TVH told to launch governance review
Regulator acts after former board members complain about high staff turnover at Three Valleys Housing
Three Valleys Housing was told to commission an independent review of its governance to look into alleged high turnover of senior staff and board members at the organisation.
The Tenant Services Authority confirmed it had told the 5,800-home association, based in Derbyshire, to commission the investigation. The review is now understood to have been completed.
Roger de la Mare, assistant director of risk and assurance with the TSA, said that ‘there were a number of issues about the state of governance given the recent high turnover in board and senior management’. He confirmed he had seen a draft version of the review but is yet to receive a final version.
Paul Eastwood, chief executive of TVH, confirmed its board had been reduced to five members - down from the usual eight - for a period of four weeks three months ago.
Two former tenant board members, who both stepped down from the TVH earlier this year, told Inside Housing they had done so because they had ‘grave concerns’ about the ‘confrontational nature’ of Mr Eastwood, who joined the association in January.
In a statement sent to Inside Housing the former board members said they had acted following the dismissal of a number of TVH staff.
They claimed the board had been reduced in size following their resignations along with the chair and vice-chair of the association this year. They claimed two other board members had also left.
TVH denies all the allegations made against it and its chief executive. The association has argued that the dismissals have come about as a result of Mr Eastwood tackling what he describes as previous poor management practices.
Mr de la Mare confirmed the TSA had requested a governance review as a result of board members’ concerns.
‘A number of allegations we received we felt required that sort of independent review and that is an entirely standard way of responding in those instances.’
Mr Eastwood said TVH had now recruited four new tenant board members and a new independent board member earlier this week.
He said the high staff turnover was due to internal restructuring which would continue in December. ‘There are likely to be some further changes to the structure, of which the board is fully aware and which we are discussing with our staff teams,’ he added.
Have your say
You must sign in to make a comment