We are writing to you with an update on our partnership with Places for People, and information about our new customer newsletter and Annual Review.
Places for People
Earlier this year, we sent a letter to our customers about a proposal for South Yorkshire Housing Association (SYHA) to join Places for People (PfP). We explained why we were proposing the partnership, and invited you to share your views and feedback in our customer consultation.
We committed to sharing the SYHA Board’s decision on SYHA becoming a subsidiary of PfP. The Board made the decision by considering:
- Feedback from the customer consultation
- SYHA’s financial position, and the investment needed to provide safe, high-quality homes and services
- How we can offer our customers and communities the most opportunities and benefits.
Both the SYHA and PfP Boards have approved SYHA joining PfP as a subsidiary, and we joined PfP on 1st December 2025. A subsidiary is a company that is owned by another organisation.
Here’s a recap on why we’ve joined PfP, what it means for you, and more information about the customer consultation.
Why we’re joining Places for People
PfP is the UK’s leading social enterprise, and committed to building homes and communities where everyone is welcome and can thrive. By working in partnership, SYHA and PfP are stronger and can share resources. We can also ensure further growth and investment in South Yorkshire.
The partnership will support us to provide services at the standard our customers expect and deserve. It improves our financial position, which includes our ability to:
- pay for repairs and maintenance in SYHA homes, neighbourhoods, and communal spaces
- pay bills, salaries, and anything else to keep the organisation running
- ensure we have funds for building new social homes, investment and unexpected costs.
You can read more about the partnership, including the answers to Frequently Asked Questions, at www.syha.co.uk/pfp. You can also get in touch with us by emailing enquiries@syha.co.uk or calling 0800 1380 380 if you have any questions.
What the partnership means for you
SYHA and PfP are committed to making a positive difference to customers from both organisations, and investment in homes and services will increase.
Our SYHA name, brand, and contact details are the same, and we still have our head office in Sheffield.
We will provide the same support and services to our customers. If you have a tenancy agreement with us, this hasn’t changed.
You will have the same Housing Officer, Keyworker, or other contact at SYHA. However, as is normal for any organisation, this can change because of people joining and leaving teams.
PfP and SYHA will look at proposals for bringing the organisations together over the next 18 months. This may include completing a Transfer of Engagements – this is when one organisation joins another, and they act as a single organisation under one name. SYHA as an organisation would not exist after a Transfer of Engagements. So, for example, if you have a SYHA home, your landlord will change to PfP. However, before a decision is made, we would let you know and start another customer consultation. The SYHA and PfP Boards would take the feedback from the customer consultation into account when deciding whether to proceed.
Customer consultation
We invited you to share your views about the partnership as part of our customer consultation. The consultation period lasted from 16 July to 10 September 2025, and we hosted 14 customer consultation events. Customers could also share their feedback by getting in touch with us or completing an online survey. We worked with independent consultants Campbell Tickell to capture all your feedback.
The consultation findings were written up into a full report for the SYHA and PfP Boards. Nearly 80% of customers that took part in the consultation survey are neutral or supportive of SYHA joining PfP as a subsidiary. However, there were some objections and concerns about the impact on customer service.
The Boards have taken all feedback from the customer consultation seriously. Both organisations are committed to making improvements, listening to customer feedback, and looking for opportunities to enhance our services. We have a great foundation to build on, as PfP received a C1 rating for the Regulator of Social Housing’s Consumer Standards in 2025, and SYHA’s performance in the Tenant Satisfaction Measures is consistently high.
We also received feedback on topics unrelated to the partnership. This feedback has been reviewed and responded to, but if you have any further questions please get in touch.
The SYHA Board would like to share their appreciation for every customer that took part in the consultation. Thank you – we really value your questions and feedback.
Next steps
You can find out more about the partnership at www.syha.co.uk/pfp and we’ll share updates on our website, social media, and in our new newsletter.
If you have any questions, get in touch by emailing enquiries@syha.co.uk or calling 0800 1380 380.
New customer newsletter
To share information about our partnership with PfP and other news that matters to you, we are introducing a new customer newsletter.
The newsletter will be launched in early 2026, and emailed to you if we have your email address. It will also be published on our website. Please call us on 0114 2900 200 or 0800 1380 380 to share or update your email address.
Do you enjoy writing, taking photos, or have great content ideas to share? We’d love to hear your ideas and have opportunities to get involved in creating the newsletter. Please email us at connect@syha.co.uk or call 0800 1380 380 and you’ll be added to our Involved Customers group.
Annual Review for Customers
We recently published our Annual Review for Customers on our website. It includes:
- updates and performance data from our services
- how we’ve spent our income
- stories from our customers and colleagues, and
- how we’ve used customer feedback to make improvements.
This year, we also asked our Involved Customers group for their questions. It was great to learn more about the topics that are important to you, including complaints, sustainability, and value for money.
Pam, SYHA customer and Board member, put your questions to our colleagues in a series of short videos that are also part of this year’s Annual Review.
Read the Annual Review on our website.
If you have any feedback about the Annual Review, or would like to join our Involved Customers group, please contact us on connect@syha.co.uk or call 0800 1380 380
