What do councils need to do to avoid censure from the regulator?

In its letter to all local authority landlords, the regulator requested council chief executives to alert their elected members to the contents of the letter. What is the role of council cabinet members in regards to ensuring the Home Standard is met?

The simple answer is that the role of elected council cabinet members is exactly the same as for housing association board members: the responsibility sits with them in terms of ensuring compliance with all regulatory requirements.

“What are the questions cabinet members should be asking to ensure they have the appropriate level of assurance on health and safety compliance?”

What this means in practice is that cabinet members must be satisfied that they have the necessary information to perform this crucial oversight function.

So, what are the questions cabinet members should be asking to ensure they have the appropriate level of assurance on health and safety compliance?

To answer this question, I’ve drawn on our experience from working with housing association board members in preparation for an in-depth assessment (IDA) from the RSH.

When I interview housing association board members as part of their IDA-ready reviews, we discuss the governance framework that enables assurance on health and safety risks.

The RSH would particularly probe if:

• Any underperformance on health and safety was apparent in board reports
• Any limited assurance from health and safety and compliance audits was reported
• The strategic risk assessment identified health and safety as a particularly high residual risk
• There was no mention of health and safety in the strategic risk assessment

However, the regulatory assurance on the oversight of this key sector risk is likely to continue to develop into something more routine, with evidence required on how the governing body knows this risk is well managed.

Here are the key questions housing association board members and local authority cabinet members should be asking to ensure assurance on health and safety risks:

• Does performance reporting to the board or cabinet cover all areas of compliance in relation to servicing and certification?
• Is compliance approached as a corporate function and not solely a property function? This is important to ensure the responsibility does not fall between two stools
• Are management plans embedded in the business and reflected in processes?
• Are actions clearly prioritised on a risk basis and who is making the decision on timescales being appropriate (employees or contractors)?
• How are the skills and competencies of staff maintained and contractors verified?
• Do you have confirmation on clarity of responsibility internally and across the supply chain?
• Third-party assurance: how recent? What was its scope, depth and findings?
• What assurance has been provided on data integrity, both on all stock and sub-sets of health and safety programmes?

These are undoubtedly important issues for board and cabinet members who are concerned to ensure tenants are safe and the organisation complies with its legal responsibilities.

The challenge is to provide high-quality assurance on ‘operational’ processes for ‘strategic’ decision-making. That requires considered thought and collaboration between the assurers and the assured.

We will have to hope that the government response to the Social Housing Green Paper and review of regulation provides greater clarity on consumer protection and complaints and more general awareness of how to access appropriate redress when needed.

In the meantime, the increased focus on compliance with health and safety regulations is clear for all housing providers. If town halls fail to heed the RSH’s call to action, the censures for Gateshead and Arun councils will not be the last.

Kelsey Walker, director, Savills Housing Consultancy