To see ourselves as inspectors see us!

“Ofsted-style inspections and unlimited fines for failing social landlords.” That’s what a government told us was coming. How can we make this work well for tenants? In this piece, HQN Deputy CEO, Lydia Dlaboha, provides a snapshot of the tests we’re using in our pilot inspections at major landlords. Of course, we’ll update this as the regulator develops its regime.

Do you have:

• A validated stock condition survey feeding into a fully-funded programme of works (the RSH already insists on this at in-depth assessments – ministers are sceptical about the Decent Homes data from landlords)

• A credible business plan (including plans for decarbonisation)

• Stress testing with mitigations for the business plan (how would you cope if rent increases were capped at, 3%, 5%, 7%, or even 0% if England follows in Scotland’s footsteps)

• Proof of Rent Standard compliance

• Robust financial management (quality of budgeting, timeliness and accuracy of cash flow reporting, clean audits, and fraud prevention measures)

• Evidence of effective procurement and benchmarking of cost/quality versus a relevant and named peer group.

Through interviews and examination of key documents we’d look for evidence that:

• Senior people grasp the consumer standards and regulatory regime and allocate resources accordingly

• All staff are aware of the standards and behaviours required of them (the regulator will be following up on the government’s drive for professionalisation)

• There’s a realistic vision and strategy (that means it’s funded and that staff at all levels understand their role in delivering the objectives)

• Timely reporting on progress and action plans to rectify problems.

Do you have the following in place:

• Examining your satisfaction surveys and follow up action plans

• Looking at why satisfaction differs and what you plan to do about this

• Analysing complaints and reports about you from the Housing Ombudsman

• Reading a sample of complaint files (the Ombudsman is critical of landlords that do not respond fully and who send formulaic letters)

• Undertaking a sweep of social media comments

• Reviewing your annual report to tenants.

We would verify this by:

• Reviewing your approach to the new mandatory indicators on building safety and Decent Homes (how will you calculate these? What controls are in place?)

• Checking frequency, accuracy and reliability of reporting on gas, asbestos, fire, electrical, lifts and water

• Checking internal audits and independent expert reports on safety (Kensington and Chelsea TMO witnesses at the inquiry say they lacked access to expert advisers and this weakness contributed to fatal mistakes)

• Seeking evidence that defects identified in safety reports get sorted

• Seeking evidence of compliance with legislation on tall buildings

• Examining the accuracy and responsiveness of your IT systems (a common bugbear in IDAs is that IT cannot be relied upon to generate accurate safety data)

• Checking that tenders for major works are professionally specified and not subject to the socalled ‘value engineering’ criticised in the Hackitt report

• Checking that there’s a named health and safety lead with access to all the support they require.

Our reality checks would investigate whether your stated policies and procedures actually get delivered. We would do this by:

• Listening to recordings of first point of contact/ call centre (tone, quality and handoffs to other departments – does everyone pull together to solve problems or are frontline staff left in the lurch?)

• Inspecting a sample of case files by local area, type of stock and function (eg, repairs, dealing with ASB and domestic abuse – are the letters accurate? Do they address the issues squarely? Is the spelling and grammar up to scratch? Is the tone respectful?)

• Organising our own estate inspections and void visits, and accompanying officers and operatives

• Running focus groups with staff at all levels. Possible areas to probe:

– What issues are they coming across?

– How would they personally rate your services?

– How do they think tenants would rate your services?

– Can staff get things fixed?

– Are other departments helpful?

– What help do staff need to do their jobs better?

– How good is training/induction?

– Do they feel supported by leaders?

– Is IT working well?

– Would they recommend working here to their friends?

• Running focus groups with a cross section of residents, possible questions:

– How good are the services you receive?

– What could your landlord do better?

– How does your landlord compare to other landlords in your area?

– Does your landlord listen to you and act on what you say?

– Do you talk to your friends about your experiences with your landlord? What do you say?

– Do visitors comment on where you live? What do they tell you?

• Seeking the views of activists, ward councillors, local advice agencies and local journalists.

• Your strengths and weaknesses

• Whether you can meet the new consumer standards

• Practical suggestions for improvement based on what we’ve seen working elsewhere.

If you’d like to hear more about the Social Housing Regulation Bill and how it’s set to impact the sector, we’re holding a practical event on 29 September looking at how the sector can get on top of the incoming regulation.

If you’d like to speak to HQN about getting ready for inspection, please call Anna Pattison on 01904 557197 or email anna.pattison@hqnetwork.co.uk