With the Social Housing (Regulation) Act finally completing its passage through parliament, social housing providers are gearing up for a bold new era of proactive regulation. And, as Neil Merrick discovers, preparation is key – for both the organisations under scrutiny and the regulator itself.
During the past 13 years, the government has spent as much time rejecting the need for social housing regulation as it has extolling its virtues.
In 2010, then housing minister Grant Shapps declared the Tenant Services Authority “toast”. In the same year, the embryonic National Tenants Voice was scrapped and the abolition of the Audit Commission was announced.
Grenfell was still seven years away. In 2018, a green paper paved the way for the 2020 white paper (or charter for social housing residents), which heralded a major mood swing. Suddenly, tenants mattered, with the spotlight shone on service quality, not least by a newly empowered Housing Ombudsman.
Now, the mother of all U-turns is almost complete. Since April, landlords have been required to ensure that tenants are listened to on a regular basis. Within a year, inspectors (or regulators) will be armed with fresh consumer standards that will be used to hold organisations to account from next summer.
So, what does this dramatic volte-face mean for social landlords, especially local authorities that have largely escaped attention for the past decade?
Pilot inspections
Towards the end of last year, Eastbourne Council was among seven landlords that took part in the first round of pilot inspections for the Regulator of Social Housing.
As local authority housing departments go, Eastbourne is unusual. Not only does it have an arm’s length management organisation, but it shares services with neighbouring Lewes Council, which wasn’t inspected.
While robust, the inspection wasn’t as onerous as those by the Audit Commission, says Richard Tomkinson, customer experience and performance improvement lead for housing across the two authorities. “We learned that in-depth assessments aren’t something to be feared,” he says.
“For local authorities, there’s a period of time to build up a relationship with us and undertake self-referral. The coming consumer regulation has raised consciousness at board level and council meetings”
Kate Dodsworth, chief of regulatory engagement, Regulator of Social Housing
According to Tomkinson, the pilot inspection was as much of a learning experience for the regulator as it was for Eastbourne, which set up a customer experience team five years ago to co-ordinate tenant feedback. “It’s not something that you need to worry about or for which you must over-prepare,” he adds.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has compared RSH inspections with those of Ofsted. Kate Dodsworth, chief of regulatory engagement at the Regulator of Social Housing, sees “similarities” between Ofsted inspections and in-depth assessments by her regulators (the RSH doesn’t use the term ‘inspectors’).
Her teams will examine documents and hold senior management teams to account, just as school inspectors do. The important thing is that the RSH will no longer need to apply a ‘serious detriment’ test before checking on landlord services. “It allows us to go in on the front foot,” she says.
Since being set up in 2018, the RSH has investigated up to 300 possible breaches of consumer standards each year. This is on top of checking that housing associations (but not councils) meet economic standards.
During the past five years, it found 47 breaches, including 28 by councils. Half of the breaches by councils have been identified since April 2022.
The new regulation system is based around 22 tenant satisfaction measures (TSMs) that landlords began applying in April. This gives regulators the tools to discover how tenants feel about their homes and levels of service, says Dodsworth, though they may be required to use qualitative rather than quantitative judgements.
She also expects dissatisfied tenants to continue referring landlords to the regulator, and for more landlords (including more councils) to refer themselves, prior to any inspection taking place.
“For local authorities, there’s a period of time to build up a relationship with us and undertake self-referral,” she says. “The coming consumer regulation has raised consciousness at board level and council meetings.”
In addition to Eastbourne, only one of the other landlords involved in the first inspection pilot, Folkestone and Hythe, was a local authority [see box]. Among the five housing associations taking part was Bernicia Homes.
Andrea Malcolm, Bernicia’s executive director for people, homes and communities, says the pilot allowed the association to demonstrate how it listens to tenants and reflects their feedback through its services.
‘Gaming’ the system
There has been speculation about landlords ‘gaming’ the system to achieve better TSM scores. Best to avoid online perception surveys, it is said, or asking tenants for their opinions in the depths of winter.
“I know people who are gaming the system to maximise their results,” says Malcolm. “I’m more interested in getting a legitimate response so that we can direct resources so they best serve tenants.”
Dodsworth warns the RSH will look out for gaming of survey data and, in any case, is as interested in how landlords respond to feedback as the results themselves. “We are outcome focused,” she says.
But what if things get competitive? The government dropped plans for league tables of social landlords almost as soon as the ink dried on the 2018 green paper. But the media and others are bound to make comparisons where they can.
In May, Sutton Housing Partnership proclaimed its tenant satisfaction scores to be the best in London. Eamon McGoldrick, managing director of the National Federation of Almos, says it’s unlikely councils or almos will be shy to publicise good results, especially with politicians around. “The media will produce league tables,” he says. “If almos are doing a good job, then they will claim the glory.”
According to McGoldrick, almos that once contended with the Audit Commission’s key performance indicators have nothing to fear from enhanced scrutiny. But in the case of almos, it’s the parent council that regulators will ultimately hold to account.
Last year, South Tyneside Homes paid a marketing company £12,000 to carry out a tenants’ survey using draft TSMs. This revealed general satisfaction, but the need to deal with complaints faster. A scrutiny panel carries out up to four checks per year, while a wider ‘check and challenge’ group reviews specific services.
“I know people who are gaming the system to maximise their results. I’m more interested in getting a legitimate response so that we can direct resources so they best serve tenants”
Andrea Malcolm, executive director for people, homes and communities, Bernicia Homes
Paul Mains, the almo’s managing director, is waiting to see how regulators attribute the quality of landlord services to a council, when services are delivered by an almo. “Maybe it will become self-evident,” he says.
The RSH is yet to reveal exactly how, or even whether, landlords will be graded. “I think everybody would expect us to leave organisations with some sort of grade or overview,” says Kate Dodsworth.
Landlords are under pressure to not just listen to tenants more, but to listen to a larger number of them. The Confederation of Co-operative Housing won a two-year DLUHC contract to flag up the need for wider scrutiny through its four million homes programme.
This includes free training for tenants, online and face-to-face. Blase Lambert, the confederation’s chief officer, wants to see consultation “democratised”, meaning tenants can properly shape services.
“We need to move beyond how the sector has operated for decades, which engaged a small number of residents, but didn’t allow the voices of four million households to be heard,” he says.
The new world of housing regulation comes at a cost, not least to the RSH, which expects to take on about 100 extra regulators. It currently employs 224 staff, 130 of which are in regulatory roles.
“If they’re dissatisfied with refuse collection or park management, then their net satisfaction with the neighbourhood is likely to be lower. That presents a challenge for us in working with colleagues in the rest of the council to ensure we increase tenant satisfaction”
Gill Butler, chief officer for housing, Folkestone and Hythe District Council
Landlords received government funds towards this year’s surveys, but the cost of expanding scrutiny may need to be met from existing budgets. Some landlords may be in for a shock as the first results roll in and inspections loom.
Mathew Warburton, policy adviser at the Association of Retained Social Housing, accepts some council housing departments have taken their eye off the ball, but says the picture across local government is mixed. He’s concerned that, to satisfy regulators, councils may need to check every property each year. “That raises huge resource issues,” he says.
Landlords will be expected to keep improving as well as meeting high standards in the first place. In Eastbourne, Richard Tomkinson says: “We’re confident that we can meet the challenge of an in-depth assessment but, next time, we want to demonstrate that we’ve made further progress.”
Ultimately, the new system isn’t just about placating residents or identifying failure, but discovering what works well. Confident landlords should be happy to undergo scrutiny if criticism is fair and money available to address failings. “If you’re delivering a service that isn’t valued, it’s not a good use of money,” says Andrea Malcolm.
The road to deregulation and back again
2010 Newly-elected coalition government abolishes Tenant Services Authority and National Tenant Voice
2010 Government confirms it plans to abolish Audit Commission; Homes and Community Agency takes over economic regulation of housing associations
2015 HCA introduces new regulatory standards, with associations required to test their own resilience; Audit Commission is wound up
2018 Regulator of Social Housing replaces HCA regulation committee; green paper paves way for tenants to be given more say over landlord decisions
2020 Charter for social housing residents promises more tenant scrutiny; Housing Ombudsman takes on new powers
2021 Regulator consults over Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs)
2022 Social Housing (Regulation) Bill introduced in parliament
2023 Landlords start consulting tenants in line with TSMs; regulator to revise consumer standards ahead of first inspections in 2024.
Measuring up: The 22 TSMs in full
Ten tenant satisfaction measures assessed directly by landlords:
- Homes failing decent homes standard
- Repairs completed within target time
- Gas safety
- Fire safety
- Asbestos safety
- Water safety
- Lift safety
- Complaints received
- Time taken to respond to complaints
- Antisocial behaviour.
Twelve TSMs assessed by tenant perception surveys:
- Overall satisfaction
- Repairs
- Time taken to complete most recent repair
- Maintenance of home
- Safety
- Landlord listens to tenants’ views and acts on them
- Landlord keeps tenants informed about things that matter
- Landlord treats tenants fairly and with respect
- Landlord’s handling of complaints
- Communal areas
- Landlord’s contribution to neighbourhoods
- Landlord’s approach to antisocial behaviour.
Calling in the regulator
During the three years since bringing its housing management service back inhouse, Folkestone and Hythe District Council has had regular contact with the Regulator of Social Housing.
The council was one of four local authorities whose homes were managed by East Kent Housing, an arm’s length management organisation wound up in 2020.
Having inherited a regulatory notice for non-compliance with consumer standards, it made health and safety improvements and, after referring itself to the RSH, saw the notice lifted the following summer.
Since 2020, the focus has been on creating a completely new service to manage its 3,400 homes. “We started from scratch,” says Jonathan Hicks, the council’s senior specialist for policy and performance.
Three years on, it’s one of just two local authorities with first-hand experience of the regulator’s approach to consumer inspections, having been invited to join a pilot at the end of last year.
A team of three regulators joined a meeting of its strategic tenants’ advisory panel. They also interviewed senior staff and the cabinet member for housing, as well as visiting independent living accommodation for elderly residents.
Regulators found good evidence of compliance with existing consumer standards and praised the council’s commitment to putting tenants at the heart of its housing service. No indicative grade was given.
The pilot’s purpose was twofold, with regulators examining whether their framework is fit for purpose. “It was a test for them and their framework as much as it was a test for us,” says Hicks.
Folkestone and Hythe carried out a tenant survey after re-establishing its housing management service, and again last year, using draft tenant satisfaction measures.
The important thing, says chief officer for housing Gill Butler, is to tap into tenants’ experience, though it is difficult to estimate the precise cost. This year, the council received £11,476 from the DLUHC towards tenant consultation.
Its three-year tenant engagement strategy, published in 2021, promises to set up a ‘tenants’ voice’, to work with the council at strategic level. Further options include snap surveys, mystery shopping, and joint inspections with tenants.
Early indications suggest that tenants don’t generally distinguish between services provided by the housing department and those that fall under the wider council.
“If they’re dissatisfied with refuse collection or park management, then their net satisfaction with the neighbourhood is likely to be lower,” says Butler. “That presents a challenge for us in working with colleagues in the rest of the council to ensure we increase tenant satisfaction.”
