Northern Ireland to move to English-style regulation

In a consultation launched yesterday, the Department for Social Development (DSD) set out suggestions for a new regulatory approach to social housing.  

In keeping with the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) approach in England, the new system will focus on governance and viability, but will also include consumer standards.

It said the regulator would move towards focusing ‘on how providers and the sector as a whole identify and manage risk’, recognising the ‘primacy’ of housing association boards.

This co-regulation approach, already commonplace in England, will see a greater reliance on the providers supplying evidence, and a reduction in the current ‘onsite’ inspections, which would only be carried out where the regulator became aware of a concern.

Following investigations, the regulator would issue a four level grading of substantial assurance, satisfactory assurance, limited assurance or no assurance in each category.

The consultation described the current compliance based approach as ‘no longer necessary or appropriate’ as ‘the sector has matured’.

Again, in similar fashion to the English sector, providers would be required to produce annual value for money statements.

Landlords in Northern Ireland recently called for an independent regulator and a move to less burdensome regulation. The issue of who will carry out regulation will be covered in later consultations.

Cameron Watt, chief executive of the Northern Ireland Federation of Housing Associations (NIFHA), said: ‘NIFHA warmly welcomes DSD’s proposals. Housing associations recognise the need for effective regulation to provide assurance to tenants, politicians and funders.

‘However, for some time housing associations have felt that the compliance-based system imposed unreasonable bureaucratic burdens and was too focused on process rather than the outcomes being delivered for customers.

‘DSD has heeded these concerns and we are pleased to have been able to contribute to the proposed approach.’