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HCA to consult on fees after Housing Bill
The English social housing regulator plans to publish a consultation on charging fees after the Housing and Planning Bill is passed in parliament.
Inside Housing can reveal that the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) expects to publish a consultation paper on imposing fees on housing associations, following ministerial approval, soon after the Housing and Planning Bill gains Royal Assent.
The bill is widely expected to receive Royal Assent in April and the proposed timeframe would allow fees to be charged from the 2017/18 financial year.
Charges on housing associations for regulation are understood to be part of the Department for Communities and Local Government’s (DCLG) Spending Review settlement.
Cuts to the DCLG of around 30% over four years, agreed as part of December’s Spending Review, have increased the immediacy for departmental savings.
In January, Jonathan Walters, deputy director of performance and strategy at the HCA, said fees would “generate income” to shore up cuts to the DCLG.
The regulator shelved plans to introduce fees in 2014 and 2015 because ministers did not sign off a consultation paper in time.
At the time, sources suggested that then-communities secretary Eric Pickles may have been reluctant to allow the HCA to charge fees for fear that the regulator will become too independent from government.
However Greg Clark, the current communities secretary, is understood to be in favour of fees.
The earliest fees are likely to be charged would be April 2017.
The regulator is currently funded via grant from the DCLG. According to an HCA discussion document published in February 2014, the total cost of the regulator was around £12.5m for 2013/14.
The discussion document proposed charging an annual fee based on landlord size, measured by social housing unit numbers.
Sector figures have previously called for fees to increase the regulator’s income, rather than replace government funding.
An HCA spokesperson said: “Any decision around the introduction of fees is subject to statutory consultation and agreement by the secretary of state to the principles of a fee charging regime.”
The DCLG has been approached for comment.
