Luminus Group was the sector’s top performer at number two in the table, followed by New Charter Housing Trust Group at number six.

Calico (15), Plus Dane Group (29), Gentoo (32), L&Q (39), Chester & District Housing Trust (47), and Look Ahead Housing & Care (46) – all made it into the top 50.

Weaver Vale Housing Trust (53), Great Places Housing Group (58), Trafford Housing Trust (65), Hightown Praetorian & Churches Housing Association (74), Cambridge Housing Society (75) and Pennaf Housing Group (92) were also highly rated.

Three other not for profit organisations, who provide housing support and other innovative services, appeared in the list with new entries for Foundation (26), RCHL (36) and You (96).

Three housing associations also won special awards:

Luminus was named Best for Leadership; New Charter Housing Trust was named Most Improved after leaping 46 places up the league table, plus Dane Group was named Best for Training and Development.

The Sunday Times rankings are based on results from in-depth staff surveys, assessing factors such as leadership, wellbeing and how employees rate their managers, team spirit and company ethos.

Federation chief executive David Orr said: ‘The latest Sunday Times results are fantastic news for housing associations and other providers of housing-related support.

‘The movement has more companies in the top 100 than any other sector.

‘These results show that our members not only provide a great deal for people who live in their homes and neighbourhoods, but also for the people who work for them.’

He added: ‘We’re extremely proud that so many are rated as such great places to work.’

The Best Companies List, which is now in its tenth year, saw 964 companies compete for the top slots.

Included in HEMS is a New Warm Homes Standard to drive the retrofit of all social homes by 2020. This will deliver insulation measures and heating systems alongside renewable technologies, as well as measures to adapt to climate change.

Ensuring all affordable homes are meeting the standard by 2020 will require new partnership working between landlords and energy suppliers. Landlords will offer the energy savings potential in bulk, enabling energy companies to deliver energy savings cost effectively.

There will be a new obligation on energy companies to support partnership arrangements and delivery of carbon savings. Social tenants and social landlord leaseholders will benefit from ‘priority group’ treatment, providing 100% subsidy for the necessary works.

HEMS also emphasises the role of more localised initiatives than the centralised approach of CERT. There is recognition that housing associations and other social housing providers have a vital role in improving the energy efficiency of their own homes as well as that of the broader neighbourhoods they work in.

David Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said:

“The UK is committed to significant reductions in CO2 emissions as part of our nation’s efforts to tackle climate change.

"Today’s publication of the Government’s Household Energy Management Strategy is an important milestone in ensuring these radical cuts in CO2 are achieved.

"Housing accounts for 27% of the UK’s CO2 emissions, so improving the energy efficiency of all homes is clearly vital in achieving our climate change targets.

"Our sector is already leading the way in tackling climate change, and we welcome the opportunities HEMS will offer to take this work further.

"The New Warm Homes Standard outlined in HEMS sets an ambitious target to raise the energy efficiency of social homes which should greatly help reduce tenants’ fuel bills.

"The Federation looks forward to working on the detail of the new standard with CLG, TSA and HCA to maximise its potential to reduce carbon emissions and energy bills whilst continuing to uphold our sector’s capacity to provide good quality housing and develop much-needed new homes.”

The Federation has welcomed parts of the green paper, especially the proposed shift in the planning system towards a presumption in favour of sustainable development and the greater scope for local communities to shape development in their area.

The Federation has also hailed the expectation that councils should provide local people with good quality information on housing need in each neighbourhood. And it has given a positive reception to the principle of giving local authorities and individual communities incentives to build more homes.

But it is the proposed scrapping of Section 106 that is a major concern, says the Federation.

The National Housing Federation, which represents housing associations, says that the Tory party’s plans to scrap the so-called ‘Section 106’ system – set out in its planning green paper – could lead to a reduction of up to 40% in the number of affordable homes delivered each year.

This is because under Section 106, private developers are obliged to build a minimum number of affordable homes on sites on which they are given permission to build new properties.

Around 64,000 of the 162,000 affordable homes to be built in England between April 2008 and March 2011, will be delivered through Section 106 agreements. And, under existing government plans, at least another 162,000 affordable homes are planned for the period between April 2011 and March 2014.

The Federation believes that any system that replaces Section 106 must be robust and deliver affordable housing where development is wanted and ensure affordable homes can be built, where necessary, even where there is some local opposition.

The Federation is also concerned that the Tories’ proposals to offer incentives to local communities to accept proposed building through the council tax system may not prove sufficient, as Federation research suggests the affordable housing incentives will add less than 1% to a typical council’s budget.

Federation chief executive David Orr said: “Much of what the Conservatives propose in their green paper is positive, and we support the party’s drive to create a simpler, more transparent and consistent planning system.”

However, he added: “The proposal to scrap Section 106 and replace it with a tariff system requires a leap of faith that the delivery of new homes will be maintained.

Section 106 delivers 40% of all affordable housing, but the Conservative proposals as they stand will put this delivery at too great a risk.

If a new planning system operates as the Conservatives envisage, all will be well; if it doesn't, we could lose up to 64,000 new affordable homes over three years.

The National Housing Federation is committed to working with all political parties to improve the planning system to support the delivery of new homes."