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Learning from the consumer standards so far
Landlords need rigorous and robust governance processes to make the right decisions and maintain viability, says Kate Dodsworth, chief of regulatory engagement at the Regulator of Social Housing
Landlords need rigorous and robust governance processes to make the right decisions and maintain viability, says Kate Dodsworth, chief of regulatory engagement at the Regulator of Social Housing #UKhousingThere’s no doubt that social landlords are facing tough challenges and most are making trade-offs in response to financial pressures.
In the past two years, an increasing number of private registered providers moved into the V2 viability category as those pressures intensified.
With so little room for error, boards need a strong grip on risks in order to make the right strategic decisions. They also need to make sure they have robust and effective challenge, to ensure they deliver good services to tenants while delivering value for money.
The sector has a crucial role to play in helping the nation get the houses it needs; it will be difficult to achieve without getting this right.
While the Governance and Financial Viability Standard doesn’t apply to local authorities, we still need to understand where the housing function sits organisationally, what oversight arrangements are in place and what resources exist to support delivery of our required outcomes.
Our regulatory engagement teams are well-versed at spotting the early warning signs of potential problems.
Data gaps, for example, ring alarm bells. How does a landlord know if its homes are safe if it hasn’t done the right checks? And how does it know how much money might be needed to make the necessary repairs?
That data is key for our own regulation. We look for assurance through reliable sources of evidence, which can be validated externally, to get certainty that landlords are delivering the outcomes of our standards.
“Data gaps, for example, ring alarm bells. How does a landlord know if its homes are safe if it hasn’t done the right checks?”
Landlords that are doing things well share vital characteristics: they know their homes and their tenants, and they use data-driven insights to inform their decisions.
Problems may crop up, but effective landlords are always working to improve, and they have the systems in place to identify and resolve these issues before they reach crisis point.
One thing we want to see more of, is rigorous stress-testing, especially during periods of economic uncertainty. This tells us a landlord is ready and equipped for a wide range of scenarios.
Rescue and recovery plans are a vital part of future-proofing and are essential governance tools for landlord boards.
We might give separate gradings for consumer standards, governance and viability, but delivering good outcomes across all three doesn’t happen in a silo. Landlords need to remain viable in order to build new homes and make vital improvements to existing ones. They need rigorous and robust governance processes to make the right decisions and maintain that viability.
We remain committed to supporting a sector that builds new homes. Our latest Quarterly Survey showed that housing associations are still building much-needed homes for the future.
Investor confidence remains strong, with housing associations raising £4.3bn in new finance in the last quarter of 2024-25, the second-highest level in nearly five years.
“We remain committed to supporting a sector that builds new homes. Our latest Quarterly Survey showed that housing associations are still building much-needed homes for the future”
Regulation is key to supporting this pipeline of private funding, which in turn is critical to our sector’s ability to invest more in current and future homes. We will continue to keep our sector’s financial health under the microscope through our inspections, stability checks, surveys and other reports, as well as sharing data and insights that can inform strategic decisions.
Landlords continue to invest record amounts in existing homes, and we know that much of that is going towards improving fire safety, damp and mould, and other key issues.
In the first year of our new proactive inspection programme, we used our role to identify a number of worrying health and safety failings in some landlords, and we are scrutinising them closely as they put things right. But we’re also seeing many more landlords investing time and resources into delivering the outcomes of our new consumer standards.
Too many homes still don’t meet the Decent Homes Standard, but it’s positive that issues are coming to the fore earlier than they otherwise might have done.
And we’ve been encouraged by the number of landlords that have made self-referrals when they have identified a problem. Even if it results in a regulatory judgement, taking a transparent and accountable attitude shows us a landlord is ready and willing to put things right – which is an important factor in our grading.
A year on from the Social Housing (Regulation) Act coming into force, we’re starting to see the beginnings of long-term change in our sector.
Through our regulation, we will continue to drive landlords to provide more and better homes for tenants.
Kate Dodsworth, chief of regulatory engagement, Regulator of Social Housing
Kate Dodsworth will be speaking at Housing 2025. Hear from her during the session on ‘Delivering on consumer standards – learnings to date’ at 9.30am on Wednesday 25 June.
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