Settle and Paradigm merger proposals – update following resident consultation
This Spring, we announced that we are planning to form a partnership with another housing association called Paradigm Housing Group. Paradigm has almost 17,000 homes mainly in Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. Joining with another organisation in this way is often called a merger. We believe this would allow us to provide better services to residents and invest more in our communities.
We ran a formal six-week consultation with all residents to provide more details about the proposals and letting residents know how they could give us their views. We posted copies of these materials to all residents on the 22nd April and also sent them by email on this date to all those we had email addresses for.
As part of the consultation, residents were asked to let us know their views about this proposal and what they think the priorities should be for the new organisation, if it goes ahead. More than 1,800 Settle residents responded to the consultation survey with 41 residents joining our in-person events and 23 attending our online webinar.
Thank you to everyone who attended these events and gave feedback on the proposals. A summary of this feedback is shared below.
Consultation results
Residents were asked “After reading the information provided, how do you feel about the proposed partnership with Paradigm?” Over half of the residents who responded (56.6%) felt neutral towards the proposal. A similar amount of Settle residents felt either positive about the proposals (21.9%) or negative (21.5%). The response from Paradigm residents was comparable – 50.3% felt neutral towards the proposal, 31.8% were positive and 17.9% negative.
We also asked questions at the start of the questionnaire about residents’ understanding of the proposed partnership, and saw the following results:
- 74% of Settle residents felt that the information we provided was very or mostly clear.
- 71% of Settle residents were clear that there would be no changes to their landlord or services in the near future.
- 66% of Settle residents were clear that they would be consulted again if there are any proposed changes to services as a result of joining with Paradigm.
Priorities for improvements
As part of the consultation, we included a question asking all residents what they thought our priorities for improvement should be. These priorities are broadly similar to those identified by Paradigm residents. As we look ahead to what the potential new organisation would deliver for residents, we would take these priorities for service improvements into account.
- Dealing with home repairs quickly and to a good standard
- Managing and responding to anti-social behaviour
- Updating homes to maintain condition (kitchens, bathrooms, windows)
- Keeping communal areas clean and well maintained
- Making homes affordable to heat
Feedback themes
42% of Settle residents who completed the consultation questionnaire also included notes in response to the question “Do you have any other thoughts you would like to share with us at this time?” These comments are really useful to help us understand how residents are feeling about the proposal.
Residents asked good questions about what this means in the long run, raised concerns about service standards, and shared their hopes that this won’t negatively impact what already works well.
These are the key themes from your feedback where you are seeking reassurance, and the recommendations that we’ll be making to the Settle Board as they consider whether to go ahead with the merger later in the summer.
Key feedback themes from residents and our commitments
Concerns centred around whether the merger would truly bring benefits for existing residents or simply result in organisational change for its own sake.
Commitments we would make:
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- We would ensure the merger truly brings benefits for existing residents. We would continue to invest time and money into delivering the improvements that residents have told us matter most to them. In addition to improving our repairs service, these include:
– Communal areas: improving the standard of your communal areas.
– Anti-social behaviour (ASB): improving how we respond to and track anti-social behaviour cases and exploring new ways to be more visible in our communities.
– Improving our handling of complaints and queries.
– Making it easier for you to access our service digitally.
- We would ensure the merger truly brings benefits for existing residents. We would continue to invest time and money into delivering the improvements that residents have told us matter most to them. In addition to improving our repairs service, these include:
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- Delivering efficient and timely repairs is one of our top 5 priorities at Settle. We will continue to focus on improving repairs performance and strengthening how we follow up on outstanding works with a clear repairs plan in place. We would continue to build on this through a commitment that we will start a resident consultation within the first three months of the merger, to shape a new repairs standard and delivery plan for the new organisation, ensuring this improves on the service we currently provide Settle residents.
- From the top 5 areas of feedback identified as areas for investment through the consultation questionnaire, we also see the importance of ongoing investment in homes.
– We will continue updating homes to maintain their condition, replacing things like kitchens, bathrooms and windows. At the start of the merger, we will look to publish an overview of our investment plans for Settle properties.
– We will continue making homes more affordable to heat. As part of this, we will deliver investment to around 1000 Settle homes through additional funding secured through the Government’s Warmer Homes Fund.
Residents wanted assurance that Settle’s existing homes, people, and promises wouldn’t be deprioritised in favour of expansion.
Commitment we would make:
In addition to the benefits detailed above, we will:
- Deliver more new affordable homes through the merger than we would as Settle.
- Paradigm are committing to sharing details of specific benefits for Paradigm residents that will either be available on day 1 of the new organisation, or within the first 6 months. Could we make a similar commitment?
Some residents raised uncertainty about how the feedback would be used. Some worried that the decision had already been made and feared the consultation was more of a formality than a genuine opportunity to shape what happens next.
Commitments we would make:
- All views shared on the proposals will be considered by the Boards of our organisations when they discuss whether to go ahead with the proposal. We are currently preparing detailed reports on the feedback for our Board.
- We have asked members of Settle’s Voice of the Resident Panel to review the draft feedback report before we send this to our Board, and to consider this on behalf of Settle residents.
Residents highlighted current frustrations with slow response times, lack of follow-up, and a perceived decline in service over the years. There’s a real sense that any further deterioration could damage trust permanently.
Commitments we would make:
- A commitment that our repairs timelines and quality of work will continue to improve.
- The standards of services we deliver will at the least remain the same or improve. In particular, we will continue to deliver the targets we have set through 0ur work 0n the tenant satisfaction measure. Are we happy making this commitment?
Some questioned what the merger would mean for rent levels, service charges, tenancy rights, and legal protections. A strong theme here was a desire for plain, straightforward information and more direct conversations.
Commitments we would make:
- We’ll continue to ensure future messages are kept clear, jargon-free, and honest, using multiple opportunities to provide this information about what changes and what stays the same.
- The rents residents pay will not increase directly because of the partnership. The rents we charge are set by Government and this would continue after the merger.
- Residents right to live in their home would stay the same. For residents who are a shared owner or leaseholder, the terms of their lease and the services they receive would stay the same.
Many residents are proud of the service and culture at Settle, describing it as personal, values-led, and grounded in their local community. For some, the merger feels more like a takeover than a partnership – with concerns about how power, decisions, and culture will shift over time.
Commitments we would make:
- Our commitment would be to take the best of both organisations and bring them together, enabling us to access the benefits of a larger organisation but making sure we keep the local focus in mind.
- A commitment that colleagues from across both organisations would work for the new organisation. This would include members of the Board, Executive and Leadership teams as well as colleagues working in frontline and service delivery roles.
- A commitment that we would initially be called SettleParadigm, drawing both organisations together equally, and that following a thorough engagement process that all residents and colleagues can feed into, we would develop together a new joint name, corporate plan and priorities with the aim of launching these in summer 2026.
We saw comments from a small number of residents who specifically objected to the proposals, questioning whether this would truly deliver benefits for residents.
Commitments we would make:
- A commitment that we will have clear plans moving forward to deliver service improvements through the partnership.
- The combined Board of the new organisation would closely monitor service performance to make sure we deliver the benefits we have set out for the new organisation.
- A commitment to publishing key information on progress made through the merger. We would publish this on our website and in services updates sent directly to Settle residents.
We also heard some concerns raised by Settle residents during our face-to-face events and webinar. These related to the repairs and maintenance of specific properties and we also heard from a few residents about how we provide additional support to residents in our independent living schemes.
Commitments we would make:
- We are getting in touch directly with residents at properties where specific repairs / maintenance is required.
- Over the summer we will also be visiting all independent living schemes to discuss further with residents the services we provide. We will get in touch directly with residents to confirm details of our visits to each location.
Next steps
The results of this consultation, and the consultation with Paradigm residents, will be shared with the Settle and Paradigm Boards for them to consider before any final decision is made. You can read more about what Paradigm residents think of the proposal here.
The Boards will decide later in the summer whether to go ahead. We will send an update directly to all residents with the outcome and any potential next steps.
If the decision is made to go ahead with the merger, the feedback that you have provided through this resident consultation will be used to help shape the new organisation.
