Following consultation with customers and others, Sovereign and Network Homes came together on 1 October 2023 into a group structure and, from April 2025, we legally became a single organisation. Known as SNG (which stands for Sovereign Network Group), our aim is to make an even better organisation.
The merger doesn't affect the rights of residents to right to live in your home. You still have the same lease or tenancy agreement.
From October 2023, we focused on fully integrating both organisations and then brought our customer-facing teams, systems and policies together. Customers saw little difference initially: still contacting us the same way and dealing with the teams you have before.
In the longer-term though, we believe that coming together lets us do more for all our customers and residents. As one organisation we’re able to invest more into existing homes, into services, into local communities and into building more homes.
You can read the full merger proposal leaflet here [pdf, 1.46MB] 
and we explained that we were confident the merger will deliver benefits to residents and put us in a better position to deliver on our social purpose and priorities.
We want to give our current and future residents better-quality existing homes and build more new homes for thousands of people who still need one.
We want to get the basics right and give you great services and support if you need it. From repairs and safety checks to helping you access any financial assistance you’re due. From training courses which help you get a great job to grants for local groups, so your communities can thrive.
As housing associations, we both face a challenging future (such as rising costs that affect our services and ability to invest in homes) at a time when we’re trying to keep rents affordable for residents. These challenges could last for years. That’s why we believe it was the right time to merge – and the right merger for both associations.
Together, we are in a better position to get through these challenges. Our bigger size will let us carry on providing locally focused services but make efficiency savings and have better access to new funding.
We can also keep investing in better services and doing more to make homes energy-efficient - so they’re warm, more affordable to run and help fight climate change.
The merger proposal information, and our feedback plans, were checked by a group of residents from both associations and updated from what they said. We held a feedback exercise on the proposals during June and July 2023, and you can read a summary of the feedback results below.
There wasn’t a formal resident vote but both Boards took the feedback into account before they made their final decisions to approve the merger.
Sovereign customers
We received 5,705 responses (about 9% of homes) to the feedback survey about the proposed merger and what was most important to you throughout this transition.
- 51% of those who responded said they were aware that a merger was planned – we had shared extra information online, by email, SMS and in the post to give everyone a chance to learn more.
- 63% felt ‘neutral’ about the proposed merger, 23% felt very or quite negative and 14% felt very or quite positive.
- Respondents rated the most important merger ambitions as ‘investing in existing and new homes’ (74% very important/important) and ‘improving the service we provide’ (67% very important/important).
- We asked ‘If we merge, we believe we can bring the best of both organisations into one. How important are the following to you?’. The top ranked items were: ‘maintaining and repairing your home’ (92% very important/important) and ‘making your home more energy efficient’ (89% very important/important)
Network Homes customers
Network ran a similar exercise and received 361 responses from residents of its 21,000 homes.
- 70% of those who responded said they were aware of the merger.
- 41% were not positive about it, 35% felt ‘neutral’ and 24% felt very/quite positive.
- On investing in homes, respondents rated the most important merger ambition as ‘Improving the quality of existing homes’, followed by ‘Regenerating estates’ and then ‘Building 25,000 new homes’.
- ‘Supporting older people’ and ‘Helping those struggling because of cost-of-living increases’ mattered most to residents about having a new Community Foundation.
- When asked ‘If we merge, we believe we can bring the best of both organisations into one. How important are the following to you?’, the two top ranked options were the same as for Sovereign customers: ‘maintaining and repairing your home’ (92% very important/important) and ‘making your home more energy efficient’ (81% very important/important).
The ‘mini consultation’ ran from Monday 20 January to Monday 3 February. We asked you the following single question:
On 1 April the final stage of the merger will happen, and we will legally be called Sovereign Network Group. While we have involved and consulted customers throughout the process, we wanted to offer you a final chance to tell us anything else you’d like us to consider as we continue to bring services together. All responses will be anonymised.
We received 232 responses. The majority of responses mentioned individual customer challenges and concerns over performance with the organisation increasing in size. There were also comments in favour of the merger. You told us that you hoped that SNG could reduce the time taken to conduct repairs, have positive customer engagement and try to minimise rent increases.
The results of the survey were anonymised but we are responding to your comments and feedback where possible.