Shapps confirms plans to scrap TSA
The housing minister has confirmed he plans to abolish the Tenant Services Authority.
In a speech to the Chartered Institute of Housing’s conference in Harrogate, Grant Shapps told delegates a concrete decision to abolish the regulator has been made, and a review is underway on which agencies will take over its functions.
He said he places a ‘huge premium’ on tenant empowerment, but does not believe a ‘large national quango’ is the best way to achieve this.
He said he wants to see ‘a system that puts tenants fundamentally in the driving seat for the first time… real tenant empowerment’.
He confirmed that the Homes and Communities Agency will stay, but he said it would be more locally focused and much leaner.
Speaking before his address, he told Inside Housing that the ‘TSA is toast’, and said the government was considering handing oversight of the social housing sector’s governance and viability to another body, such as the HCA.
He will also give local authorities powers to refer complaints about individual landlords to the housing ombudsman, which he believes will simplify the way grievances are dealt with.
‘I fear that we are on the list of expensive public services that at best don’t deliver value for money and at worst are part of the broken Britain story.’
Sarah Webb, chief executive, Chartered Institute of Housing
Mr Shapps said: ‘The people side of regulation could just be done so much better. We have effectively got democratic standards set up in this country which are able to deal with this.’
Mr Shapps unveiled his plans for the TSA in an interview with Inside Housing published last week.
During his speech, Mr Shapps promised to put more power in the hands of housing professionals.
‘You’ve seen a lot of housing ministers coming and going, after each reshuffle they tell you about their new targets that have to be reached, the way they want money to be spent and the latest pet project that’s going to come out of Whitehall,’ he said.
‘I’ve shadowed these ministers and I’ve seen while they have been pulling levers and pushing buttons and blowing whistles not much has necessarily happened at the other end.
‘So what do I want to do now that I have these levers? I want to hand the levers over to you.’
Mr Shapps defended the government’s housing benefit reforms, which include reducing housing benefit awards by 10 per cent after a claimant has been claiming jobseeker’s allowance for 12 months.
He said some claimants want to work but choose not to because it’s better for their families financially if they don’t.
He said: ‘We don’t want that situation to continue, to have a situation where if you are in a position to work and choose not to work you are always worse off than if you decide to work.’
He said the measure will come into effect by 2013/14, when growth of around 2.9 per cent is predicted.
Earlier Sarah Webb, chief executive of the CIH, presented Mr Shapps with a pact of suggestions from conference delegates of possible policies.
These included reforming the housing revenue account, scrapping complicated funding programme streams and ensuring a housing presence on the long-term care commission.
Ms Webb said she feared that the sector had been put on the ‘wrong list’ by the government.
She said: ‘I fear that we are on the list of expensive public services that at best don’t deliver value for money and at worst are part of the broken Britain story.’
The CIH Housing Pact demands
- Continue to invest in new affordable homes
- Scrap complicated short term programme streams
- Remain open to innovative ideas on supply models
- Prioritise retrofit
- Incentives to encourage investment
- Stop working in silos.
- Adopt the total place approach
- Don’t burn the bits of the system that work.
- Housing presence on the long term care commission
- Anchor reform in work of poverty commission.
- Reform the housing revenue account subsidy system
View results 10 per page | 20 per page
Have your say
You must sign in to make a comment
Readers' comments (11)
Junior | 24/06/2010 2:41 pm
What is Mr Shapps saying that us tenant's now instead of going via the painless Complaint's Procedures with these Housing Association. All three stages. We the tenant's will be able to send immediately our complaint about our Landlord to the Housing Ombudsman.
What happending regarding the complaints that the TSA are dealing with now. What happending regarding the one's whom had bad Short Notice Inspection and Area Manager's working with them now to ensure improve the services and so fore.
I understand from a colleague that they not answering that complaint.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
guyrws | 24/06/2010 3:15 pm
Only hope is that the abolition will stop the picture being blurred, the TSA regulations were an excuse for more yet administration.
Our CEO would sit with her left hand on the TSA regulation manual and say everything was being done in the aid of compliance. Maybe we can cut her salary now??!!
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 24/06/2010 5:14 pm
Good idea to give local authoriities a leading role but not Ombudsman for gawds sake! I Haven't seen a single post in ages from a named tenant who was happy with them. Only posts from happy housing officials - who have absolutely nothing to fear when a tenant takes a complaint to Ombudsman.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
sihrah | 24/06/2010 10:17 pm
This man has lost the plot It has taken 4 years to get the TSA up and running and now it is starting to tick so along comes GS with HIS own agenda to wreck it.We had plenty of consultation and he has had none as far as the outside tenant movement is conscered, yet his boss is asking for workers to put forward ideas for implementing and he is just going it alone, the point is now how do we influence him.
I support what Peter Marsh, Michell Reid and Michael Gelling are doing but it is the ordinary tenant that needs to be heard.
Mr Shapps was invited to attend the TPAS but he declined the question is why since it is the place where he could gauge the feeling of the greater tenant movement.
Why should the loocal authorities be involved in anything to do with housing since they were unable to run there own housing stock at a profit or at zero cost where the tenants were thought as not worthy then they got the right to buy so the councils unloaded as much as they could with a big hole left in the rental market and government taking the bulk of the rents, hence councils had to apply for money to pay for repairs but were not allowed to build. What a mess we have got into why not take a look at the whole of the housing sector and put in place something that is fit for purpose, establishing a level playing field for the rental sector no selling of council houses at big discounts and bringing of the private rental market under the same rules for security of tenure maybe not popular by the profiteering landlords but very pleasing for tenants, less grey hairs as to how long is my tenancy going to last.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Michael Hill | 25/06/2010 0:27 am
Mr. Shapps is obviously using his current role as Housing Minister to toe the line and springboard his political career by this decision.
His inappropriate language in leaking his decision, and subsequent innapropriate language in the Inside Housing interview would have created uproar in the private sector. Imagine telling the steelworkers of Sheffield that they would be 'deleted' as they are no longer condidered cost effective.
By his own admission the work the TSA has accomplished is valuable, but he has missed the mark. The initial costs of any venture are high, and in the TSA's local offer pilot it cannot be denied that costs to HA's exceeded the grants. However, simply scrapping the TSA with no clear vision of where it's remit will eventually land, or the costs involved in such a transfer of governance, shows the coalitions weakness of forethought and Mr. Shapps' eagerness to impress his overlord(s).
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 25/06/2010 6:23 am
Mr Shapps is right to get rid of an outfit which mainly produces glossy brochures packed with waffle. Landlords have been able to drive coach and horses through so-called regulatory guidelines. Cynical box-ticking. The Audit Commission are much more effective in spotting failure and bad practice. Give us more local control, just as Mr Shapps says. More power to his elbow.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
ann gillette | 25/06/2010 9:11 am
Grant Shapps is not a housing minister or a member of the Cabinet.
His personal dislike of the TSA is evident - to say it is too costly is not for him to decide , it should be a tenants choice as it is not expected to cost the government anything after 2011 because the tenants (as usual) will pay.
What has been given little publicity is that major organisations supporting landlords are pushing for the deregulation of rents in order to expand their empires and borrow more from the banks - the interest on these loans will greatly benefit the mortgage lenders & banks again at the expense of tenants.
We are told that already 60% of tenants cannot afford these 'affordable' rents hence they are in receipt of housing benefit. Are we going to allow the greed of Housing Asssociations, Registered Providers, Social Housing Landlords (whatever the current label is) to once again raise their rents beyond the means of minimum wage earners and pensioners pushing even more people on Housing Benefit which of course the likes of Shapps will want to limit.
Caring about Tenants - I don't think so
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
kass | 25/06/2010 6:41 pm
It is quite clear that there has to be a change not of minister but of governemnt. It is no use to try to convince Shapps and co. That's their way and that's all there is to it as far they are concerned.
The only thing that can stop Shapps and co is another general election at the soonest. and I expect the Lib Dem will be wiped out of the parliamentary map for having given support to a conservative governemnt of this kind.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 01/07/2010 9:12 am
So, Mr Shapps is offering to hand over the power and control to Tenants panels to get things done. It may be true that these panels know what the landlord wants, but how do they know what the Tenants want?
I can see what will happen if tenants seize the initiative and build their organisations to maximum capacity, but I can’t see that being allowed to happen.
10 years and more of the good life has allowed complacency to take a grip on people. They actually see this recession as a temporary interruption and the good life will soon return. I admire such optimism and wish that what I read is not true and that house prices will rise again tomorrow. But you have to get real; there is a greater chance that they will fall.
In a town with 6000 social tenants, how many are active members of tenant/resident associations. If 2 adults per household signed up there would be a possible 12000 members. The tenants’ panel may consist of 10 volunteers.
The reality is that only a tiny percentage of those eligible will become members. This is equally true of private residents. The situation is weak and the tenant panel will do everything they are told to do by the provider.
So who is the Tenant panels representing? The truth is they act for themselves because tenants don’t get involved and say what they want from their landlords.
If the Government is offering power to communities, then organise to accept it.
By organising and getting involved tenants and other residents will get more security and a fair share of what is on offer. As things are, empowerment is working against the prospect of bringing communities together.
Using the complaints procedure without support is a completely useless exercise.
There may be many with similar complaints that for whatever reason choose not to peruse their rights. As far as I am concerned the TSA should take on board all complaints and respond to the complainant following investigation. The complaint should be submitted on the tenants behalf by the secretary of the TA association following approval by the committee.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Chris | 01/07/2010 2:05 pm
Shapps U-turn sends pink bus into a spin; or all aboard the Shapps merry-go-round, would now be a better head line!
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment