Newsletters

‘Knowing our Homes’ Project and Survey

CWAG is joining up with other partners across social housing in a new project ‘Knowing our Homes’. This is a programme of work with origins in the ‘Better Social Housing Review’ commissioned jointly by the National Housing Federation (NHF) and Chartered Institute of Housing.

Although the Better Social Housing Review was focused on the housing association sector, the local authority sector has committed to support the work emerging from the review to ensure there is a shared approach across the whole social housing sector. The Local Government Association (LGA), Association of Retained Council Housing (ARCH), National Federation of ALMOs (NFA), and Councils with ALMOs Group (CWAG) are all working together to achieve this and make sure the whole council housing sector is represented.

The project aims to establish a shared, standardised approach for gathering and using information about the condition of social homes and about the residents who live in them. This will help social landlords to meet new requirements emerging through the Consumer Standards which set higher expectations for how landlords gather and use information about their homes and their residents.

The first stage of this work is a baseline survey to identify how social landlords are currently gathering and using data. From this, we will look to develop proposals to address existing challenges and build on good practice.

This is intended to be a joint survey with both the council and ALMO contributing to the response. It is important that the survey achieves a good return rate, and in the case of councils and ALMOs, we need to ensure that only one return per landlord is received. As most of the data is currently held by the ALMO, the survey link has been sent to the ALMO with the intention that they will work jointly with the council on this. Analysis of survey returns will be administered by the NFA on behalf of the LGA, ARCH and CWAG.

The survey return date is Wednesday 18th October 2023.

If you would like more details about the ‘Knowing our Homes’ project, survey or a copy of the survey questions please contact the Policy Officer.

The Social Housing Regulation Act, which received Royal Assent in July 2023, conferred new fee-charging powers to the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) to ensure it can deliver its expanded role.

This consultation follows an announcement by government that from 1^st July 2024 social landlords will need to pay the full costs of their regulation.

The Regulator is currently funded through a combination of fees and government grants; proactive regulation of the economic standards is funded by fees, whilst other activities including enforcement and reactive consumer regulation are covered by government grant.

The RSH is now gearing up for the biggest change to social housing regulation in a decade, with regular inspections of larger social landlords (including councils). The proposed changes to RSH’s fee charging arrangements are designed ensure there are sufficient resources, skills and capacity to deliver proactive consumer regulation whilst removing the requirement for direct government grant support.

For local authority landlords this represents a major change as the sector will fall within these revised charging arrangements and will be required to pay fees for the first time.

The consultation relates to the principles and arrangements for charging rather than the exact level of fees that will be levied. However, the consultation does include modelling and estimates around a proposed fee level of between £7 and £8 per unit for local authorities with more than 1000 homes. Local authorities with less than 1000 homes will be exempt from the fee arrangements, the fee rate proposed is being zero.

There is a differential between the proposed fee level for councils and housing associations which is intended to reflect the additional economic regulation applicable to housing associations.

A key principle set out is that private registered providers do not pay for the regulation of local authority registered providers, or the visa versa.

This is an eight week consultation which ends on Tuesday 31^st October 2023.

Diary Dates

CWAG Annual General Meeting – Thursday 28^th September 2023.

This year our AGM speakers will focus on the implementation of the Social Housing Regulation Act, in particular preparing for the new regulatory arrangements and the professionalisation changes introduced by the legislation.

Lydia Dlaboha, Deputy Chief Executive HQN will be discussing how councils can prepare for consumer regulation whilst Charlotte Hilliard who is the DLUHC lead on professionalisation and anti-social behaviour will be speaking on Driving Professionalism in Social Housing.

Come along and support your AGM

Regulator Consults on new Consumer Standards

The Social Housing Regulation Act 2023 received Royal Assent on 21st July 2023 paving the way for significant changes including enhanced consumer regulation of social housing. As expected, following the passage of the legislation, the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has launched its consultation on the proposed new consumer standards that will underpin the regulation of the sector from April 2024.

The four new consumer standards proposed are:

• The Safety and Quality Standard
• The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard
• The Neighbourhood and Community Standard
• The Tenancy Standard

These new standards reflect the RSH’s expanded consumer regulation objective which now includes safety, transparency, and energy efficiency. Changes will strengthen the accountability of landlords for ensuring the quality and safety of their homes as well as driving greater landlord accountability to their tenants. There is also a much greater focus on transparency, organisational culture and giving tenants greater power to hold landlords to account.

The consultation will run for 12 weeks ending on Tuesday 17^th October 2023

Download consultation document

Overview of the proposed new standards

The RSH has published its annual ’Consumer Regulation Review’ for 2022/23. This sets out key learning and case studies from the Regulator’s consumer regulation casework over the past year.

Issues around local authority compliance are specifically highlighted this year, as ten of the thirteen registered providers who breached the consumer standards were local authorities.

Cases involved the ‘Big Six’ Health and Safety issues including the following:

• Authorities that didn’t have the data required to provide assurance that they were compliant and therefore keeping tenants safe.
• Authorities with significant backlogs in carrying out vital safety checks.
• Failure to comply with legal requirements in respect of fire safety, either by failing to complete the relevant inspections and assessments or failing to complete follow-on remedial works.
• For the first time in a number of years there were landlords who were failing to meet gas safety requirements despite these regulations having been in place for over 20 years.

The report and case studies highlight the importance of councillors and other senior leaders understanding their core landlord responsibilities. Regardless of management arrangements landlords must take responsibility for ensuring they are fully compliant with regulatory requirements and have mechanisms in place to identify and tackle under-performance.

Read the Report

Diary Date :CWAG Annual General Meeting

This year the CWAG Annual General Meeting will be on Thursday 28^th September 2023. The meeting will take place over Teams. Please note the date in your diary.

The formal business of the AGM involves electing representatives of the Executive Group as well as reviewing the group’s finances and operating arrangements and Terms of Reference.

We are currently putting together the programme which will include presentations and discussion around regulatory changes and the professionalisation agenda.

CWAG Work Programme Review

As part of preparations for the CWAG Annual General Meeting, CWAG Executive Group will be reviewing and updating the CWAG work programme to reflect priorities for the next 12 months. The updated work-programme will then be considered by the membership at the AGM.

We are keen to have members’ views and suggestions to inform this exercise.  If you have any suggestions or would like to contribute to the work-programme review, please contact the Policy Officer.

Learning from the First Round of Consumer Regulation Inspection Pilots

Many CWAG members attended the recent NFA webinar where we were able to hear directly from the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH), Eastbourne Council and their ALMO Eastbourne Homes about the experience and learning from the participation in the first round of Consumer Regulation Pilot inspections.

There was plenty of advice for those preparing for the new regime, notable was the ‘crumbs of comfort’ message from Richard Tomkinson from Lewis and Eastbourne councils who indicated the inspection had been a ‘generally positive experience’ and very different from the Audit Commission inspections of the past. However, he did caveat this with details of the very extensive preparatory work both the Council and ALMO have undertaken, with virtually every aspect of the service having been subject to detailed scrutiny and review since the 2018 Social Housing Green Paper .

Angela Holden, RSH Assistant Director, set out some key lessons from the pilot inspection programme and recent casework, signposting key areas landlords need to focus on in preparing for proactive consumer regulation and inspection.

Inspections will be tailored and specific to each organisation, focussing on key risks identified from a range of different sources such as the document review, Tenant Satisfaction Measures and Ombudsman complaints. There will be an explicit focus on resident safety, transparency, accountability, and service outcomes for tenants.

Tenants voice and accountability

The Regulator is particularly keen to understand how an organisation hears the voice of its tenants and inspectors will seek to engage directly with tenants using a variety of formats.

Questions:

• How do you evidence that as an organisation you hear the tenants voice?
• Does the organisation respond to tenant concerns and do tenants have confidence the organisation will respond appropriately when issues are raised?
• Are there differential satisfaction rates between different areas and demographics and how is the landlord responding?

Governance arrangements

Whilst it is the council as landlord that has responsibility for performance, the Regulator will be seeking to understand the chain of governance and where key responsibilities sit, and particularly whether the arrangements enable the organisation to respond to early warnings when things are going wrong.

The Regulator will be keen to review that arrangements and mechanisms are in place to ensure the oversight of contractors and engagement with tenants and that systems deliver transparency when things are going wrong.

In terms of ALMO involvement with inspections, the Regulator will focus on how operational decisions are made which may include attendance at the ALMO Board.

Key Question:

• How do you know that key outcomes and compliance are actually being achieved?

Data and Systems

The Regulator will be looking for evidence of challenge to ensure that systems and processes are robust and able to deal with non-standard issues and stresses. Inspections will focus on outcomes and assurance and how these are evidenced, for example, can the landlord evidence compliance with key policies and legislation. Good quality data is vital.

Following recent work on the extent of disrepair, damp and mould in the stock, there is likely to be a particular focus on stock condition and whether the landlord has relevant and up to date data to understand and plan for the investment priorities of the stock. Further guidance on stock condition surveys and requirement is planned as part of the new consumer standards.

Questions

• What arrangements are in place to assurance test key data, record keeping arrangements and protocols?
• Are systems and processes fit for purpose?
• Is key data readily available to evidence service outcomes, investment priorities, complaints handling etc?

Renter’s (Reform) Bill 2023

The Renters (Reform) Bill published on 17^th May 2023 aims to tackle issues in the private rented sector in England. It includes a number of the measures set out in the June 2022 White Paper ‘A fairer private rented sector’ as well as fulfilling the 2019 Conservative Manifesto commitment to abolish so called ‘no fault’ evictions in England.

The Bill includes the following measures:

• The abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and with them, Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions. Tenancies in the private rented sector will become more secure monthly periodic assured tenancies with no end date.
• The grounds on which landlords can seek to repossess properties will be amended and strengthened so landlords can still recover their property (including where they wish to sell or move in close family) and to make it easier to repossess properties where tenants are at fault, for example in cases of anti-social behaviour or repeated rent arrears.
• Stronger protections against backdoor eviction by ensuring tenants can contest excessive above -market rents increases which are purely designed to force them out. Landlords will still be able to increase rents to market level, however tenants will be able to appeal to an independent tribunal which will determine the market rent of the property.
• The creation of a new Private Rented Sector Ombudsman which will provide fair, impartial, and binding resolution to many issues and prove quicker, cheaper, and less adversarial than the current court system.
• A Privately Rented Property Portal will be set up to help landlords understand their legal obligations and demonstrate compliance. It will also provide better information to tenants, helping them make informed decisions when entering into a tenancy agreement. It will also support local councils’ enforcement activity.
• Tenants will have the right to request a pet in the property, which the landlord must consider and cannot unreasonably refuse. To support this, landlords will be able to require pet insurance to cover any damage to their property.

Other commitments from the White Paper not been included in this Bill:

• To apply the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector.
• To make it illegal for landlords and agents to have blanket bans on renting to tenants in receipt of benefits or with children.
• Strengthen local councils’ enforcement powers and introduce a new requirement for councils to report on enforcement activity – to help target criminal landlords.

Further legislation is planned to implement changes in these areas.

This year the annual members survey focussed on how councils and their ALMOs are responding to the introduction of enhanced consumer regulation. The survey aimed to explore how different organisations are preparing for the changes, highlighting the specific issues and challenges involved, with the aim of identifying key trends and sharing good practice.

The survey response rate was 86%. Survey returns provide useful insights into the sector’s preparations in advance of  new regulatory arrangements which are due to go live in April 2024.  The CWAG Client Officer Group will be reviewing the survey in more detail at their next meeting. In the meantime if you would like more information on the survey, please contact the Policy Officer.

Set out below are some of the headline findings from the survey:

1. ALMO Reviews

Most CWAG member councils have reviewed or are planning to review their ALMO management arrangement. Reviews are generally focused on ensuring council and ALMO services are better aligned, with responsibilities and reporting lines clearly defined.

• 16% of respondents are currently undertaking a review of the ALMO,
• 74% of respondents reported a recent or planned ALMO review,
• 10% of respondents are not planning a review at this time.

2. Changes to the Client Team

42% of respondents are recruiting additional staff to strengthen the client team whilst others reported that they are reassessing client-side resources and current roles, including how existing staff are deployed.

Virtually all authorities reported that they are reviewing and augmenting data collection and reporting arrangements. Issues include enabling real time reporting and regularising enhanced senior level scrutiny and oversight arrangements.

Some councils are reviewing certain functions currently delegated to the ALMO, but this is not a general trend.

5.Preparation for In-Depth Assessments (IDAs)

78% of respondents indicated that they have used the checklist from the CWAG/NFA report ‘Excellence in management and partnership’ to review their current arrangements in preparing for changes to regulation.

26% of respondents have commissioned an external ‘health check’ as part of their IDA preparations.

The Government has launched a new publicity campaign to raise awareness amongst social housing tenants about how to complain about poor housing conditions and disrepair.

The campaign features an advertising campaign on local radio and digital channels as well as social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter with content available in six languages. The campaign will also fund training for Citizens Advice staff in two pilot areas (London and the North West) so they can more effectively support residents who have issues with disrepair and poor quality housing.

The campaign website Social Housing Complaints – Make Things Right signposts tenants through the complaints process, explaining the different stages, and what to expect from their landlord in response. If having made a complaint using the landlord’s complaints process, the issue has not been satisfactorily resolved, there is advice on escalating the complaint to the Social Housing Ombudsman.

For landlords there is a comms toolkit and other resources that can be accessed via the GOV.UK website.

Savills RTB Research highlights scale of replacement shortfall

A recent report by Savills, commissioned by the Local Government Association, ARCH and the NFA has highlighted the urgent need to look again at the current Right to Buy scheme and in particular the introduction of more proportionate regionally sensitive discounts.

The volume of RTB sales increased significantly after discounts were increased in 2012 and replacement agreements have consistently failed to match losses. The notion of ‘one for one’ replacement has not been delivered anywhere in the country.

The data highlights that in many cases discounts have been at a level in excess of what was needed to enable the tenant to afford to buy and in some cases the discount was significantly more than the rent paid whilst they were council tenants.

The report also flags up major regional differences with disproportionate negative impacts on authorities in lower value areas in the North and Midlands where net stock losses are higher and the replacement rate lower. A key factor is the relationship between the level of receipts and replacement costs – only 4 authorities in the whole of the north and midlands regions collect receipts that are in excess of 30% of replacement costs.

Modelling suggests that under current arrangements projected sales are likely to be in the region of 100,000 properties between 2021 and 2030, whilst total replacements are unlikely to exceed 43,000, representing a net stock loss of 3.61% across the country for this period. As a consequence, the RTB scheme is effectively subsidising one household’s home ownership over another’s access to social housing.

The report makes a number of policy suggestions including:

• Introducing a regional approach to setting discount rates – evidence suggests discounts in the north, and in many parts of the midlands, are higher than required to achieve the kind of take up the government seeks through the RTB scheme.
• Starting minimum discounts at a lower rate which reflects the amount of time the tenant has rented the property (or for newer properties since the property has been built) would offer improved value for money and a better match with the original objectives of the RTB scheme.

• The automatic annual CPI uplift of discount rates should be reconsidered as it is inconsistent with the current falling housing market and likely to cause further distortions.
• RTB properties should be reserved for home ownership. Purchasers should covenant to live in the property as a home owner and on resale the property should be offered first to the local authority.
• There is a strong case for allowing the cost floor to be increased by inflation, specifically linked to an index based on construction cost inflation, in order to ensure that the cost floor mechanism serves its purpose.

The full report is available on request from the LGA – see LGA website

CWAG Client Officer Group

The group met on 6^th March 2023 to discuss issues relating to the client role and how councils are preparing for changes to regulation. The meeting included a presentation and case study from Shropshire Council regarding the work currently underway to update monitoring and performance management arrangements in preparation for enhanced consumer regulation.

Further meetings are planned as the new regulatory arrangements are rolled out. If you would like further information about the group and future meetings, please contact the Policy Officer.

Last month the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) published an updated implementation plan ‘Reshaping Consumer Regulation’ setting out a draft timetable and other guidance to help landlords prepare for the full introduction of new regulatory arrangements in April 2024.

Timetable

The Social Housing Regulation Bill is expected to receive Royal Assent before Easter. The Government will then launch a consultation on changes to its Directions to the Regulator, laying the groundwork for further consultations by the Regulator on the new regulatory standards.

Consultations

Over the summer the Regulator will be consulting on the detail of the new regulatory arrangements including:

• The standards that will underpin proactive consumer regulation.
• A Code of Practice on consumer issues setting out what is expected under the new standards.
• Updated guidance setting out how the regulator will use enhanced enforcement powers included in the legislation.

Pilot Programme

The regulator has already announced a pilot programme of In-Depth Assessments (IDAs) to trial new tools and methods specific to consumer regulation.  The pilot programme will take place during 2023 and includes two local authority landlords, one of which has an ALMO (Eastbourne Borough Council).

Tenant Satisfaction Measures

Landlords will start collecting TSM data from 1 April 2023 with initial data returns due from April 2024.

Excellence in Management and Partnership – Updated report / residents’ briefing available

The CWAG/ NFA report ‘Excellence in management and partnership’ has been updated to reflect recent changes to legislation and the introduction of TSMs. The NFA has also recently produced a residents briefing / toolkit as part of the overall package

For further information and to download the updated versions of the report – link

The Better Social Housing Review published in December 2022 follows a six-month examination of the key issues and challenges currently facing social housing. The review  which was undertaken by a panel of independent experts on behalf of the National Housing Federation (NHF) and Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) addresses itself specifically to housing associations although there is a read across to the wider social housing sector.

The review identifies two central issues as top priorities for those living in social housing, namely the suitability and quality of housing stock and the housing association’s culture and responsiveness to tenants’ concerns and complaints. The Report goes on to make a series of detailed recommendations to address current issues and concerns – see box

The NHF and CIH have accepted the report and its findings and are committed to developing an action plan to implement its recommendations. Secretary of State Michael Gove also welcomed the report’s call for a full audit of social rented stock to identify and tackle disrepair alongside action on wider resident concerns around service delivery and engagement flagged up in the report.

Read the report

There are seven key recommendations:

• The sector should refocus on its core purpose – to provide decent, safe homes for those who can’t afford the market.

• A national audit of social housing stock to address the absence of a comprehensive, consistently measured picture of the state of social housing across the country. The report recommends that all organisations should use the new HACT UK Housing Data Standards.

• Organisations should ask tenants, frontline staff and contractors to work together to review how the organisation deals with maintenance and repairs with a view to developing new standards and definitions for what an excellent maintenance and repairs process looks like.

• Renewed focus, resources and training to support the traditional housing officer role.

• Tenants should be recognised as key partners with initiatives to expand the roles they can play within organisations to ensure tenants have a voice and influence at every level of decision making.

• Organisations should develop a proactive local community presence through community hubs which foster greater multi-agency working.

• Organisations should work with their tenants and frontline to undertake an annual review of the progress in implementing the recommendations of the review.

The coroner’s verdict that the tragic death of Awaab Ishak was caused by prolonged exposure to mould in his parents’ Rochdale flat has prompted Secretary of State Michael Gove to seek wider assurances from local authorities and social landlords that risks relating to mould and damp in tenanted homes are being addressed.

On 19^th November 2022 Michael Gove wrote to all social housing providers reminding them of that they must meet the Decent Homes Standard and be aware of, and carry out rapid remedial works to, any properties that do not. Landlords are expected to know the extent of damp and mould issues in their stock and be addressing these.

A follow up letter from the Regulator of Social Housing seeks specific assurances that all providers have a clear understanding of the nature and extent of damp and mould issues in their homes with detailed survey information confirming the position to be submitted to the Regulator by 19^th December 2022. Where properties do not meet the relevant standards there should be immediate self-referral to the Regulator.

A further letter to all local authority Chief Executives and council leaders references local authority duties toward tenants in the private rented sector as set out in the Housing Act 2004. The Secretary of State has issued a direction that local authorities urgently review and report back on categories 1 and 2 damp and mould hazards affecting privately rented properties in their areas. In addition, authorities are required to supply data on enforcement action and prosecutions in the past three years.

On 24^th November 2022 the Secretary of State issued a press notice further reinforcing the government’s determination to hold landlords to account for the condition of their homes. This included the following measures:

• Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, the landlord in the Awaab Ishak case, will not receive allocated Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) funding until the Regulator of Social Housing has completed its investigation and the landlord can prove it is a ‘responsible’ landlord.
• The Secretary of State will also block any housing provider that breaches the Regulator’s consumer standards from receiving new AHP funding and will  consider stripping providers of existing AHP funding, unless construction has already started on site.
• A government funding package totalling £14million was announced for 7 areas with high levels of poor quality private rented homes to test out new approaches to driving up standards in the PRS.