Sector expertise you can rely on, from a firm that knows the ground it stands on.
Specialist Accountants for Housing Associations Across Merseyside & Greater Manchester
Get in touch with us today by calling us on 0161 399 0121 (Manchester), 0151 303 3122 (Liverpool) or emailing us at info@uhy-williamsoncroft.com to learn more about us, and what we can do for your Social Housing organisation.
SOCIAL HOUSING PROVIDERS
Accountancy & Audit Services for Social Housing providers
Registered providers across the North West are managing the same set of pressures: squeezed budgets, rising compliance costs, ambitious development pipelines and a regulatory framework that keeps moving. The Regulator of Social Housing’s Governance and Financial Viability Standard, the requirements of the Building Safety Act 2022, and the 2026 update to the Housing SORP have all added to the reporting burden finance teams are expected to carry.
UHY Williamson Croft brings dedicated audit, tax and advisory support to registered providers and housing associations across Merseyside and Greater Manchester – drawing on our public sector audit experience, our property and construction sector team, and the wider technical resource of the UHY Hacker Young network. We take the time to properly understand your organisation, rather than treating you as a standard company audit.
How we help finance directors and financial decision-makers
Our audit team provides partner-led, client-focused external audit services to companies owned and operated for the benefit of public sector bodies, including special-purpose entities and group structures with consolidated accounts. We apply that experience to the areas a registered provider audit turns on – property valuation under the Housing SORP, grant income recognition, tenant receivables and long-term loan covenants – with reporting built around the Regulator of Social Housing’s requirements.
Service charge accounts are core to our property team’s work – essential wherever a building is divided into individually owned or let units and shared costs need to be accounted for transparently. That’s the same discipline a mixed-tenure or leasehold housing portfolio requires, and one we apply directly.
Registered providers routinely mix VAT-exempt rental income with taxable development, commercial and shared ownership activity. Partial exemption calculations are a well-established part of our VAT advisory work on property portfolios, and the same principles apply directly to a housing association’s mixed income streams.
Stock transfers, mergers between associations, and group restructuring all carry risk if the financial position isn’t properly tested beforehand. Our transaction services team carries out detailed due diligence work, identifying issues in advance of a transaction and providing practical recommendations to manage them.
Land acquisition for development, the use of special purpose vehicles, and joint ventures are all areas our property and tax teams work in day to day – expertise that applies equally whether the client is a private developer or a registered provider growing its stock.
Corporation tax, VAT and SDLT planning for a registered provider is about protecting funding that ultimately serves tenants and communities, not aggressive avoidance. Our tax team advises public sector and charitable bodies on the reliefs and structuring options available to them, and applies that expertise to social housing.
HELPING YOU PROSPER
Why UHY Williamson Croft?
We’re a Manchester and Liverpool-based firm, which means we’re across the local authority relationships and the regional development pipeline that shape the North West’s housing landscape.
Since December 2025 we’ve operated as part of the UHY Hacker Young network, giving us access to a wider pool of technical resource and sector specialists across the UK when a client needs it, while keeping the personal, partner-led relationship that’s always been at the centre of how we work.
We don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach. Every registered provider has its own funding structure, its own governance arrangements, and its own risk profile – and that’s how we build the service around you.
We’re a Manchester and Liverpool-based firm, which means we’re across the local authority relationships and the regional development pipeline that shape the North West’s housing landscape.
Since December 2025 we’ve operated as part of the UHY Hacker Young network, giving us access to a wider pool of technical resource and sector specialists across the UK when a client needs it, while keeping the personal, partner-led relationship that’s always been at the centre of how we work.
We don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach. Every registered provider has its own funding structure, its own governance arrangements, and its own risk profile – and that’s how we build the service around you.
