A housing association which provides services to people across Kent has improved its governance rating.

The Regulator for Social Housing (RSH) has confirmed that the rating of Maidstone-based housing provider, Golding Homes, has been upgraded from G2 to G1.

Established in 2004, the housing association manages 8,000 properties in the country and has provided homes for more than 21,000 people.

Chief executive, Stephanie Goad, said: "We’ve used the difficult situation we encountered two years ago as a catalyst to deliver change at pace.

"We’re pleased that after a rigorous assessment the regulator has returned Golding Homes to G1, the top rating for governance.

"This is a result of the hard work by everyone at Golding over the last two years and a determination to make certain that customer safety always remains our top priority.

"Golding will continue to focus on improving services for customers and engaging with them to learn how we can work towards delivering our vision of outstanding services, great homes and proud communities."

The RSH publishes regulatory ratings for all providers owning 1,000 or more social housing homes, to make sure that they are complying with the regulator’s governance and financial viability standards.

In 2020, Golding Homes went from a G1 to a G2 over serious breaches in housing standards.

The same year it was revealed that hundreds of people in Golding Homes' properties were living with fire risks and faulty electrical installations.

In a report published in February 2020, the RSH wrote: "The regulator has learned that Golding Homes has failed to complete over 100 high risk actions arising from Fire Risk Assessments (FRA) and these have been outstanding for a number of months.

"The regulator has concluded that Golding Homes did not have an effective system in place to allow it to meet its statutory health and safety responsibilities in relation to fire and electrical safety."

In a new review, the RSH has now confirmed that the housing provider has strengthened its risk frameworks and reporting systems, as well as an enhanced board oversight of health and safety compliance.

Golding Homes chairman Chris Cheeseman said: "We never want to go back to where we found ourselves two years ago – but we’ve embraced this challenge as an opportunity to deliver change at pace.

"We’re not complacent, but confident that we have strong foundations in place to build and successfully deliver our future ambitions for Golding Homes and its customers."

You can read the regulators summary online here.