This theme seeks to assess the quality, suitability and performance of the board and trustees.
As of 1 April 2025, the Group Board comprised 10 members, of whom nine are Non-Executive Directors (90%) and one is an Executive Director (the Chief Executive). The roles of Chair of the Board and Chief Executive are held by separate individuals.
As of 1 April 2025, the Group Board comprised 10 members, of whom nine are Non-Executive Directors (90%) and one is an Executive Director (the Chief Executive). The roles of Chair of the Board and Chief Executive are held by separate individuals.
In line with best practice and following the adoption of the NHF 2020 Code of Conduct, all new Non-Executive Directors are appointed for a maximum of two three-year terms, with the possibility of extension up to a total of nine years. Our Remuneration and Appraisal Committee actively monitors the succession plan to ensure that recruitment is well-planned in advance and reflects the skills required on the Board and Committees at any time.
Over the past two years, four Non-Executive Directors have stepped down from the Board, representing a turnover rate of 42%. Additionally, three Executive Directors from the Senior Management Team have left the organisation during the same period, equating to a turnover rate of 55%. Declarations of interest are a standing item at the start of every Board and committee meeting. A register of interests is maintained and published on our website in accordance with the Code of Governance. Where a conflict is declared, the relevant Board member may be asked to abstain from voting or participating in discussions on the matter concerned.
Three committees report directly to the Board: the Audit and Assurance Committee, the Customer Committee, and the Remuneration and Appraisal Committee. There is also a subsidiary Board for Cube Homes Limited. Each committee and the subsidiary Board includes members of the Group Board.
Overall, our aim is to ensure that we are compliant with our Code of Governance, but also to have the strongest Board possible to support effective governance. Our Triennial Governance Reviews, Internal Audits on governance and Regulatory Inspection results have been extremely positive and confirm that our governance arrangements are excellent. Our external auditors, Beever and Struthers, have served since November 2021, with Sue Hutchinson acting as Lead Audit Partner. A policy governing the independence of external auditors is reviewed annually.
The Remuneration and Appraisal Committee holds a broad remit, including responsibility for Board succession planning. A succession plan is presented annually to both the Board and the Committee. The Audit and Assurance Committee includes two members with recent and relevant financial expertise, having previously held roles as Finance Director and Audit Partner, respectively.
The Customer Committee is responsible for a wide range of matters relating to customer-facing services, policies and strategies, ensuring that the customer voice is embedded in their development and design. The effectiveness of the Board is independently reviewed every three years. The most recent triennial review, conducted by Altair between December 2023 and February 2024, assessed both Board effectiveness and remuneration. The review concluded that the organisation has strong governance arrangements in place.
We know that having a diverse and inclusive Board and leadership team will ultimately lead to stronger performance, and it is important to us that our Board and senior leaders are reflective of our stakeholders.
At Board level, we have a Recruitment, Succession and Development Policy in place which explicitly references our commitment to EDI. In addition to ensuring non-discrimination, this policy – alongside our Statement of Preferred Board Composition – aims to create a Board that reflects our customer base and the communities we serve. It actively promotes diversity in terms of gender, ethnicity and disability (surface diversity), as well as diversity of thought and lived experience (deep diversity).
Our Recruitment and Selection Policy for colleague appointments includes a dedicated section on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), ensuring that no individual is discriminated against on the basis of protected or broader characteristics. Great Places regularly monitors equal opportunities data relating to applications and appointments. Where analysis highlights areas for improvement, we are committed to taking appropriate action. This may include, but is not limited to, additional training, policy or process changes, or positive action initiatives.
Over the past year, we have introduced a new recruitment platform and implemented anonymous recruitment at the initial stage to help eliminate unconscious bias during shortlisting. We now explicitly encourage applications from diverse candidates in all job adverts and provide interview questions in advance to support neurodiverse applicants. Interviews also include mandatory questions on equality, diversity and inclusion, exploring what these values mean to each candidate.
Our recruitment partners for Board roles are required to source as diverse a candidate pool as possible and to provide EDI monitoring reports throughout the recruitment process, enabling us to track progress at each stage. As of 31 March 2025, 50% of the Board are women, 20% are from ethnically diverse backgrounds, and 30% identify as having a disability. While none of the current Board members are Great Places customers, we do have seven customers serving on the standing Customer Committee.
Among the ten Board members, three identify as Christian, five as having no religion, one as Buddhist, and one as ‘other.’ The average tenure of the Non-Executive Directors is 3.5 years, reflecting the recent appointment of four new members.
Last year we launched the SHe (Sharon Hayes Empowerment) Programme, in memory of our former Director of Tech Services, who sadly passed away in 2022 following illness.
Sharon not only created a sector-leading service offer, but as a female in a traditionally male-dominated world, was a role model within the sector and was passionate about nurturing female talent.
The SHe programme was a six-month development programme designed to empower female colleagues working in more male-dominated teams to develop their skills to progress in the future. It was a deep dive into the key leadership and team management skills as well as addressing some of the issues and barriers that women specifically face when navigating progression at work, such as imposter syndrome and menopause. Crucially it also provided an opportunity to participants to attain an ILM Level 2 Award in Leadership and Team Skills.
The first cohort of 12 colleagues also received mentoring from existing Great Places female Directors and Heads of Service. The programme as nominated as part of the CIH Women in Housing Awards and Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter.
Addressing issues of equality and diversity across our business and particularly in leadership roles is really important to us, and that’s why we’re proud to be a part of BOOST.
Led by Southway Housing Trust on behalf of Greater Manchester Housing Providers, this programme currently has 19 GMHP member organisations. Addressing issues of representation of colleagues in ethnically diverse backgrounds in the leadership space, it looks to find ways to break down barriers to recruitment and progression, and all members sign up to a BOOST Commitment to develop action plans to facilitate real change.
An important aspect of this is mentoring; with mentees being teamed with a mentor from a different housing association as well as a designated Change Champion from their own, whose strategies are informed by their shared learning and experience.
The focus last year was around recruitment practices. One thing we put in place was updating the wording of our job advertisements to encourage more applicants from social housing backgrounds, a group which is disproportionately represented by black and ethnically diverse communities. Our HR Team has confirmed that this has resulted in more applications, but also more from those of diverse backgrounds. We look forward to continuing to grow with BOOST.
