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Health and safety ‘of rising concern’ to sector, report finds
Health and safety issues are increasingly major concerns for social housing providers after the Grenfell Tower disaster last June, a survey of the sector has found.
Beever and Struthers’ annual review of social housing ranked health and safety as the second most important risk faced by housing associations, only behind welfare reform. In the previous year’s review, it was fourth.
The accountancy and business advice firm also found that the sector became much more worried about cyberattacks in the past year after some high-profile incidents – most notably the ‘WannaCry’ hack of the NHS.
Of 100 associations surveyed, 29 identified IT security as a key risk, while it did not appear at all in the 2015/16 review.
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Maria Hallows, partner and head of social housing at Beever and Struthers, said: “Health and safety has continued to increase in prominence over the past three years and is now the second most frequently documented risk.
“This is still a key area for potential governance downgrading due to gas safety and fire risk assessment failures, and in particular reflects additional scrutiny following the events at Grenfell Tower.”
She added: “Given the prominent cyberattacks seen in 2017, in particular the ‘WannaCry’ ransomware that impacted the NHS and others, along with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which comes into effect in May 2018, it is not surprising that IT security should now feature in the top 10 risks.”
The economic climate also featured as a key risk, with 33 respondents concerned about uncertainty caused by factors including Brexit.
Staffing was a new entry to the top 10 biggest risks as 31 told researchers it was a major issue, compared to 21 the previous year.
Other top 10 risks identified by the sector included government policy, development, access to finance, rent reduction and the housing market.
The review analysed the 2016/17 accounts and annual reports of the 100 largest private registered providers in the UK. A full copy is attached below.
