This Update includes the following
CWAG Organisational Update
Members will be aware that Southend City Council is planning to take on the Administrative Authority role on behalf of the group once all members have signed up to the Service Level Agreement. On transfer the policy officer post will transfer along with management of the group’s financial affairs.
In addition, the group has a new Chair. Geoff Beales from Colchester City Council has taken on the role on an interim basis as Anna Milner has stood aside from the position following the decision by South Tyneside to bring management back in house by 2nd October 2024. The post will be subject to an election at the Annual General Meeting in September. Anna will stay on as an Executive Member until the AGM.
Government confirms CPI + 1% rent settlement for 2025/26
The Government has confirmed that the existing social housing rent settlement will be rolled over by a further year until April 2026. This means annual rent increases will continue to be capped at Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus one percentage point for 2025-26. This early announcement provides greater short-term certainty effectively deferring negotiations around the longer-term rental settlement for the next government.
Consultation Response – Competence and Conduct Standard
The Competence and Conduct Standard Consultation sets out the implementation arrangements for the new regulatory standard requiring senior housing managers and executives within social housing to either have or be working towards a relevant professional qualification.
The CWAG response recognises the value of relevant professional qualifications in improving performance and driving up standards in the social rented sector. However, alongside this there are concerns around the tight implementation timescales and the potential for these to negatively impact staff recruitment and retention in the short-term. The proposed timescales do not offer sufficient time to implement the necessary organisational and training challenges alongside succession planning.
In addition, the costs associated with introducing these measures are likely to be significantly higher than estimated in the impact assessment. No additional resources have been identified to cover implementation and associated costs which will need to be funded from already stretched Housing Revenue Accounts.
Other issues highlighted include role descriptions that are a poor fit with ALMO clienting arrangements and potential problems for organisations using external contractors where roles are deemed in scope of the new regulations.
Good Practice Consultation – Housing Ombudsman
The Housing Ombudsman has launched a consultation for social housing landlords on a proposed new approach for issuing Good Practice. The proposals relate to new powers conferred on the Housing Ombudsman in the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 to issue guidance on good practice in carrying out housing activities covered by the Ombudsman Scheme.
The consultation is about providing access to ‘good practice’ as opposed to ‘best practice’. As such, the proposed approach will encourage landlords to self-assess against a good practice template at the point an issue arises rather than wait for a complaint about the topic. In practice, there may be entirely justifiable reasons for the landlord’s response to differ from suggested good practice, however undertaking the self-assessment allows for the decision to be documented and scrutinised.
The consultation seeks feedback on the Ombudsman’s principles of good practice and proposed approach as well as suggestions for potential topics. The intention is to issue ‘good practice guidance on two topics per year. Initial suggested topics include:
- making an effective apology
- deciding on appropriate levels of compensation
- effective complaint handling during merger or stock transfer
- effective root cause analysis of complaints
- knowledge and information management
The consultation closes on 21st May 2024
Good-Practice-consultation-26-March-2024.pdf (housing-ombudsman.org.uk)
Recent Publications
Housing Outlook Report Q1 2024 Resolution Foundation (March 2024)
This review sets the UK housing market within the context of similar advance economies and examines whether the housing crisis in the UK, particularly affordability pressures and quality issues are specific to the UK. Homes in the UK are more cramped, poorer quality and more expensive relative to general price levels than in other OECD countries. The housing stock is also the oldest in Europe (4 in 10 homes were built before 1946) with consequent issues around damp and poor insulation. The report highlights why housing is likely to feature prominently in this year’s General Election.
Follow-up report: Spotlight on Noise complaints – Time to be Heard – Housing Ombudsman (April 2024)
The Housing Ombudsman has published its evaluation into its Spotlight report on noise complaints. The report highlights several positive developments in this area including the following:
- Landlords responding more sensitively and being more open to potential contributing factors underlying noise complaints.
- Introducing timescales for responding to noise complaints.
- Triaging noise complaints to ascertain whether they fall under household noise or ASB..
- Focusing on preventative actions, such as using void improvements to help reduce noise concerns for incoming residents.
- Developing a less confrontational approach including changes to the language used e.g. no longer using terms such as ‘perpetrator’ and ‘incidents’.
Learning from Severe Maladministration – Housing Ombudsman (April 2024)
This new Housing Ombudsman report is intended to be first of a new series of reports looking in more detail at the learning from recent casework where there has been a finding of severe maladministration. This report highlights cases involving 8 landlords.
Learning from Severe Maladministration (housing-ombudsman.org.uk)
Shared Ownership Report – House of Commons Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee (March 2024)
This report looks in detail at the current problems with shared ownership including rapidly rising rents, uncapped service charges, liability for repairs and maintenance costs and complex leases which combined mean shared ownership has become an unbearable reality for many people seeking to become homeowners. The report makes a number of recommendations that are urgently required to improve shared ownership to address current weaknesses undermining this ownership vehicle.