CWAG Newsletter – July 2025

Comprehensive Spending Review

Social Housing is regarded as one of the winners from the Spending Review. Key issues for social housing were initially summarised in the Letter from Housing Minister to registered providers of social housing: Spending Review 2025 – GOV.UK.

Housing Headlines

• £39 billion for a 10-year successor programme to the Affordable Homes Programme to run from 2026/27 – 2035/36. The programme renames Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP) will prioritise homes for social rent but will also include affordable rent and shared ownership. Reference to 2.5 billion for low interest loans to support new development with details yet to be announced.
• A 10-year rental settlement based on CPI + 1% each year from April 2026.
• The government has confirmed it will consult on a convergence mechanism to be confirmed at Autumn Budget. A consultation on implementation options will be published shortly.
• Social Landlords will be given equal access to the Building Safety Fund and Cladding Safety Scheme making it easier to fund building safety remediation through government schemes. This change is in response to concerns that building safety liabilities are holding back involvement in new supply projects.
• £100 million for early interventions to prevent homelessness through the Transformation Fund
• £950 million for a 4^th round Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF) enabling councils to acquire and refurbish properties to increase the supply of better-quality temporary accommodation.

See MHCLG Announcements below for further details.

Latest MHCLG Announcements

Delivering a Decade of renewal for social and affordable Housing

The government has set out its longer term plan for social and affordable housing, including five key steps which will underpin ‘the biggest increase in supply in a generation alongside a transformational and lasting change in the safety and quality of homes’.

The five steps are:

1. Deliver the biggest boost to grant funding in a generation
2. Rebuild the sector’s capacity to borrow and invest in new and existing supply
3. Establish an effective and stable regulatory regime
4. Reinvigorate housebuilding
5. Forge a new relationship with the sector to build at scale

The plan links into a series of further announcements including:

• A 10-year £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP) to deliver around 300,000, at least 60% of which will be for social rent.
• A rental settlement based on CPI+1% for 10 years with the potential to include a convergence mechanism.
• £2.5 million of low-interest loans over the Spending Review period to support the delivery of new social and affordable housing.

Electrical safety:

Following a consultation undertaken by the previous government, regulations have now been laid before Parliament requiring social landlords to carry out checks on electrical installations at least every 5 years as well as testing of all electrical appliances that are provided as part of a tenancy. These regulations will come into force in November 2025 for new lets, and 6 months later for existing tenancies.

In addition, the original consultation also included a call for evidence regarding a new requirement to check electrical safety installations in owner-occupier leasehold properties within social housing blocks every five years. The government has stated it will provide a separate response on this issue in due course.

Changes to RTB

Following the consultation earlier this year, the government has announced that it will bring forward legislation to implement the following changes:

• Exempt newly built social and affordable housing from the Right to Buy for 35 years.
• Increase the eligibility requirement (currently 3 years as a public secure tenant) to 10 years.
• Prevent existing property owners, or those that have previously benefitted from the scheme, from exercising the Right to Buy unless there are exceptional circumstances, e.g. victims of domestic abuse.
• Amend discount rules so that discounts start at 5% of the property value and increase by 1% for every extra year an individual is a secure tenant up to the maximum discount of 15% of the property value or the cash cap (whichever is lower).
• Increase the period from 5 years to 10 years that the council has the right to ask for repayment of all or part of the discount on the sale of property.
• Extend the period in which a local authority has the right of first refusal when a property previously bought under the Right to Buy is sold so that it applies in perpetuity.

In addition, the receipts regime will be reformed and existing flexibilities on spending Right to Buy receipts will now apply indefinitely allowing councils to combine Right to Buy receipts with grant funding for affordable housing.

Further policy work is also proposed in the following areas:

• Preventing fraud
• Cost floor reforms to better protect investment in existing homes
• Timelines for processing RTB applications
• RTB in rural areas

Competence and Conduct Standard

In a Parliamentary Statement on 2^nd July Housing Minister, Matthew Pennycook confirmed that the new Competence and Conduct Standard for social housing  will be implemented from October 2026.

There will be a transition period after this date giving providers additional time to comply with qualification requirements which will apply to senior housing managers and executives. Larger registered providers that own 1,000 or more units of social housing will have three years, and smaller providers that own less than 1,000 units will have four years to achieve compliance.

Reform of the Building Safety Regulator (BSR)

The government has announced its intention to create a single construction regulator, detaching the BSR from its current position within the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The new separate BSR will have a Board appointed by MHCLG. The change is intended to support government house building plans and allow for a new Fast Track Process to speed up decision making on newbuild applications and remediation decisions.

New National Housing Bank to be set up

Housing Minister, Matthew Pennycook has announced the establishment of National Housing Bank to accelerate housebuilding. The new bank will operate as a subsidiary of Homes England with a remit to deliver a long-term financial return for the government.

The scheme will provide up to £16 billion of new financial capacity in the form of loan finance and funding guarantees to support housebuilding and leverage enhanced private sector investment. Likely beneficiaries include SMEs and developers of large complex sites.

Access to social housing

Changes have been announced that will remove local connection rules for young care leavers and victims of domestic abuse to improve access to social housing.

Residential Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (Residential PEEPS)

The Government has published new regulations covering fire safety requirements in respect of disabled and vulnerable people in high rise and higher risk buildings. The regulations cover person-centred fire risk assessments specific to individual relevant residents.

Improving the Energy Efficiency of Socially Rented Homes

The proposals in this consultation would bring the social rented sector into line with changes proposed for the private rented sector using new metrics that are proposed following Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) reform. These proposals would require landlords to meet an updated EPC fabric metric at band C, including either a new heating system or smart readiness metric. The proposed MEES would be part of the reformed Decent Homes Standard and subject to Regulation by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH).

The government recognises that the proposed standard is different to that which the sector has been working towards so proposes that social rented homes that meet the existing EPC C standard before April 2028 would be considered compliant until their EPC certificates expire.

The consultation also proposes a cost cap of £10,000 per home to avoid excessive spend on individual properties. This would allow landlords to classify a property as compliant even if the property still falls short of the standard. The exemption would last for 10 years from the MEES compliance deadline of April 2030, after which landlords would be expected to bring the property up to the required standard.

This is a 10 week consultation that closes on 10th September 2025.

Consultation on a Reformed Decent Homes Standard

This consultation seeks views on an updated Decent Homes Standard. The current DH standard has not been updated since 2006 and only applies to social landlords. Under these proposals the new DH standard would apply in both the social and private rented sectors. The new standard has an emphasis on tenant safety and keeping homes free from damp and mould. It includes an updated list of core facilities and updated Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES). The proposals aim to strike a balance between modernising and updating the Standard to meet higher expectations whilst remaining proportionate and affordable for providers. Views are sought on changes such as the provision of floor coverings at the start of a tenancy.

This is a 10 week consultation that closes on 10th September 2025.

Social Rent Convergence

The government announced at the Spending Review that it would be implementing a convergence mechanism as part of the new 10-year rental settlement.

This would allow rents on Social Rent properties that are currently ‘below formula’ (i.e lower than the maximum that may be charged when a property is let) to increase by an agreed additional amount to align with formula rents over time.

This consultation addresses is seeking views on how convergence will be implemented, with modelling of options .capped at £1 or £2 per week.

The consultation will inform how the measures are implemented and is seeking views on allowing rents that are currently ‘below formula’ to rise an additional £1 or £2 per week.  Decisions will be confirmed at the Autumn Budget taking into account the implications for rent payers, new supply and the cost to the public finances.

This is an 8 weeks consultation that closes on 27th August 2025.

In preparation for the implementation of the first phase of Awaab’s Law on 27^th October, MHCLG have published draft non-statutory guidance for social landlords. The guidance is not intended as an authoritative interpretation of the law but is a general guide that will be updated to reflect lessons learned in line with the stated ‘test and learn’ approach being adopted.

The guidance provides clarification around timescale requirements which are confirmed as ‘working days’ rather than calendar days. In addition, the relationship with the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) is explained in more detail highlighting that Awaab’s Law offers a person-centred approach taking account of the tenant’s circumstances and vulnerabilities when assessing the risks presented by a hazard. As such, the assessment and categorisation of the hazard may differ from the HHSRS.

Awaab’s Law will be applicable to all social housing occupied under a tenancy that is let by a registered provider. It will not apply to accommodation occupied under licence, low-cost home ownership, shared ownership or long leasehold. To be in scope of Awaab’s Law, the hazard must relate to a building or land for which the social landlord is responsible.

Awaab’s Law: Draft guidance for social landlords – GOV.UK

The government has responded to sector concerns that Awaab’s Law may be used by some unscrupulous ‘claims farmers’ to exploit vulnerable tenants. The Minister for Housing and Planning and the Minister for Courts and Legal Services have therefore announced that they will be launching a Call for Evidence into the activities of Claims Management Companies and referrals to solicitors on a no win no fee basis. The Call for Evidence  will seek views on current practices and consider how to reduce unscrupulous ’claims farming’ activity in housing disrepair cases.

Social Housing Ombudsman Reports

Spotlight Report Repairing Trust

The Housing Ombudsman’s ‘Repairing Trust’ spotlight report indicates that negative experiences with repairs and maintenance is significantly undermining tenants’ trust in their landlords. Poor communication, inadequate complaint handling and lack of empathy all contribute to this distrust. Addressing these issues requires a cultural shift to a more empathetic and transparent approach to managing repairs services.

Building stronger partnerships between landlords, tenants and contractors is crucial to achieving improved outcomes. The report also identifies the current focus on reactive rather than planned maintenance as problematic both in terms of the tenant experience and the longer-term financial impact on landlords.

The report uses examples of good practice alongside instances of poor handling of tenant complaints drawn from the Ombudsman’s casework to signpost the benefits of effective resident focussed approaches based on respect, empathy, accurate information, safety, and mutual trust.

Learning from severe maladministration report – June 2025

The latest Housing Ombudsman report in the Learning from severe maladministration series focuses on poor handling of leaseholder complaints.

Learning from severe maladministration report – July 2025

covers the fundamentals of ASB: the role of the landlord, managing expectations, and where to work with others

Learning from Severe Maladministration