Brighter Places is a Registered Provider with more than 3,200 affordable and social rent homes located in Bristol and the surrounding area, with plans to build a further 800 homes by 2026.
The project was for DTP to support the merger team from both Solon and United Communities in the consolidation of the two organisations’ long term financial plans. This was with a view to assisting in the detail sent out to the Regulator, funders and boards including the new merged board. As part of this, we were required to run stress tests on the new plan and at all points we were involved in supporting the team in producing solutions for the merger as part of the wider working group that was set up.
Working with the finance directors from United Communities and Solon South West, we reviewed their current plans and then put them into a merged consolidated plan allowing for any additional costs associated with the merger and then future savings.
As one of the organisations was on the Brixx software tool and the other was on a spreadsheet mode, we first had to decide, alongside the client, which platform would be best for the consolidated plan. The decision was to put both onto Brixx and, therefore, we had to initially convert Solon South West’s plan into Brixx and agree this with their finance director.
Once we were happy that we had adequately put the model into Brixx and reflected the business at that time, we then ran three consolidated plans to show the effect of the merger on the new business. The various models were a straight adding of the two models, there was a model that eradicated dual senior posts, and the final model was the intended merged plan with all additional costs and savings. These were shared with the senior team and the boards to show the effects of the merger and, once all were satisfied, they were shared with both the Regulator and existing funders.
When all parties were satisfied with the models, we were requested to run stress tests on the main merged plan to show the effects of risks on the business (to put together the risks DTP ran sessions with the board on their responsibilities relating to risks, stress testing and mitigations which ascertained the tests) and this information was also shared with all stakeholders.
As the merger process lasted more than a year, we were requested to run various iterations of the plan based around new budgeting and annual updates and each time we ran the stress tests.
At all points within the project, we liaised with senior officers, the merger working group, funding advisors and the legal team.
The two organisations realised their goal of merger and Brighter Places started trading in April 2021. The long-term plan for the new merged business was successfully used to populate the FFR in the June of 2021. We also have the privilege of working with the new business in a retainer capacity on the Brixx model, as well as working with the finance team on training and creation of the new long-term financial plan.
Anna Klimczack, Chief Executive, and Grant Giles, Finance Director, Brighter Places