Consumers Standards - learning from recent inspections

We are now almost 6 months on since the new Consumer Standards were introduced in April 2024 by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH). So it now seems like a good time for us to take stock and consider what the key considerations are of these standards, following the recent regulatory judgments which have been published. 

The enactment of the Social Housing Regulation Act 2023 confirmed the RSH’s new proactive role around inspections - moving towards a far more evidence based assessment of compliance, with the key focus being that they expect all registered providers to “understand their tenants, and their stock”. We have previously produced a number of articles providing a summary of the Act by which can be found here. 

The summary of the findings, from the recent judgments, emphasise that the key considerations for social landlords, to ensure compliance with the new consumer standards, includes:

Safety and Quality Standard

• Not just having up to date data about the condition of their stock (and being confident about the data), but also having a plan in place to tackle areas where work is still to be done – e.g. outstanding certificates and checks.
• Ensuring that assessments and reports are carefully considered and the outcomes acted upon – i.e. not taking the approach of it being a ‘tick box’ exercise, but delving into the detail and implementing improvements and using this understanding to inform service delivery.
• Embracing and learning from tenant scrutiny (including via the handling of complaints relating to the condition of homes, and the repairs service) and implementing this into improvements into the processes used, staff training and the overall service provision.
• Having clear monitoring processes, in place in relation to compliance, with oversight being needed at board/senior or senior officers councillors level.
• Understandable focus on fire safety, including the need to have a planned process in place to deal with fire remedial actions and taking steps to mitigate such issues where necessary. 

Neighbourhood and Community Standard

• Evidencing a clear approach to Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) including a policy dealing with the management of ASB and hate incidents and regular reports to board. 
• Evidencing partnership working (with relevant organisations) in order to deter and tackle ASB.
• Good case management and reporting in order to identity trends, learn and scrutinise outcomes.
• Meaningful opportunities for tenants to influence processes by scrutinising.

Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard (including Tenant Satisfaction Measures)

• Having comprehensive information relating to tenants – including protected characteristics and using this insight to improve services and delivery approach. 
• Seeking views from tenants - enabling them to provide scrutiny, and using this to influence and improve services. 

In summary it certainly appears that the RSH is not looking for absolute perfection across the board, but an openness and forward planning approach by providers to be able to provide assurances that they recognise the potential issues and have a realistic plan in place to deal with them. 

If you would like further information on this topic, or if we can assist further with board training across governance, regulatory and health & safety or more generally, please contact Sarah Orchard or Rose Klemperer.