Landlords asked to reveal damp and mould strategies in ESG reporting standard overhaul

Brendan Sarsfield, chair of Sustainability for Housing (SfH), the group overseeing the SRS, said: “The worlds of ESG and social housing continue to evolve at pace and ESG reporting needs to keep up.”

Mr Sarsfield, who is also the former chief executive of Peabody, added: “This new draft version of the standard has been created in consultation with the housing and finance sectors and hopefully meets new emerging demands whilst recognising the importance of continuity.”

The social housing sector has been thrown into the media spotlight in the past two years following a series of shocking incidents involving poor housing standards.

The government is aiming to address some of these issues in its Social Housing (Regulation) Bill, which is in its final stages in parliament before becoming law.

Under the new SRS, landlords will also be expected to include net zero strategies, retrofit and environmental disclosures such as Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) ratings, as well as Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) requirements. The SAP methodology underpins EPC ratings.

Information on organisations’ equality, diversity and inclusion policies will also be needed, plus approaches to staff training and professional development. 

The newly updated standard will also include a ‘comply or explain’ approach and a requirement to show year-on-year data.

The consultation is seeking views from all the standard’s adopters, endorsers and “other interested parties”.

Sarah Smith, chief financial officer at Southern Housing and an SfH board member, said: “Demand for investment in ESG areas such as social housing is only going to grow and the sector needs to be alive to this opportunity as it looks to tackle the housing crisis.

“The sector also needs to maintain its solid reputation when it comes to ESG reporting, which is why SfH has sought to tighten up key areas of focus within the SRS.”