The aim of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act

• Introduction of TSM’s (Tenant Satisfaction Measures) The Bill sets out 22 prescribed measures (12 perception-based questions and 10 based on management information) you can view these here. Our first annual survey will go out in June and the results of this will be published on our website and in print. We must also share the results with the regulator by April 2024.
• What does this mean for you? We will need you to promote and encourage residents to complete the survey and when the results are in, we will need you to consider how we act locally on the feedback given.
• Access to Information – A new /alternative ‘access to information scheme’ has been proposed for social housing tenants giving them similar rights to those set out in the Freedom of Information Act. Allowing them to access information about performance and management of their homes to better hold their landlord to account.
• What does this mean for you? It is likely that information and data (for example records of your compliance checks) that you record about your scheme will need to be published and/or accessible to residents on request.

• Awaab’s Law: Introduces a focus on damp and mould under new legislation in memory of Awaab Ishak. Landlords have already been asked by the Regulator to submit detailed evidence of all damp and mould in their homes and must investigate and fix serious problems within strict time limits.  The Regulator of Social Housing will also have powers to issue unlimited fines and the ability to schedule repairs within 48 hours. New guidance on damp and mould tailored to the housing sector should be published by summer 2023.
• What does this mean for you? We need all employees to proactively identify and take action to address/escalate damp and mould so that we can continuing focussing on prevention and swift resolution of any issues.  The new guidance due in the summer may also introduce further requirements in how damp and mould is tackled.
• Good Quality Homes and Neighbourhoods The government launched its Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan in March, setting out a new approach to stamping out anti-social behaviour. It gives Police and Crime Commissioners, councils, social landlords, and other agencies the tools to better tackle this crime in communities.
• What does this mean for you?  You will need to familiarise yourselves with the revised guidance ASB Powers Statutory Guidance for Front Lines Professionals and any associated changes to our Policy and Procedures.
• Building Safety and Compliance: Ensuring homes are safe is the fundamental responsibility of a landlord.  The Regulator will continue to expect that homes meet the Decent Homes Standard, and will be strengthening standards in this area, as well as gathering assurance from all large social landlords that they have systems in place to identify and deal with damp and mould.  We have upskilled our Surveying team with the Building Safety Manager role and all surveying teams and Property Managers are fully trained in fire safety to undertake assessments. We have completed a Health Check on the ‘Big 6’, our five year electrical testing programme will be achieved by April. We will meet with residents six monthly to discuss and health and safety issues.
• What does this mean for you? A surveyor and Ops employee will visit every scheme every six months and they would value your help to get residents along to attend.

• The Ombudsman has updated its Complaints Handling Code and we have already updated our Complaints Policy to reflect this. 
• What does this mean for you? We need everyone to proactively resolve complaints at point of contact and to ensure that all formal complaints are resolved within target timescales set out in the procedure, failure to do so will mean complaints can now be escalated straight to the Ombudsman. It is also essential that we capture, use (and can evidence) how we have learned from complaints. 

• Tenants Voice: Landlords will need to ensure that residents have the chance to engage with their landlords in a meaningful way allowing them the opportunity and support to greater scrutinise services. The Government has introduced a Social Housing Quality Resident Panel bringing together social housing tenants from across the country so they can directly share their views with the government on their approach to driving up the quality of social housing.
  Resident engagement in Housing 21 takes place from scheme level, through local managers to regional managers and upwards. This is supported by the national resident panels who are consulted on policy and strategic decisions. This is in addition to the written communications to residents on a monthly and annual basis and resident conferences and other events. We have developed a New Resident Engagement Strategy and have committed to producing an annual impact report which will be the starting point of more formal reporting.  In addition, we have plans in place to provide better and more timely feedback to residents on the annual resident census survey. 
• What does this mean for you?  Local teams need to demonstrate how we’ve listened and acted (you said, we did). We also need you to work on reaching those residents who are easy to ignore ​/ hard to hear

The Social Housing Bill will also be supported through the introduction of changes to how Social Housing is regulated:

• The Role of the Regulator of Social Housing: The new regime being introduced will be a step change in the regulation of social housing, setting new expectations about the services that landlords provide for their tenants and involve a new proactive approach to gathering assurance that landlords are meeting those standards. 
  The Social Housing Regulation Bill will give the Regulator new powers and tools, it will remove the ‘serious detriment’ test, which currently places a high legal threshold on their ability to use their powers instead allowing them to adopt a much more proactive inspection regime.
• New Consumer Standards:  The RSH will review the Consumer Standards, seeking to realign the balance between the current position of a weaker consumer standard and a stronger financial one.  The new Consumer Standards will cover:
• Safety: Landlords’ safety responsibilities including safety within the home and in communal areas
• Quality: Quality of the home, communal spaces and services to tenants
• Neighbourhood: Landlords’ role, working with other agencies, to contribute to the wellbeing of neighbourhoods in which tenants live.
• Transparency: Landlords’ role in making information accessible to tenants including roles and responsibilities within landlords, so tenants know who is responsible for matters relating to consumer standards
• Engagement and accountability: Engagement between landlords and tenants, including how complaints are handled. Landlords’ accountability to tenants and treating tenants with fairness and respect.
• Tenancy: Requirements on landlords in respect of tenancies, including allocations policies and opportunities for tenants to move.
• The new consumer standards will be outcome focussed. This means they will set out what landlords should achieve but will not prescribe how they how they should go about it. A consultation on the new consumer standard will begin in summer 2023.
• What does this mean for you?  Look out for the consultation on the new consumer standards when it is published, Housing 21 will be responding to the consultation.  Once the new consumer standards are launched, we will need to assess how we achieve these new standards and consider if any changes to our current working practices, policies, procedures and tools are necessary as a result.
• Role of the Housing Ombudsman: The Housing Ombudsman and the Regulator have set out measures formalise and strengthen their relationship. The Ombudsman has strengthened their role to encourage take up of their service, by promoting this to residents.  Their remit will also extend to investigating potentially systemic issues that may be highlighted through individual complaints, referring matters to the Regulator where their investigation leads them to identify evidence of a breach of the regulator’s standards.
  The Ombudsman will have the power to instruct landlords to measure their service against guidance on problems like damp and mould, to help improve their response to complaints from tenants. The Ombudsman will publish the outcomes of all individual maladministration decisions, as well as an annual report setting out the number and nature of the complaints made against landlords
• What does this mean for you?  Our focus should remain on resolving complaints swiftly and effectively and in accordance with our Complaints Policy, but employees should also be aware of the potential implications of matters being investigated by the Ombudsman.  
• Professionalism within the Housing Sector:   To help to protect residents and raise standards and bring social housing more closely into line with other sectors providing front line services, including social work, teaching, and health and care services, it has recently been proposed that Housing Managers and Senior Housing Executives will be required to obtain a level 4 or 5 professional housing qualification.  We are awaiting further detailed guidance to determine exactly which roles would be impacted by this and what sort of qualifications, methods of study etc this would include.
• What does this mean for you? This may mean you and members of your team undertaking a Housing Qualification. Recruiting managers will also need to consider this requirement as part of any future recruitment.

The Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSM’s) cover five main themes, including repairs, building safety, effective complaint-handling, respectful and helpful tenant engagement, and responsible neighbourhood management.

The final tenant satisfaction measures are:

Overall satisfaction

1. Overall satisfaction with the service provided by the landlord. Measured by tenant perception survey.

Keeping properties in good repair

2. Satisfaction with repairs. Measured by tenant perception survey.
3. Satisfaction with time taken to complete most recent repair. Measured by tenant perception survey.
4. Satisfaction that the home is well-maintained. Measured by tenant perception survey.
5. Homes that do not meet the Decent Homes Standard. Measured by landlords’ management information.
6. Repairs completed within target timescale. Measured by landlords’ management information.

Maintaining building safety

7. Satisfaction that the home is safe. Measured by tenant perception survey.

Safety checks

8. Gas safety checks. Measured by landlords’ management information.
9. Fire safety checks. Measured by landlords’ management information.
10. Asbestos safety checks. Measured by landlords’ management information.
11. Water safety checks. Measured by landlords’ management information.
12. Lift safety checks. Measured by landlords’ management information.

Respectful and helpful engagement

13. Satisfaction that the landlord listens to tenant views and acts upon them. Measured by tenant perception survey.
14. Satisfaction that the landlord keeps tenants informed about things that matter to them. Measured by tenant perception survey.
15. Agreement that the landlord treats tenants fairly and with respect. Measured by tenant perception survey.

Effective handling of complaints 

16. Satisfaction with the landlord’s approach to handling of complaints. Measured by tenant perception survey.
17. Complaints relative to the size of the landlord. Measured by landlords’ management information.
18. Complaints responded to within Complaint Handling Code timescales. Measured by landlords’ management information.

Responsible neighbourhood management

19. Satisfaction that the landlord keeps communal areas clean and well-maintained. Measured by tenant perception survey. 
20. Satisfaction that the landlord makes a positive contribution to neighbourhoods. Measured by tenant perception survey. 
21. Satisfaction with the landlord’s approach to handling antisocial behaviour. Measured by tenant perception survey.
22. Antisocial behaviour cases relative to the size of the landlord. Measured by landlords’ management information.

The government is currently reviewing the areas of:

• Electrical safety checks
• Percentage of communal areas meeting the required standard.