Introduction
by Mike Gerrard – Chief Financial Officer
Welcome to our 2025/26 ESG Report.
Great Places continues to operate in a demanding and changing environment, shaped by economic uncertainty, regulatory change, climate risk and cost-of-living pressures affecting many of our customers. Against this backdrop, we have made strong progress over the past year by strengthening services, investing in our homes and keeping a clear focus on long-term resilience, trust and impact.
Environmental, social and governance considerations are central to how we work and how we create long-term value for customers, colleagues, communities, investors, partners and other stakeholders. This report sets out our progress against the Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing and explains how ESG priorities are embedded in our strategy, decision making, risk management and day-to-day operational delivery.
During 2025/26, our ESG activity focused on four strategic priorities: improving customer outcomes and trust, investing in safe and sustainable homes, strengthening communities and maintaining strong governance and financial resilience. These priorities align with our Corporate Plan, Sustainability Strategy and long-term ambitions.
Our approach is shaped by the issues that matter most to our stakeholders and where Great Places can have the greatest impact. Customer feedback, Tenant Satisfaction Measures, complaints insight, scrutiny activity, colleague engagement, regulatory expectations, investor requirements and Board oversight all help shape the priorities covered in this report.
We aim to report progress clearly and proportionately, using evidence based claims and explaining where data, delivery or methodology is still developing. This helps maintain confidence in our ESG reporting and avoids overstatement as we continue to improve.
During the year, our Customer Committee discussed the strategy before the Board approved the new Sustainability Strategy for 2025–2030, providing a clear framework for reducing our environmental impact across homes, operations and communities. Our long-term commitments include achieving net-zero carbon, ensuring all homes reach a minimum EPC C by 2030, and embedding low-carbon technologies and operational efficiencies across the organisation.
We have continued to make tangible progress in improving the quality and performance of our homes. In 2025/26, 705 homes were upgraded to EPC Band C, improving both energy efficiency and affordability for customers. Alongside this, we secured £225 million in sustainability‑linked funding, linking our environmental performance directly to our financial resilience.
These improvements support both customer outcomes and long-term organisational resilience, helping Great Places respond to future financial, environmental and regulatory challenges.
Customer experience has remained a central focus. A comprehensive complaints review has strengthened early resolution and contributed to a 26% reduction in complaints. We have also progressed a major review of our repairs and maintenance service. To ensure our customers were involved in the review we engaged over 500 customers exploring what was important to them about the repair service. This has resulted in service improvements linked directly to customers feedback ensuring improvements are shaped by customer insight and tested through delivery.
Supporting our customers and communities continues to be a core priority. Through targeted support and partnership working, we have helped customers increase income, access essential services and sustain their tenancies. We have also continued to play a key role in programmes supporting people experiencing homelessness and those with complex needs.
Customer safety remains a top priority. We have maintained a strong focus on building safety, compliance and investment in existing homes, alongside improvements in data, oversight and preparation for emerging requirements such as Awaab’s Law.
Strong governance underpins this work and helps turn commitments into delivery. During the year, we welcomed new Board members and introduced changes to strengthen oversight, particularly around growth and development. We also saw continued positive regulatory outcomes, including an improvement in our consumer standards rating, reflecting progress in service delivery and customer outcomes.
Alongside this, the Board has agreed a new set of long-term ambitions to guide Great Places over the next 10 years. These provide a clear framework for responding to sector challenges, prioritising investment and continuing to deliver for our customers and communities.
This report highlights our progress during 2025/26 and demonstrates our continued commitment to transparency, accountability and continuous improvement. I would like to thank Board members, colleagues, customers and partners for their contribution over the past year.
Mike Gerrard
