Aspire Housing and whg approve merger plans
The Boards of Aspire Housing and whg have agreed to move forward with plans to merge, creating a new housing association with more than 32,000 homes across the Midlands.
The legal merger is expected to complete in November 2026, when the new organisation will become known as whg aspire.
What this means for customers
By joining together, Aspire and whg can do more for customers and communities. Our aim is to:
- Provide safe, secure and healthy homes that are energy efficient.
- Deliver reliable services that are easy to access.
- Remain committed to our heartlands of Newcastle-under-Lyme and Walsall.
- Invest more in existing homes and communities.
- Improve services by learning from what each organisation does well.
- Build more affordable homes which meet the needs of our communities.
Customers do not need to do anything because of this announcement.
Your rights as a customer will not change because of the merger and there will be no immediate change to the services you receive. Your rent and service charges will not increase as a result of the merger. You should continue to report repairs, make payments and contact us in the usual way.
How customers helped to shape our plans
Customer feedback has been an important part of the merger process. More than 3,600 customers took part in online and telephone surveys.
Over a quarter of customers (27%) said they had positive views about the merger, the majority (57%) were neutral and 16% were negative.
Customers told us that the things that matter most to them are:
- Delivering high quality, timely repairs.
- Keeping neighbourhoods clean and tidy.
- Investing in existing homes.
Our Boards considered your feedback, along with detailed information on the merger plans, before deciding to go ahead.
What customers told us has already helped shape the priorities for the new organisation. These include good quality, reliable services, safe and well-maintained homes and strong local services. We will continue to keep customers involved and informed as we join together and consider how to combine services.
Taking the best from both organisations
Aspire and whg are both well-established housing associations with strong local connections.
We have both achieved a C1 consumer rating, which means we meet the standards set by the Regulator of Social Housing for the services we provide to customers.
The merger will put us in a stronger position to manage rising costs and meet new government housing requirements, while continuing to invest in existing homes, services and communities.
Gary Fulford, current whg Group Chief Executive, will lead the new organisation. Sinéad Butters MBE, Group Chief Executive of Aspire Housing, will remain closely involved to support the early stages of integration to whg aspire.
What happens next?
Teams from Aspire and whg will continue preparing for the merger, which is expected to legally complete in November 2026. Over time, we will look at how we can improve services by bringing together the experience, learning and best practice of both organisations. We will keep you informed and give you plenty of notice about any future changes that affect you.
Please read our frequently asked questions (FAQs) below for more information.
Customer webpage FAQs
While both Aspire and whg are high-performing organisations, all housing associations are facing increasing challenges. The government expects us to build more new, affordable homes, whilst keeping existing homes well-maintained and energy efficient. By coming together we can strengthen our organisations and protect our future, so we can continue providing affordable, good-quality homes for our local communities.
Before making this decision, we completed a detailed due diligence process where we reviewed information about each other. The Boards of Aspire and whg carefully reviewed the findings alongside feedback from customers. They also considered the financial position of both organisations and our plans for bringing them together. Having looked at all of this, both Boards agreed to move forward with the merger.
More than 3,600 customers shared their views on the merger proposals, with 84% having a positive or neutral view. Customers told us that maintaining and improving existing homes is one of their top priorities.
The merger will help us respond to that feedback by enabling us to invest more over the coming years to improve existing homes and keep them in good condition. It will also help us build more new affordable homes, allowing us to do more to tackle the housing crisis across the region.
The new organisation will own and manage more than 32,000 homes across our Midlands heartlands.
This will allow us to remain focused on our local areas, strengthening our presence and building on our strong connections with neighbourhoods and communities.
We expect to legally join our two organisations together in November. We’ll keep you updated about progress in MyHome magazine and on our website.
Initially, we will continue to work in the same way after the merger is completed so you won’t see changes straight away. Please continue to report repairs or any issues in the same ways that you do now. Your Neighbourhood Coordinator will remain the same and you can contact them the same way you do now.
whg is a housing association with more than 22,000 homes across the West Midlands. Our operating areas overlap and we will have a clear, combined geography when the merger is completed.
Our organisations are already similar in many ways, including our values and our commitment to providing good quality homes and services in thriving communities. We have both been awarded a C1 rating from the Regulator of Social Housing, which reflects this commitment.
You’ll continue to pay rent and any service charges to us in the usual way and these will not go up because of the merger. They will continue to be reviewed each year as they are now and will only rise in line with the increases that are approved by the government, as they do currently.
No, all of your rights and protections will remain the same and will not be affected by the merger. You won’t need to sign a new tenancy agreement or lease.
There will be no immediate changes to any of our services. Our commitment to providing a good quality repairs and maintenance service will not change and we’ll continue to support you to sustain your tenancy. Over time, our larger size and increased financial strength should enable us to improve our service levels and to expand our existing services or offer new ones.
Please continue to contact us in the same way you do now, either online or through our Customer Excellence team. [Link to information about reporting repairs]
No. We’ll continue to deliver a good quality and timely repairs service for all customers. Customer satisfaction with the repairs service last year was 87.7% for Aspire and 84.1% for whg, and we will work hard to maintain and improve on this when we merge.
We asked Aspire and whg customers for their feedback on the proposals over a six-week period in the spring. More than 3,600 customers took part, more than 11% of our combined number of customers.
Over a quarter of customers (27%) said they had positive views about the merger, the majority (57%) were neutral and 16% were negative. They said that the importance of high-quality, timely repairs, keeping neighbourhoods clean and well-maintained and continuing to invest in our existing homes were the priorities they wanted us to focus on in the future.
More than two-thirds of customers who shared their views said they would like to continue to remain involved in our plans as the merger progresses. Find out more about customer engagement opportunities: [Link to Get Involved page]
We will be holding ‘a big conversation’ with customers where we have planned a range of events, feedback sessions and information to help us understand your priorities for our new housing association. We’re still working with our engaged customer groups to finalise the details, so look out for more information soon!
When the merger is formally completed in November our name will change to whg aspire for the first few months. As we bring the two organisations together, we will also have a new name for the new housing association during 2027. Customers and colleagues will play an important role by sharing views on the values, priorities and identity they want the new organisation to reflect. These insights will help shape the brand and inform the development of the new name.
Your landlord will stay the same and there will be no changes to your tenancy agreement or lease. Your rights and terms will remain as they are.
There will be no change to how we manage your home and our existing colleagues will continue to provide services to you.
Both Aspire and whg have a strong track record of involving customers in shaping and improving services - that won’t change. The customer voice will remain at the heart of our decision-making and we’ll continue to work closely with customers to understand what's important to you and use your feedback to improve our services.
The merger will support us to invest more money in maintaining and improving our homes, which includes replacement kitchens, bathrooms, boilers and windows. We have no plans to change our planned investment programme - sometimes we do have to amend dates, but we will always give you notice if this happens.
Both Aspire and whg are proud to have the top consumer rating of C1 from the Regulator of Social Housing, which means we are committed to providing safe and decent homes and treating customers with respect. Together, we will be even stronger, bringing the best from both organisations to deliver excellent housing services for our customers.
Our community-based services will remain, which means you’ll continue to have a named Neighbourhood Coordinator who will lead all tenancy-related matters for you, and who will know and understand your local community. We will invest in existing homes so they will continue to be well-maintained, safe and healthy places to live. Our services will also be stronger, as we’ll have more colleagues across more teams to support you.
Coming together we’ll have more than 32,000 homes across the Midlands. And as a larger organisation we will be able to access more funding to create more regional growth opportunities and build new affordable homes for people in local communities.
Your agreement and your rights as a shared owner will not change. Learn more about your rights as a shared owner [Leasehold page]
We will continue to keep these pages updated and will also provide updates in our customer newsletters.