Regulatory Trials Reveal Consumer Insights

The Regulator for Social Housing (RSH) has embarked on a series of consumer inspection pilots to develop its approach to assessing social landlords' compliance with new consumer standards. These pilot programmes, scheduled to be published later in 2023, aim to cover the breadth of consumer standards according to each subject's risk profile.

The RSH is focusing on the responsibility of senior leaders to obtain assurance that key things are happening as they should be. This approach aligns with the co-regulatory strategy adopted by the Regulator, with a focus on providing assurance to Boards and Councillors rather than on the services and homes themselves.

Co-production of engagement strategies has been found to lead to more effective results, and the RSH is testing different methods for gathering input from tenants. Some pilot organisations suggest that this should be a larger part of the settled methodology. A culture of listening to tenants is essential for effective governance, and strong tenant engagement is beneficial for advocacy.

Customer insight and equality data are important for understanding tenant experiences. The Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) are useful for starting conversations about tenant satisfaction. Involved tenants provide valuable insight but may not represent the full customer base.

Assembling a comprehensive assurance framework can lead to a good inspection outcome. 'External assurance' (i.e. independent checks and advice) is important for demonstrating openness to challenge. Robust, evidenced self-assessment against new consumer standards should be part of 'business as usual'.

In June 2023, Campbell Tickell facilitated a roundtable discussion with senior leaders from housing associations and councils participating in the consumer inspection pilots run by the RSH. Some organisations reported varying levels of detail requested in the document requests, with the need for interpretation being felt particularly by local authorities due to differences in terminology and structures.

The RSH is currently limited in its approach to enforcing 'consumer' standards (service delivery, safe homes, and tenant involvement). However, this will change with the Social Housing Regulation Bill effective from April 2024. The aim is to ensure that social landlords are well-run and report any gaps in assurance.

A common theme throughout the pilots was the emphasis on safety and data integrity, particularly concerning health and safety compliance, stock condition information, damp and mould, and safeguarding. Strong tenant engagement and a culture of listening to tenants are crucial for effective governance, and the RSH encourages organisations to prioritise these aspects.

The search results do not provide information about the names of the organisations that participated in the pilots of the consumer inspections of the social housing regulator. This information will likely be revealed when the pilot results are published later this year.