Darren Hooker looks at the key governance issues social landlords are likely to face over the next 12 months. The new consumer standards came into effect in April, and following that, the first wave of inspections by the Regulator of Social Housing against those standards and we saw the first C grades for compliance.
Given the well-publicised issues around the sector relating to safety and quality, the number of RPs who have been able to obtain the top C1 grade has been a pleasant surprise. There are though numbers of RPs that have received a C3 grade and two that received a C4 grade both being local authority RPs. Consultations have begun on the implementation of two new consumer standards and we have had the publication of the first year of outcomes from the tenant satisfaction measures.
At the same time, the Housing Ombudsman has been incredibly active, with over 21, interventions in the last year, which is a three-fold increase from the year before. We expect to see many of these themes running into Particular issues we expect to see are:. We will of course, see a continuation of C grades being issued against RPs for their compliance with the consumer standards. Overall, the grades issued to date have been fairly evenly split between C1, C2 and C3, with only two RPs receiving a C4 grade.
This is a recognition of the fact that although some RPs are meeting the required outcomes, the general position is that improvements are needed across the sector.
Of course, addressing issues around safety and quality is not an overnight fix and we expect to see grades continuing to be issued in similar proportions across and for similar themes to continue to surface in those inspections. Specific issues that are likely to come out of future inspections include:. This forms part of the implementation of the Social Housing Regulation Act and includes details of specific timescales by which landlords are required to carry out repairs and other actions.
