We are committed to transparent and accountable reporting of our Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance. As part of this commitment, we have adopted the Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing (SRS), ensuring that our efforts in these areas are consistent, measurable, and impactful.
What is ESG?
ESG is a set of standards that assess our organisation’s impact on society and the environment. It also measures how transparent and accountable we are in our operations. ESG reporting goes beyond financial performance to showcase our commitment to sustainability, social responsibility, and good governance practices.
Why the SRS?
The SRS was developed in response to the challenges faced by social housing providers in attracting ESG investment. A lack of standardised reporting made it difficult for investors and lenders to evaluate risks and opportunities consistently. By adopting the SRS, we’re helping to create a unified voice within the sector, which in turn attracts greater investment for positive social and environmental outcomes.
What Does This Mean for Us?
As an adopter of the SRS, we are committed to reporting our ESG performance annually. The SRS framework includes 48 criteria across 12 themes, covering key areas such as:
- How we manage carbon emissions and energy efficiency.
- Ensuring our homes remain affordable and secure for our customers.
- Maintaining the safety and quality of our housing stock.
- Giving our customers a say in decisions that impact them.
- Promoting fairness and inclusivity across our organisation.
- Prioritising the health and well-being of our team members.
In addition, our reporting will address other important themes such as governance, resource management, placemaking, and supply chain sustainability.
Our Reporting Cycle
We will publish our ESG report annually, aligned with our financial year-end. Six months later, in October, we will share our report on our website and with our stakeholders. This commitment to transparency enables lenders, investors, and the wider community to assess our performance, understand our impact, and make informed decisions.
We believe that by adopting the SRS, we are not only ensuring consistency and comparability in our reporting but also strengthening our ability to attract the right investment to continue making a positive difference in our communities.
Our financial statements show our financial health as an organisation, giving insight into our performance, operations and cash flow.
You can find more information about our revenue, expenses, profitability, and debt for the past year in our most recent Financial Statements (2023-2024) here:
View our previous Financial Statements:
The Welsh Government set regulatory standards which we need to meet, and we assess the organisation against these standards every year.
Read our Self-Evaluation of Compliance here.
Details of what we plan to do to not only remain compliant with the Regulatory Standards but also to achieve continuous improvement across all facets of our organisation can be found in our Regulatory Framework Improvement Plan.
This maps out our path as an organisation for the next ten years, and reinforces our purpose, describing our vision, values, and strategic priorities.
It explains the three stages to our strategy, including the current stage, ‘Brilliant Basics’. This stage is focused on getting our core repairs and maintenance services to where they should be post-COVID, laying a solid foundation from which we can build and grow, to tackle the national housing crisis and help regenerate Bridgend.
The Corporate Strategy also commits to our four corporate objectives, which together aim to ensure that our customers, their homes, our communities and our colleagues are safe and happy. This is at the heart of everything we do.
At Valleys to Coast, we are working hard to ensure our customers and communities have a say in the services that affect them.
We do this through customer and community engagement, which ensures our customers are always at the heart of everything we do – and what we do helps our communities thrive.
Each year the Welsh Government assesses us against set standards and gives us a judgement on how well we are meeting them.
From April 2017 the UK Government introduced gender pay gap reporting for all companies employing more than 250 people.
View our 2023 Gender Pay Gap Report
We want everyone who uses our services to do so through their preferred language.
In addition to their remuneration, Board and Committee Members may be paid properly authorised out of pocket expenses when incurred on official business. This Policy defines and manages such instances.
We want to ensure we have the highest standards of openness and accountability, making sure any colleagues and partners with serious concerns about any aspects of our work, can come forward and express those concerns to us.
We take your concerns and any complaints about our services very seriously, and are committed to dealing with them swiftly and effectively.
In December 2022, the Welsh Government wrote to all social landlords in Wales asking for reassurance on the actions being taken to address issues of damp and mould.
Here we provide our full response: Valleys to Coast Housing – Response to Welsh Government re Damp and Mould, 20 January 2023
Community Housing Cymru appointed Turning Point HR Solutions, an independent Reward Consultancy, to collate and analyse data provided by housing associations on senior management remuneration.
The intention of the report is to present senior management pay information in one place.
Everyone has a right to feel that they belong in their workplace and community. Valleys to Coast is committed to improving the equality, diversity and inclusion of the organisation, its customers, communities and colleagues.
Read our Approach to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion report.
In this report, Valleys to Coast operates and identifies the asset management priorities we will be addressing over the next 5 years.