognised frameworks, helping you build a resilient business that is well positioned for future growth. 

Our specialist consultancy team can support with a range of advisory services, such as finance transformation, systems and process improvement and organisational change. 

A distinguishing feature of our experience is the extent to which our specialists have worked within housing organisations in senior finance roles. This includes acting as Head of Financial Reporting, supporting management accounting and statutory reporting functions and leading financial integration programmes following mergers.

Background
A client was gifted a commercial property on the understanding that it would be converted into an HMO. The client's main charity, which received the gift, carries out charitable activities in support of its beneficiaries, UK military veterans, and has a subsidiary wholly engaged in the provision of social housing.

Client requirement
Our client needed clarity on the VAT treatment of the redevelopment, as this was material to its cost. This required considering the VAT reliefs available, how they would apply, and the treatment of any procurement falling outside their scope. This analysis then informed both the planning application and the wider development activity.

UHY solution
We reviewed the arrangements and produced a report for management and the Trustees, setting out the available options together with a recommendation from UHY. We also reviewed the planning application ahead of submission to confirm the proposed relief would apply, and did the same once planning permission was granted.

Value added
Our involvement demonstrates reasonable care to HMRC and enabled our client to make an informed decision, supporting good governance and risk management. Our recommendation was adopted, delivering a £300k saving for the charity.

Background

Our client is a faith-based organisation with a range of activities. We were instructed to advise on a barter transaction involving the disposal of land to a developer, with the developer constructing a social housing development for our client in return.

Client requirement

Our client needed to establish the VAT consequences of disposing of the property assets, along with the options available in respect of the new development.

UHY solution

The absence of monetary consideration did not mean that no consideration had been provided. It was therefore essential to set out the VAT consequences of each transaction and the reliefs available. Had VAT not been correctly accounted for, this would have created a VAT cost and exposed our client to penalties and interest. Given these were property transactions, the sums involved were material, and any errors would have been difficult to correct retrospectively. We provided a full analysis that removed the VAT cost from the transaction chain.

Value added

Barter transactions can be difficult to interpret from a VAT perspective, and have been the subject of European Court of Justice litigation — underlining a complexity that often goes unrecognised.

We produced a full transaction analysis, mapping the VAT treatment onto each element. This gave all parties clarity on the VAT position and ensured available reliefs were applied to remove the VAT costs. Without this, our client faced a significant risk of an £800k VAT error, along with a £240,000 penalty and interest.

The client-advisor relationship should be a collaborative one. An advisor who operates as part of the client team understands the ethos and dynamics of that organisation. Closed questions only produce closed answers — the goal should always be informed advice.

Clarity on costs is essential, which we provide through a fixed-price support service. Any significant piece of work is agreed separately, outside that service, as is inevitably the case for major projects. Regular communication and transparency underpin this throughout.

Our training services are particularly valued by clients. We have delivered training to client property development teams and management, and these sessions are equally valuable to us as advisors, helping us understand the areas our clients are most concerned about. This naturally leads to better communication and risk management — supporting good governance and demonstrating reasonable care to HMRC.