Agenda item

Following the newly enacted housing legislation, the Regulator for Social Housing is now consulting on a set of 4 proposed consumer standards and a Code of Practice.

 

Recommendation

 

That the Board considers the RSH proposals and comments on the: 

 

·       proposed Safety and Quality Standard

·       proposed Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard

·       proposed Neighbourhood and Community Standard

·       proposed Tenancy Standard, and

·       proposed Code of Practice

The Chair actioned that lengthy agenda papers are to be sent out earlier as

Members received their papers a few days prior to the meeting and were not

given adequate time to study them.

 

Annalisa Howson, Service Improvement Officer, addressed the Board and

reminded Members of the reading that was sent over summer RE: the RSH

Consultation and new Consumer Standards set by the Regulator.

Annalisa discussed the recently enacted Social Housing Regulation Bill, which

grants the regulator increased powers to hold social landlords more accountable. It

also focuses on ensuring good quality homes, tenant safety, and compliance with

various issues such as gas safety, damp, mould, asbestos, and more. Members

were informed that the Regulator was consulting on a set of new Consumer

standards. The purpose was to get feedback on these standards and to increase

awareness. There was also a call for suggestions from the regulator on improving

tenant involvement.

 

A few points were raised about the Safety and Quality Standard;

i. The Chair mentioned that accurate assessment databases must be

maintained within the Safety and Quality Standard.

ii. There was also a question about re-lets within this standard; which appeared

to have been dropped out. There was emphasis on getting repairs ‘right

first time’ with catagorized jobs. Although it was acknowledged that some

jobs will never be fixed right the first time, WBC asks for tenant feedback

to track this rather than looking at it from a catagorized perspective.

iii. There were questions around meeting the demands of tenants within the

decent homes standard. Annalisa noted that there will be a Decent

Homes Part 2 policy in the future which will give tenants a say over the

expected standard of decent homes.

iv. A point was raised about assessing tenants' homes for safety and health,

especially in cases of hoarding or living conditions that may require

assistance. Annalisa reassured Members that the stock condition surveys

were actively identifying and signposting individuals with safeguarding,

health and safety and hoarding concerns.

 

A few points were raised around the Transparency, Influence, and Accountability

Standard;

i. The idea of haring senior officers' roles and responsibilities and their salaries

transparently was mentioned and how this might be put in context

proportioned to the Landlord service and tenant’s rent, to be open and

transparent.

ii. Tenant involvement was highlighted and the Chair thanked Jeanette

Englefied for her years of service as Tenant’s Involvement Officer. He

noted some of her achievements. It was noted the Joesph Warriner had

successfully been recruited to role of Tenant Involvement Officer. The

Chair suggested that a representative of the Tenants Panel should have

involvement within the recruitment process of specific housing service

officers. Annalisa Howson noted that the service was looking into this

through the correct legal channels. This could be added to the

consultation feedback to ensure tenant views are taken into account

through the recruitment process.

iii. Questions were asked about ensuring tenant involvement within decisionmaking

processes. Terry Daubney highlighted the importance of learning

from other successful councils in improving tenant relationships and

engagement and the need to explore innovative ways to engage tenants

and encourage their involvement. Some examples included offering

incentives like paid board membership, gold status for repairs and

conducting focus groups for upcoming policies. Annalisa noted that the

Regulator expected social landlords to learn from good practices from

other councils. Joesph Warriner, Tenant Involvement Officer, would look a

divising a new tenant involvement strategy and channelling more

initiatives to get tenants involved in the service. Satisfaction surveys on

responsive repairs and mutual exchange reviews will provide a means to

bring tenants into the service.

 

Annalisa Howson reminded Members that there was a lot of work to be done to

ensure the Housing service is meeting consumer standards and the involvement of

the Board is key in this process. Feedback taken will go back to the Regulator and

Officers will need to start coming back to the Board and the Regulator with self assessments against these standards. Officers will need to demonstrate actions in place to meet standards and this will feed into the budget setting process to invest

resources, where needed, into areas such as compliance, tenants engagement and

IT systems to hold data and reports.

 

The Chair actioned for the RSH Consumer Standards presentation and

responses to the Regulator to be circulated to Members.

 

Annalisa noted that the Regulator was conducting a second consultation around

fees, as there will be a cost attributed to the consumer standard regulations when

they come into effect in April 2024. This will cost around £7-8 per social housing

unit for a large Local Authority registered provider. It was estimated that this will

total around £40,000 per year for WBC. Members raised concerns about the

financial implications of this and whether those funds could be put to better use, as

fees would be drawn from the Housing Revenue Account. There were concerns

about the rates being the same as Housing Associations, given that we do not

receive the same level of finance or governance assessments and services.

However, the Tenant’s Panel were supportive of the proposed fees as they would

ensure regulation of the housing service.

 

The Chair encouraged further comments on the Consultations and fees to be fed

back to Annalisa.