Housing Quality Magazine April 2024

ISSUE 17: APRIL 2024

The unreported world of tenancy fraud

Identifying and responding to domestic abuse

Preparing for the new consumer regulations

A NEW ERA OF REGULATION

Kate Dodsworth talks tenants, inspections and C-ratings

The Housing Quality Network annual conference 2024

16 and 18 July 2024

The new consumer regulation is in full flow and a general election is looming. Join us to explore the new landscape for social housing – how to be ready for inspection, how to adapt to the changes and reflect on what might be coming.

Held over two days, the first will be a virtual event and the second an opportunity to get together with colleagues at our central London venue, The View.

Key sessions include:

• Darren McGarvey – his new BBC documentary takes an unflinching look at the UK’s public services, with privileged access to hospitals, schools and prisons. Darren will share his thoughts from that work on what our public services need right now

• Kwajo Tweneboa - his first book, Our Country in Crisis: Britain’s Housing Emergency and How We Rebuild, is published in July. Kwajo will discuss what impact his exposure of the shocking conditions in Britain’s rental properties have had and what he now thinks we need to do to make fundamental changes for social housing tenants

• Kate Dodsworth, Chief of Regulatory Engagement at the RSH with the latest on consumer regulation and inspection

• A panel discussion on a future royal commission “to reimagine the future of social housing” with Richard Blakeway, Lord Best and Alistair McIntosh

• Housing’s Next Generation competition and winner.

For more information and to book your place, visit hqnetwork.co.uk/events

The long wait is over. It may have taken a spate of horrendous catastrophes but finally the government’s plans to shake up the sector have arrived. Since 1 April, a whole raft of new consumer regulations for social housing have been in place –with the stated aim of making sure tenants are safe in their homes (which is really the very, very least you’d expect, isn’t it?).

The Regulator of Social Housing has new powers. It’s going to be working more closely with the Housing Ombudsman. Inspections are back, including for local authorities’ properties. Is all this going to make a difference? It has to: we can’t go on like this.

As we approach the seventh anniversary of the Grenfell Tower disaster, the inquiry’s final report has been pushed back again. Cases of damp and mould continue to plague homes across the land. Things have to change.

In this issue we have a lengthy interview with Kate Dodsworth, Chief of Regulatory Engagement at the RSH, in which she shares her thoughts on the new consumer regulation regime, and what the sector can expect to see. And the chief executives of four providers tell us what they’ve been doing to prepare for the new rules.

In this edition’s features, Keith Cooper digs into the unreported world of tenancy fraud, after new figures raised questions about efforts to free up illegally occupied homes, while Neil Merrick reveals how social landlords are under increasing pressure to identify and respond to cases of domestic abuse, due to the new regulatory standards.

In our regular Evidence update, Janis Bright explores the complexity of licensing for better standards in private renting, while Eve Blezard looks at the art of transforming spaces into communities.

And that’s not all! In a very busy edition, we also have an update from Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway, an article on how social landlords can address the retrofit skills challenge, and an overview of the Building Safety Act 2022 from the Chartered Institute of Building.

Finally, Stephen Blundell, from Leeds Federated Housing Association, reveals what his organisation learned from the consumer standards pilot; Helen White, Chief Executive of Taff Housing, gives us her life in 15 questions; and journalist Hannah Fearn slams shared ownership in her last word column. Phew!

The return of inspection: Top tips From the Chief Executive...

Inspection is back. I’ve been working with landlords, large and small, all over the country to get ready. These are the tips I’d pass on.

Every contact matters. The RSH’s new standards cover just about every contact you have with tenants and shared owners. So, make sure the folk taking calls, writing e-mails and repairing homes are spot on.

Data is king – for now. The RSH is really good at probing data for flaws. They have years of experience of checking the quality of safety data from their in-depth assessments. You’ve got to make sure that you calculate the measures for gas, electrics, fire, asbestos, water and lifts accurately.

Do you know who’s behind every door? This is a question the RSH will pose. Many landlords are disappointed by the low satisfaction ratings they’re getting for dealing with complaints and ASB. This may not be the end of the world so long as the figures are accurate, and you have credible plans to get better.

Leaders – check yourself before you wreck yourself. The way it’s supposed to work is that boards or councils must satisfy themselves that they’re meeting the consumer standards. Then the RSH will come in to check your system is watertight.

So, the big question for chairs, lead members and chief executives is: Can you prove that you’re meeting the standards? In all honesty, few will be saying yes, we are for all services. That’s when the robustness of improvement plans will come to the fore.

Tenants, shared owners and frontline workers spot things first – so listen. As sure as eggs is eggs,

the RSH will come across cases where the board sounds sublime and the data shows nothing but green lights. Yet the tenants and whistleblowers tell a very different tale. That’s when it’s time to get out to meet and greet on the estates.

Don’t wait to be inspected. If you don’t comply with the consumer standards, it may be time to tell the RSH. They expect you to be self-aware and to self-refer.

On the plus side, it demonstrates that you’re honest and that could go in your favour with the RSH when it thinks about what to do next. Ministers are chomping at the bit for the RSH to pass on huge fines. Don’t give them any excuse to do this.

Inspection is an opportunity to shine. Everyone knows that many (maybe even most) landlords don’t yet meet the consumer standards. Could someone else do the job better? Based on my extensive travels, the answer is a firm ‘no’. Staff I meet are truly capable and are more often than not going the extra mile. But they need a big cash injection to get things right.

Last word. People are telling me that if you think safety and quality is bad in social housing, take a look at temporary housing for the homeless. That’s the bigger risk. You’ve got more vulnerable people enduring worse conditions. Surely the RSH should be inspecting this too?! There’s such a lot to do to overturn the years of malign neglect.

Alistair McIntosh, Chief Executive, HQN

The unreported world of tenancy fraud

New figures raise questions about efforts to free up illegally occupied homes. Keith Cooper investigates.

The plumber had a funny feeling about the house. The bedroom doors were all padlocked shut. Strangers were turning up weekly, suitcases in hand, according to a tip off. Here are but a few clues that a property is being sub-let illegally, one form of tenancy fraud, among others.

If some widely accepted figures are correct, this is a major problem in social housing. Almost 150,000 homes owned by councils and housing associations are subject to some kind of tenancy fraud, according to the Tenancy Fraud Forum, a membership body for housing and legal professionals.

With each illegally occupied property estimated to cost the public purse £42,000, the total financial hit could reach an eye-watering £6.3bn.

These are big figures and point to a huge potential for freeing up homes for homeless families, as well as savings for councils edged towards bankruptcy by temporary accommodation costs. So, just how seriously are social landlords taking tenancy fraud? This is a notoriously tricky question to answer in full.

Much more is known about tenancy fraud in the third of

social housing stock under council control than the majority run by housing associations.

The Regulator of Social Housing collects but doesn’t collate or publish data on tenancy fraud on individual associations or the sector as a whole. In contrast, many authorities regularly release figures on the illegal activity they’ve uncovered, the number of homes freed up as a result and what this looks like in savings. And until recently, figures on fraud for the local authority sector were collected and analysed.

Bristol Council, for instance, in a recent internal auditors report, says it saved £2.5m by tackling 34 tenancy fraud cases in the six months between April and September last year. The London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which has a four-strong tenancy fraud team, recovered 36 properties from fraudsters in the 2023/24 financial year, saving itself £1.5m, it told HQM. Merton Council spent £136,000 on fraud investigation in 2023/24 but recovered four properties, saving itself £372,000 on temporary accommodation costs in the same period, according to a fraud report in March. In total, just seven authorities claimed savings of £7.8m in a year, according to our review of papers.

“Finding and stopping social housing fraud can rapidly reduce homelessness and poverty among families,” Westminster Council auditors said in a paper last year. “The recovery of social housing properties by the counter fraud team has a positive impact upon the temporary accommodation budget,” another paper by Brent Council said in December.

The last complete picture of counter-fraud activity for councils in England was compiled by the now-defunct Audit Commission, and some time ago, its 2014 report, ‘Protecting the Public Purse’, found more than 3,000 tenancy frauds had been detected by councils in a single year. That scale of fraud detection would today put an annual £126m dent in the £1.7bn temporary accommodation bill, which the Local Government Association says councils faced in 2022/23.

When the commission closed in 2015, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (Cipfa) continued checking on council fraud but with a voluntary reporting scheme. As a result, participation levels fell through the floor. Local authorities’ capacity to detect tenancy fraud began withering in 2016 after an exodus of council-based investigators to the government’s Single Fraud Investigations Service, a unit which focuses on benefit fraud. Only a quarter of authorities responded to Cipfa’s latest and apparently final fraud study in 2020.

But what of tenancy fraud in the 4.4m housing association homes in England?

This has, until now, been an impossible question to answer. But thanks to a successful request under the Freedom of Information Act, HQM can give the strongestever indication of the scale of tenancy fraud detection by housing associations.

The picture this FoI response provides is limited. Due to restrictions agreed with the regulator, the response only includes fraud reports entered on a ‘standard template’ and for the single year 2022/23. The names of associations in the data are anonymous.

There’s also “no requirement” for associations to use this template and only 118 of the 216 reports the regulator received did so. The RSH only requires fraud reports from the 230 associations with 1,000 homes or more, a group which own the vast majority (96%) of homes but comprises just over a fifth (17%) of providers. In total, the regulator received 212 fraud reports in 2022/23, 18 shy of the full amount, its response says. “Landlords must provide timely financial reporting to us, including for tenancy fraud, and we take it seriously when they fail to do this,” a spokesperson for the RSH says.

Despite these limitations, our analysis gives the fullestever picture of fraud in the housing association sector. The RSH’s fraud reports have “not previously been collated”, it says. Individual associations’ fraud reports were instead analysed as part of its “ongoing scrutiny of financial information”, it confirmed.

“

With each illegally occupied property estimated to cost the public purse £42,000, the total financial hit could reach an eye-watering £6.3bn”

So, what does the data show? Our analysis shows that more than half of the 118 association reports (59) were ‘nil returns’, indicating they had nothing to report. The remaining 59 associations reported a total financial loss through fraud of £1.1m. While 204 tenancy frauds were reported, only five associations attached a financial loss to 41 of them, totalling £127,433. More than half (60%) of the 204 tenancy frauds were reported by three associations. The biggest financial losses were in the development category, with a single association reporting a loss of £359,000 (see box, key findings on fraud).

While these reported figures seem extraordinarily good for a sector with more than four million homes and a turnover of £16bn in lettings income, they have alarmed anti-fraud advisers.

“The total reported fraud of £1.1m seems very small and a huge red flag, signalling that we haven’t got a handle of fraud in this sector,” says Arun Chauhan, fraud specialist at Tenet Law and co-author of ‘Fraud… Nothing to See Here!’, a 2023 report which claims that many associations are either “unconsciously” or “consciously” not dealing with fraud risk. “The concern is that this data indicates that the regulator hasn’t got a depth of understanding of the seriousness of fraud in the sector,” Mr Chauhan adds.

This £1.1m financial collective loss does appear to give associations an enviable fraud rate of 0.01% on the £16bn lettings turnover reported in their latest global accounts. It compares with fraud rates of almost 2% in the private rental property category and between 1.8 to 2.9% in the public sector, revealed in the Annual Fraud Indicator 2023 report by the University of Portsmouth’s Centre for Cybercrime and Economic Crime.

Paul Roberts, former finance director at The Guinness Partnership and the other co-author of ‘Fraud… Nothing to See Here!’, is concerned about the large number of nil returns. “That reinforces the point that what’s reported to the regulator could be understated, which in all likelihood must mean that the actual figure will be much bigger,” he adds.

“For a sector with turnover in its billions, the amount of fraud it reports might seem negligible, making it easy for people to bat this away as an issue. But that isn’t the way to look at it. There’s a lot to unpick in these figures especially when compared with other sectors with equal complexity, risks and size,” Mr Roberts says.

He also questions whether the figures on development and tenancy fraud are realistic or right. “When you consider the risks involved in development fraud, could this be just the tip of an iceberg?” he asked. “The number of tenancy frauds reported just doesn’t feel right in a sector with four million homes.”

Alan Bryce, former head of counter-fraud at the Audit Commission, says he’s “shocked” by the tenancy fraud figures. “There were more than 3,000 tenancy frauds detected by English local authorities in a single year in 2014,” he adds. “These figures show that housing associations managed to detect just over 200, when you would reasonably expect over 4,000 a year. Something’s going seriously wrong and the indifference of the Regulator of Social Housing to the issue of tenancy fraud is one of the main causes.”

Mr Bryce is less surprised that around half of the 204 tenancy frauds were reported by three associations. “This confirms the point that there’s only a relative handful of very committed associations taking this issue as seriously as they should.”

The Tenancy Fraud Forum believes that associations will only take tenancy fraud seriously if the regulator forces their hand.

“While these reported figures seem extraordinarily good for a sector with more than four million homes and a turnover of £16bn in lettings income, they have alarmed antifraud advisers”

“There’s no financial incentive for associations to detect tenancy fraud, they have so many other areas to deal with, and the main financial benefits go to the taxpayer and local authorities, not to the housing association, Mr Bryce adds. “That’s a hard sell to a housing association chief executive at a time of financial constraints, but is still the right thing to do. That’s also why only the regulator is in a position to motivate housing associations to do more. No one else will.”

The RSH said tenancy fraud is an important issue and social landlords must act on their responsibility to detect and manage it. “We require larger landlords to report any losses from fraudulent activity as part of their annual returns to us. We scrutinise their returns and follow up as appropriate when there are issues.”

Associations’ interest in tackling fraud does appear to have waxed and waned, according to those we spoke to. A social housing fraud prevention programme piloted by L&Q in 2013 was closed down after “being no longer considered a priority”, according to Nicola Evans, its tenancy fraud manager. But a new team, set up two years ago, has already recovered 179 social homes, saving the public purse £7.5m.

“The new team was established because of our unprecedented housing crisis,” Ms Evans says. “Social housing is now such a scarce resource and we need to protect it.” The five-strong team are all qualified in counterfraud and include a retired police sergeant.

L&Q gets referrals from residents, local authorities, contractors, and its own housing and disrepair staff. Cases

On the case: how much tenancy fraud is there?

Largest frauds by value

Source: FoI request

requiring management decisions, such as succession applications, are prioritised.

Cases of alleged illegal subletting require much more investigation and can be bound up with other crimes, Ms Evans says. “When working for a local authority we had a case where a tenant’s room was being used as a brothel. The ladies working there had been brought over from Brazil. So that case ended up not only being about the misuse of the property but also human trafficking and organised crime because the tenant was working as part of a gang.”

Southern Housing says it’s taken back 89 homes from fraudsters since April 2021. This amounts to a saving of £3.7m. It employs two dedicated tenancy fraud investigators and works with local authorities. “The main obstacle we face is the willingness of some agencies and stakeholders to share information. This is why it’s important to build up strong partnerships, which we continue to do,” a spokesperson adds.

Rajvinder Vine, customer safety manager at Riverside, says it’s recovered nine properties in the past year. Its counter-fraud operation starts with prevention. “When we sign up a new customer for a tenancy, we ask them to use their property as their main principle home and not sub-let it,” Ms Vine says. “That also helps them understand that their neighbours should also be in their homes.”

Ms Vine adds that Riverside’s staff are trained to be respectful to people they find in homes which are illegally sub-let. “You don’t know what their story is and they might not know that it’s being sub-let,” she says. “But with so many people on waiting lists and in temporary accommodation, there’s nothing better than getting a property back for someone else that needs a home.”

West Midlands-based Bromford has since 2021 seen a 100% year-on-year increase in the number of properties

“The multi-million pound collective savings revealed by these associations point out an apparent flaw in the RSH’s fraud reporting regime”

it’s recovered from tenancy fraudsters after taking a more “pro-active” approach. Last year it recovered 32 properties, saving the public purse £1.3m. Peabody says its specialist tenancy fraud team saved taxpayers £2.5m last year.

The multi-million pound collective savings revealed by these associations point out an apparent flaw in the RSH’s fraud reporting regime.

How come it clocked just £127,000 in savings on tenancy frauds, when associations openly told HQM of far larger amounts?

One clue lies in the RSH’s response to the FoI. This states: “Tenancy fraud does not always result in a direct financial loss to the PRP [private registered provider] and is therefore often entered, with no financial impact recorded.”

Mr Bryce takes this statement as evidence that the “massive financial loss” to the taxpayer as a result of tenancy fraud is “not a concern” to the RSH. “This is simply outrageous,” he adds. “It also shows disdain for the homeless families and those on the housing waiting list that are impacted by this type of fraud.”

For Mr Roberts, this apparent reporting shortfall points to a need for the regulator to tighten its reporting requirements. “Fraud reporting in the sector could be a lot more consistent, and with clearer parameters,” he says. “It doesn’t need to go down to the n-th degree; it should be pragmatic. With the regulator’s help, can we be more effective at reporting and tackling fraud? We need a better feedback loop so we can all be more effective.”

For without a much better picture on tenancy fraud, there’s no way of knowing whether housing associations and councils are tackling it – and therefore saving the public purse billions and freeing up tens of thousands of social homes.

Key findings

• Half of the 118 registered providers for which we have data submitted ‘nil returns’ for fraud. The other 59 reported 356 frauds

• The largest number of frauds by category were tenancy (204), other (79) and general theft (33)

• The largest fraud reports by gross estimate of loss were development (£359k), other (£188k) and procurement (£182k)

• Four associations reported development fraud. Only two provided financial loss figures, of £359k and £900

• Only five PRPs attached a financial loss to 41 tenancy frauds.

‘WE’RE RARING TO GO’

The new age of regulation has arrived. There’s a lot for social landlords to think about. There’s a lot for the Regulator of Social Housing to do. Everybody’s going to be very busy. HQM caught up with the RSH’s Chief of Regulatory Engagement, Kate Dodsworth, to find out what we can expect to see.

Does the RSH feel fully prepared for the new era of consumer regulation and is everything where it needs to be currently?

Yes, we do. For us as the regulator, and in the sector more widely, people have been preparing for years – since the green paper, white paper, bill and now act. I don’t think anyone in the sector can claim they haven’t heard about the changes that are kicking in from 1 April.

We’ve certainly been out on the platforms and in the press over the last two years – talking to landlords, talking to well over 3,000 tenants. So, there should be no surprises.

At the RSH, we’ve recruited well and implemented training across the organisation. We’ve built out our teams so that they’re ready, both for our new remit in consumer regulation and, with private registered providers, continuing our remit on the economic side.

Would you say you’ve had to evolve and refine your approach as you’ve gone along, or have you always had a bit of a route map in terms of knowing what you’re doing?

We’ve followed a clear route map. Something we wanted to avoid right from the start was having a disconnect between our consumer and economic regulation. So, for housing associations, we’ve built out a model where our economic inspections dovetail with the consumer inspections. We’re regulating local authorities against the consumer standards only, so our model for them is tailored accordingly.

We’re making sure that we’ve got the systems and processes in place to ensure collaboration, calibration and read-across these two areas.

The inspections themselves will start from 1 April and I’ll be looking at the outcomes with interest.

I’ll also continue to engage with tenants. This has been very important in helping to shape our new approach. The support and approval for our consumer standards, for instance, from tenants, range from 88% to 95% across the four standards. And for me, it’s really important to carry on those conversations, meeting with tenants and umbrella bodies, and making sure that this helpful input is still happening.

Has the inspection regime now been finalised? Are you able to walk us through it?

We set out clear information in the package of information that we published on 29 February. And we’ve given a clear direction of travel to the sector for some time.

The inspection process is, as usual, in the region of six weeks’ notice.

We’ll use existing data and request information from landlords to build an evidence base. Throughout the process, we’re seeking evidence of landlords’ assurance that they’re delivering the outcomes in our standards.

“There may be occasions where we look at the evidence, we engage with the provider, and something is so serious that we need to go out and inspect”

There are a number of new elements for us and for the sector. But we’ve always been really clear that the best way to deliver our wider role – the most efficient, the most effective, which doesn’t divert resources away from tenants – is to build out from our economic regulation.

Can you talk specifically about your role over the next 12 months. How hands-on are you going to be?

We’ve made some structural changes to deliver our integrated regulation. We have two directors, one who’s primarily going to be looking at the private registered provider side and one who’s going to be primarily looking at local authorities.

And then the field work will start. Typically our teams will go in, ask further questions, talk to the board, or to lead members on the local authority side, the executive team, and observe a tenant scrutiny committee.

In some cases, we may need to go further and carry out, for example, a focus group or a survey on a specific issue with tenants.

Then, as housing associations are used to, we’ll form our independent judgment. That’s a C1 to C4 grading for consumer regulation. For housing associations, they will go alongside our gradings for governance and financial viability.

Our judgements will talk about overall delivery against the standards. Where there are problems, we’ll be working intensely with those landlords on an improvement programme.

Is there the likelihood of spot or short notice inspections as well?

It’s important that people, including tenants, can

make referrals to us at any time.

There may be occasions where we look at the evidence, we engage with the provider, and something is so serious that we need to go out and inspect. It’s not a spot inspection, but it’s an inspection that will be triggered by something serious happening in between the cycle of programmed inspections.

And given that the inspection regime starts on 1 April, do you know who the first landlords are that you’re going to be inspecting? And I suppose, more importantly, do they know?

We’re starting to inform the relevant landlords.

Are you able to confirm what’s happening with the new C ratings. How significant are they? Does a poor C rating impact on the governance rating, for example?

People often ask me where I think the sector is at the moment in relation to grades.

Many will have heard me say that I don’t think large swathes are going to be in C1 territory. But the proof will be in actually going out and inspecting. We’ll be looking closely at the inspection outcomes and the themes that emerge. And we’ll carry out trend analysis as we move into the four-year

programme.

We’ve a really clear vision in our standards: that tenants live in safe and good-quality homes, enjoy good landlord services and are treated with fairness and respect.

If a landlord fails to deliver these outcomes, then it’s serious.

In terms of the relationship with the governance ratings for housing associations, we’ll see how that matrix evolves over the four years. But I think it’s highly unlikely that a landlord would have a G1 grading with a real fundamental failing in C4 territory.

Just breaking down the different C ratings from C1 to C4, can you quickly just tell us what each of those looks like and where you expect most landlords to fall initially?

A C1 grade is going to be delivering against the standards overall. With a C2 grade, there will be some weaknesses that need to be addressed. At C3, you’re starting to see some serious failings. And C4, you’re seeing some fundamentally serious failings. And that could be across a whole range of areas, but could include issues like health and safety compliance.

I don’t think there are going to be large swathes of the sector in C1 territory, because of what we’ve

“We want to see improvement for tenants. For the sector as a whole –local authorities and housing associations –I do think it’s going to take some time”

seen in our casework and what tenants have been telling us. But we’ll know more after we start our inspection programme.

Do you feel landlords are ready for the new regulatory era? There’s obviously been some concern over the preparedness of councils. But what’s your general take on where the sector is in its preparations?

We’ve been saying, ‘get ready now’ for some years. Good landlords will have been surfacing problems so that they can deal with them. They’ll have been carrying out some sort of gap analysis against the draft standards and the tenant satisfaction measures, and looking back to the themes of the white paper.

We want to see improvement for tenants. For the sector as a whole – local authorities and housing associations – I do think it’s going to take some time. A lot of this is around data, systems and culture. And I think the very act of us going out and proactively inspecting and kicking the tyres on these things mean that boards and lead members will need to have strong oversight. That in itself is a really effective culture shift, but it may well take some time.

Is there a concern that landlords will do the bare minimum to meet the new standards rather than strive for excellence?

Going back to our vision again, we expect to see tenants living in safe homes, with universally good-quality landlord services, and a relationship underpinned by trust, respect and transparency.

This is similar to landlords’ core mission. And I think that must be at the heart of what landlords are striving to do. It’s not just about passing a regulatory test and I’m sure landlords will want to do much more.

What is your message to landlords as the new era gets underway?

It’s important to emphasise the importance of our economic regulation. We know there are challenges and trade-offs, but governance and financial viability continue to be incredibly important.

With consumer regulation, often it comes back to culture: can a landlord easily spot issues and put them right? What’s the golden thread running through the organisation to understand quickly the themes of complaints? How able are they to spot problems with the quality of tenants’ homes? And how robust and effective is their data?

I would call on boards and lead members to continue asking these questions.

Are you able to quickly walk us through the timeline for the next six to 12 months, so people have a clear understanding of what’s coming?

We’re really looking forward to getting out and delivering our new role. From April some landlords will start to have their inspections, and although change isn’t going to happen overnight, this is an important shift for the sector that will help drive improvements for tenants.

And internally, for us at the regulator, we’ll continue to recruit where necessary and train our teams.

Finally, can you tell us a bit more about how you plan to use your new powers, such as performance improvement plans and the use of fines for non-compliant landlords?

We’ll continue to push landlords to put things right when they fail to meet the outcomes in our standards. If they can’t or won’t, there are a range of new and stronger powers that we can use. One option could be a performance improvement plan, to set out what the landlord needs to do to put things right and to tell their tenants about that.

Fines are another one of our tools, which could be helpful, but we’ll think carefully before issuing them as ultimately they will be paid from tenants’ rents.

Social landlords are under pressure to identify and respond to cases of domestic abuse. Some have been doing it for years, but others need to act quickly due to new regulatory standards. Neil Merrick investigates.

Within weeks of ‘Louise’ (name changed) moving into her new home, a team from Wolverhampton Homes visited the property to carry out a routine repair.

Noticing two internal doors were damaged, the team flagged up their concerns and alerted the landlord’s domestic abuse team.

Louise had fled her previous home due to domestic abuse. When a tenancy officer visited her new home, Louise disclosed she had shared the address with her former partner as she felt guilty he wasn’t having contact with their children.

Following an argument between them, her former partner had punched the doors in frustration. Louise also disclosed that the man had previously been controlling and physically abusive towards her.

After being allocated a specialist support worker (part of the domestic abuse team), Louise agreed to be referred for family help, counselling and legal advice.

A sanctuary assessment led to the installation of safety measures, meaning Louise could remain in her home. To date, a nonmolestation order taken out against her former partner hasn’t been breached.

From this month, all social landlords in England must show regulators that tenants who are victims of domestic abuse can access support and advice [see box]. It’s ten years since Wolverhampton Homes appointed an inhouse independent domestic violence advisor (IDVA) to deal with high-risk cases involving tenants.

safeguard tenants and create an environment where disclosure can take place.”

Cases such as Louise’s show how a wholeorganisation approach allows potential cases to be flagged up by anyone visiting a property. “It’s about asking questions and having that professional curiosity,” she says.

Tenants can report domestic abuse through a call centre or app. While survivors may move to refuges and other safe accommodation, the aim is for most to remain at home, protected through ‘target hardening’ measures such as better locks, ring-door alarms, fencing and lighting.

In 2022/23, Wolverhampton Homes carried out 115 sanctuary assessments for its target hardening scheme, which is also available to non-tenants in the city. In 93% of cases, the victim remained safely in their home for at least six months afterwards.

For the past decade, the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (Daha) has accredited social landlords that meet its standards for identifying and supporting victims of domestic abuse. A similar scheme is planned for private landlords.

“Three years ago, in Doncaster, the council’s Almo uncovered a case involving a woman in her seventies who had been abused by her husband for decades”

Landlords have a vital part to play in preventing domestic abuse and supporting victims, says Judith Vickress, Daha’s head of housing. While there’s a business case for adopting policies that should reduce voids and antisocial behaviour, this is by no means the only reason.

Three years ago, with reports of domestic abuse rising nationally at the start of the pandemic, the arm’s length management organisation expanded this into its current team, including a team leader, IDVA and specialist support worker.

“There was a huge demand,” says Charlotte Gibbons, head of sustainment and support. “As a landlord, we felt we have a responsibility to

“There’s a strong realisation that housing organisations can improve the lives of survivors if they embed standards of good practice,” she says. “It improves the confidence of staff, who feel more informed in spotting signs of domestic abuse.”

According to the Office for National Statistics, police in England and Wales recorded 1.45 million incidents or crimes related to domestic abuse in 2022/23. While down 0.8% from the previous year, the figure is 7.9% higher than in 2019/20.

Lockdowns were blamed for an increase in

The new neighbourhood and community standards for social landlords in England require them to “work co-operatively with other agencies tackling domestic abuse and enable tenants to access appropriate support and advice”.

Landlords must have a policy for recognising and responding effectively to cases of domestic abuse. They must also support councils in developing strategies and in commissioning services for victims, and their children, in safe accommodation.

Guidance from the Regulator of Social Housing urges landlords to understand the significant impact domestic abuse can have on tenants and household members.

Policies should use a ‘victim-centred’ approach and set out a landlord’s approach to recognising and responding to cases. This includes:

• Raising awareness and understanding among staff so they recognise signs of domestic abuse, particularly those linked to housing

• Making tenants aware of the appropriate support and advice available

• Offering tenants referrals to specialist agencies

• Providing staff with specialist training.

Social landlords also need to appreciate specific needs of tenants who experience domestic abuse, including those linked to protected characteristics, such as disability and race. Sensitive information must be handled in compliance with data legislation.

cases at the start of Covid. “People were trapped with their perpetrators,” says Vickress.

The 2021 Domestic Abuse Act requires local authorities to support victims and their children, where necessary, in refuges and other safe accommodation. With councils commissioning charities to provide support, Daha doesn’t believe it’s necessary for social landlords to set up inhouse services.

It can be more effective for a landlord to work in tandem with their local authority and local charities, says Vickress, but she accepts some landlords prefer to take a lead. “We try not to have a blanket view over what a service should look like,” she says.

The important thing is that victims aren’t automatically forced from their home. “Too often women are moved into temporary accommodation. That’s what the police and social services see as the first port of call, but we

need to focus on how we remove the risk,” she adds.

To date, 34 social landlords have gained Daha accreditation, with more than 120 working towards it. Earlier this year, Guinness became the first landlord to receive enhanced accreditation, something it sees as integral to reducing homelessness caused by domestic abuse.

In March, Hackney unveiled a social landlords protocol for reducing homelessness related to domestic abuse. The protocol builds on intervention policies in operation for council tenants in the London borough.

But why, with lockdowns over, are cases of domestic abuse rising? According to Osian Elis, chief officer at Gorwel, a domestic abuse service owned by North Wales housing association Grwp Cynefin, the increase has roots in many factors, including the cost-of-living crisis.

There’s also greater awareness of domestic abuse, with victims more likely to report cases to the police, and statutory authorities more likely to refer survivors to services such as Gorwel. “It’s not so much of a taboo subject anymore,” he says.

Shajaat Hussain, operations manager at A2Dominion, notes that the definition of domestic abuse has expanded during the past decade to include coercive control and honourbased violence.

In Oxfordshire, where the housing association runs the domestic abuse service for the county and city councils, more than 1,800 adults and children were referred for support between April and December 2023. During the previous 12 months, service users totalled 1,665. “Demand is growing every year,” he says.

Through the Oxfordshire service, A2Dominion provides support to anyone living in the county

“‘Years ago there was more of an acceptance that women did what their husband told them, or the other way around. That’s not OK anymore’”

judged low or medium risk, not just tenants. High risk cases are referred to Reducing the Risk, a separate agency. A2Dominion tenants outside Oxfordshire are referred to the national helpline or to local services.

The Oxfordshire service includes a helpline, counselling, and refuges or other safe accommodation for victims, including properties exclusively for men.

It’s important, adds Hussian, that men approaching domestic abuse services are believed just as much as women. A2Dominion uses screening tools to ensure that men who come forward as victims aren’t in fact perpetrators.

In North Wales, Gorwel has seen more perpetrators requesting support, including men who are on police bail or with previous convictions. “We have to undertake comprehensive assessments to ensure we’re supporting only victims of domestic abuse,” says Siwan Lloyd-Williams, who manages Gorwel’s IDVA team.

The Domestic Abuse Act, which only applies in England, also created the post of commissioner to speak on behalf of survivors. But Nicole Jacobs, appointed for a second term in 2022, is proving a thorn in the side for government, warning services could disappear due to the precarious financial situation facing many councils.

In spite of the act, most services are nonstatutory, placing them at greater risk from cuts. “For too long, domestic abuse services have been hanging by a thread and piecing funding together just to keep their doors open,” said Jacobs in a letter to Housing and Communities Secretary Michael Gove in February.

The act is taking time to bed in. In 2022/23, according to government figures, 50,670 households were placed in a refuge or other safe accommodation, up 39% on the previous year. But a further 24,580 households referred to safe accommodation didn’t receive any support.

Sometimes domestic abuse emerges where you least expect it. Three years ago, in Doncaster, the council’s Almo uncovered a case involving a woman in her seventies who had been abused by her husband for decades.

Following the intervention of St Leger Homes, the couple’s landlord, the woman was rehoused

“police in England and Wales recorded 1.45 million incidents or crimes related to domestic abuse in 2022/23”

so she could live alone, and the case referred to the police. “Their friends had never identified anything, but we did as an organisation,” says Jane Davies, St Leger’s head of housing management.

St Leger employs two domestic abuse officers in its home options team for people who are homeless and fleeing abuse or violence. Ten officers in its safeguarding and antisocial behaviour team are also trained to respond to domestic abuse.

A higher-grade safeguarding officer works with partners in Doncaster, including the council’s domestic abuse hub. Davies sees the new regulatory standard as a step forward that should ensure policies are watertight and as effective as possible.

An updated tenancy agreement will reinforce the way St Leger responds to domestic abuse. “Years ago there was more of an acceptance that women did what their husband told them, or the other way around. That’s not OK anymore,” says Davies. “We have always been a landlord that’s a lot more than bricks and mortar.”

Warning signs: How landlords can spot possible domestic abuse

• Are doors or walls damaged?

May be a sign that one or more of the adults living in the property is abusive or violent.

• Does an adult living in the property not have a key?

Could indicate that their partner is being coercive and controlling their movements.

• Have neighbours complained about noise?

May indicate that a household member is abusive.

• Do partners fail to introduce one another to visitors?

May be a sign of coercion or abuse.

• Is it evident that an adult doesn’t have control of their money?

Another sign of potential coercion or abuse.

TALKING HEADS

PREPARING FOR THE NEW CONSUMER REGULATIONS

The new, much-anticipated consumer regulations are with us. So, how’s the sector preparing itself? We invited four chief executives to share their plans.

Victor Da Cunha, Chief Executive, Curo Group

I warmly welcome the re-emergence of consumer regulation. Customers in every service sector should know there are protections in place to ensure standards are met. Social housing, with such a wide range of need and customer diversity, is no exception – quite the opposite – because we all know things do, and will, go wrong. When that happens, good organisations work quickly, with purpose, to put things right. Excellent ones learn and improve from those moments. Where this doesn’t happen, a regulatory regime should, without doubt, step in.

Of course, minimum standards should not drive any organisation. As leaders, we must ensure that our ambitions are set higher and I hope the regulatory regime will resist returning to the overly-prescribing, detailed methodology which existed in the past; one size doesn’t fit all. Regulation should never be a replacement for clearly agreed local service standards, based on the needs and expectations of customers and communities.

At Curo, we’ll never be complacent about this. There’s always more work to do to become a truly outstanding service provider. That said, I believe we’re as ready as we can be for the new regime. Our approach has been straightforward – to ensure we know the full implications, put in place the additional necessary reporting requirements, and ensure that our PI data definitions are correct for the purposes of TSM reporting. More profoundly, and quite coincidentally, we’ve just completed a review of our strategic plan for the next five years, and this has served as a far bigger change agent. Yes, we’ve ensured we recognise and work within the expectations of new consumer regulations, but we’ve also paid attention to other important operating realities. Using the recommendations of the Better Social Housing Review, we’ve reviewed our vision with customers and colleagues and refreshed our strategic objectives, so they fit with the world we live in, reinforce our social purpose and the needs of those we serve.

We’ve refreshed our performance management framework, our decision-making and accountability model and committed to further strengthening our approach to inclusion, people, tech and strategic partnerships. It’s this wider strategic reset, with our customers and our future in mind, that will drive our ambitions, resource allocation and service ethos. It should always be the ambition for excellence, and not regulation, that drives your approach to customer experience and social purpose.

Nick Atkin, Chief Executive, Yorkshire Housing

Yes, like most others after quite a bit of time spent preparing, we’re ready! We’re already using the new standards to help us continuously improve how we deliver our services. Yorkshire Housing’s vision is to be the UK’s best housing provider, something that we can only achieve if everyone who works for us adopts a customer-obsessed approach. That’s why this is our focus for the year ahead and the standards really help drive this cultural shift.

The new standards have given us a springboard that enables us to evidence all the great work we’re doing as well as highlight those areas where further work is still needed to improve our customer experience.

We’ve created a framework that makes sure everyone understands their role in delivering a great customer experience and that enables us to continuously fine tune and improve. We’ve gone back to basics to make sure we can evidence our compliance in practice, policy and assurance.

There’s always room for improvement, so we’ll continue to give our customers a voice and ensure they’re listened too, and we act on this. We’re also improving how we record data and insight to enhance the quality of our services. True customer obsession is a journey not a destination and we’re relishing the prospect of the ride ahead.

Bruce Moore, Chief Executive, Housing 21

At Housing 21, many of the principles required to fulfil the requirements of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act were already in place, as our focus has always been on delivering the best experience for residents. As such, preparing to be compliant has been less about introducing new policies, and more about reviewing, analysing and improving current procedures to ensure consistency in meeting consumer standards across the whole organisation.

To achieve this, we’ve undertaken a rigorous mock audit against the standards, taking into consideration key factors such as performance, data, reporting and engagement, which has helped to identify gaps and areas where we need to be better. We’ve also engaged – and continue to engage – with colleagues and residents to ensure the new legislation is promoted, understood and embraced.

By identifying where we’re falling short in advance of the legislation going live, it’s enabled us to take proactive steps early and hopefully this will ensure we start off on the right trajectory. For us, the key to compliance is embedded in the act and everything it stands for into the culture of Housing 21, not just now at the height of the changes, but forever going forward.

settle has taken significant steps to enhance compliance and strengthen data and processes in anticipation of the regulator’s new consumer standards, and also the Complaint Handling Code from the Housing Ombudsman Service. Our work isn’t merely about compliance but is an opportunity to continuously improve and review services for residents – this is the reason settle exists.

Preparations have been underway for years, with investments in digital services and data to support these efforts. Notable improvements include an enhanced repairs booking system, the launch of our engagement platform, settle connect, and ongoing stock condition surveys, all designed to tailor services to the unique needs and preferences of each resident.

An engagement framework aimed at scrutinising performance and amplifying the resident voice in settle’s decisions has been established. This includes reviewing complaint handling with residents to ensure processes are effective and align with the new code. Ongoing projects like the Big Door Knock and the ‘Voice of the Resident’ panel continue, contributing to the development of a residentinformed 2030 corporate plan.

We’ve also created a new team dedicated to resident experience and engagement. This emphasises further training for colleagues to meet diverse needs and professionalise the workforce, and ensures colleagues are equipped with the skills and passion to deliver the best outcomes for residents.

Gavin Cansfield, Chief Executive, settle

Sponsored by

Welcome

Our housing should be our home. A place of relaxation, good times and, above all, safety. For some it doesn’t match up, because either the conditions in the home are poor or the neighbourhood is a place of fear and neglect.

So, what makes a house into a home, a place into a community? Researcher Eve Blezard has tracked the fortunes of a social housing estate from vibrant beginnings to “a palpable void in the fabric of community life”. The sense of belonging is vital: residents pointed to the importance of shared places for socialising and children’s play. Stripped away by redevelopment and austerity, the loss of those spaces also took away residents’ ability to come together to share in governing their lives and community.

In the private rented sector, a sense of belonging is hard to achieve for those tenants battling for basic decent conditions. A new report on licensing lays bare the complexity, difficulty and confusion local authorities face

when implementing or applying for licensing systems. Their determination to carry through enforcement, together with some innovative approaches to working with both landlords and other enforcement agencies, make valuable reading.

So, too, in the welfare system, housing hasn’t been able to act as the strong foundation for a better society. Now a group of researchers argue for a new approach to Beveridge’s “giant evils” via a universal basic income. The approach would include measures on housing affordability, including rent controls in the private rented sector to end ever higher public funding going to landlords as tenants compete for a place to live. The new approach would allow everyone to be encompassed by a safety net that actually works.

And, finally, a warm welcome to our sponsors, the Housing Studies Association. Research has never been more important and we look forward to hearing of members’ studies.

Janis Bright Editor, Evidence

Creating solid housing foundations via a basic income

In the academic discipline of social policy, many are aware that housing is the ‘wobbly pillar’ of the Beveridge welfare state, write Dave Beck (pictured), Remco Peters, Gemma Bridge, Francis Poitier and Ben Pearson.

This metaphor has been associated with housing since the 1980s, in conjunction with the rise of ‘landlordism’ and a residualisation of housing, an increasingly finite resource (more so for those stuck in a rent trap).

The role of social policy is to critically examine ways in which social problems can be reduced and/or solved, by looking at the impact that political decisions have on the lives of the public. In our recent article published in Social

Policy & Administration – ‘Modern welfare in the United Kingdom is a universal (dis)credit to Beveridge. Is it time for a basic income?’ – we challenge the current position of the UK’s social security provision (universal credit), arguing that it’s not fulfilling the promises of tackling Beveridge’s “five giant evils” (want, ignorance, disease, squalor and idleness). We conclude by stating that a new social security system is needed.

In the case of housing (Beveridge’s “squalor”), we argue that where we are today is far removed from the supportive system of housing envisioned in the 1940s. The introduction of several social policy mechanisms that came from the Beveridge Report revolutionised housing, changing the landscape through the introduction of the New Towns Act 1946 and the Town and Country Planning

Act 1947. Alongside the building of many new homes came an array of support, including the introduction of rent controls which limited the desirability of landlordism and fostered a political desirability to build council-owned properties. The introduction of policy mechanisms such as these succeeded in expanding both council housing and the owner-occupier sector, while the private rental sector entered long-term decline. This decline, however, wasn’t to last. The introduction of the Housing Act 1980, aka the Right to Buy scheme, began to dismantle the welfare state.

Spiralling rents

Many have argued about the position the Housing Act 1980 left the UK housing sector in, so we’ll not be delving into that oft-cited discourse – other than to state that many once council-owned properties were sold and successive governments failed to replace them, leaving the UK with an insufficient supply. Supported by the development of a buy-to-let market, what’s been snapped up has mostly been transferred over to the private rented sector, where residualisation and competition clearly rests in landlords’ favour, as tenants compete for, or bid on, highly-priced private rents. Many of these rents are outstripping incomes so have to be supported by taxpayers through the housing benefit system – essentially taxpayers’ money passing through the hands of the tenant on its way to landlords.

In our article, we argue that this approach to housing (as well as the other remaining four giants) is simply unsustainable when examined through the lens of social policy. The universal credit system is actually working to discredit real social security, and not as a safety net for people during times of need. Universal credit is highly conditional and not available to everyone equally (therefore not ‘universal’ at all), and this conditionality does nothing to support people in their own personal development, as it simply pushes people into accepting any form of employment. That in turn reduces creativity and personal development – both of which we argue would enable people to move into better, enjoyable and therefore more sustainable work. Moreover, the current system misses out

on millions of eligible UK citizens due to its stigmatising and complicated bureaucratic processes. This would be less likely to happen with a basic income that’s universally implemented.

Inadequate welfare

Recent research concluded that universal credit rollout weakened the UK welfare system’s capacity to support housing security for all its citizens. The rollout has been linked to increased numbers of households that are struggling with paying housing bills, and increased rent arrears advice issues and landlord repossession actions. We also know that unconditional economic stability can make a difference to people’s housing situation. For instance, recent evidence of the prematurely stopped Ontario Basic Income Experiment in Canada showed significant relief and mental wellbeing promotion as people were now given time to find safe and stable housing. That is in contrast to the traditional welfare programmes that made people feel trapped, insecure and barely met their basic needs.

What we propose in our article is that the UK should adopt a truly universal system of real social security, one which is based on trust, empathy and is unconditional. This same system would provide enough for people’s basic essentials through a non-withdrawable income – a universal basic income (UBI).

Based upon a Beveridgean ideology of doing something radical with social security, a UBI would be paid to everyone equally and unconditionally. Working alongside other supportive policy mechanisms, such as the re-introduction of rent caps in the private rented sector, a UBI would allow people stuck in a rent trap to be able to save for a deposit. This would go a long way to ending landlordism and truly give everyone the ‘right to buy’ a property.

Modern welfare in the United Kingdom is a universal (dis)credit to Beveridge. Is it time for a basic income?

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/spol.13002

Is it time for a universal basic income?

The complexity of licensing for better standards in private renting

Important research on licensing schemes in the private rented sector highlights the complexities and difficulties for local authorities in enforcing minimum standards, writes Janis Bright.

The study by Roz Spencer and Julie Rugg involved interviews with officers from five London boroughs that are running schemes. It points to the dangers of establishing a national registration scheme for England, as proposed in the Renters (Reform) Bill going through parliament, without suitable enforcement powers.

Currently, local authorities that have licensing schemes can charge landlords a fee, which goes toward the cost of inspection and enforcement. The researchers found that national registration could support local authorities in their work, but would undermine them if intended to replace the existing system.

Latest figures show that more than a fifth of homes in the PRS were non-decent. Currently, 22 London boroughs have some form of additional or selective licensing schemes and there are numerous others around the country. This study confirms previous HQN work for the Local Government Association on this topic, that licensing is complex and

the government sets a high bar for granting permission for selective schemes. Introducing selective licensing for a whole borough or district is especially difficult, and DLUHC has rarely given the go-ahead.

Issues with data

The study highlights a Catch-22 problem in applying for a licensing scheme. Data on the nature and extent of the PRS is required, but robust data is hard to come by without licensing already in place. The PRS can change quickly as well, rendering information out of date. Not only that, when applying to continue a scheme after five years, authorities must show there’s still a need (in which case critics would say it’s failed) or that licensing has been effective in reducing problems (where critics argue it’s no longer needed).

A table by the researchers shows the numbers of different education and enforcement actions taken by the boroughs of Camden, Ealing, Enfield, Waltham Forest, and Westminster over two years (2021 to 2023). Warning letters to landlords and civil/financial penalties were the most widely used tools. There were only three ‘not fit and proper person’ declarations (all by Enfield), no banning orders or

You got a licence for that?

injunctions, and only seven interim management orders (by Waltham Forest). But, overall, enforcement activity increased by a quarter over the two years.

Camden and Ealing had worked to build capacity in the early years of a scheme and work first with compliant landlords. They would move on to dealing with those who were non-compliant in the later years once experience had been built up. This approach appeared to pay off, say the researchers, with a higher than anticipated compliance rate.

The report recommends councils should switch from granting licences for the full five years of a scheme to annual licensing. That’s because officers reported finding so many disrepair problems in housing that was already licensed. Camden now issues one-year conditional licences in some cases.

The councils were especially concerned about so-called S.257 houses in multiple occupation. These are buildings that didn’t comply with 1991 building regulations when converted to flats and still don’t reach the standard. The buildings can pose significant risk of fire, sometimes have several owners or leaseholders, and officers reported that it wasn’t always clear who was responsible for applying for a licence for them.

Innovation

The report outlines some innovative approaches, including working with community teams, working with council landlord teams where former Right to Buy homes on estates are now in the PRS, and partnerships with other agencies, such as the National Crime Agency. HQN’s own research covering the whole of England also highlights examples, including Bristol’s Homes and Communities Board working with PRS enforcement, and Fenland District Council’s work

with police and others on Operation Pheasant to tackle exploitation among migrant populations.

Officers in all the schemes in the new research reported serious resourcing problems that hampered their activity. They cited a small number of landlords that take up disproportionate officer time, preventing them moving on to other work.

This also echoes HQN’s research, which recommends first scoping the scale and nature of the problem. As well as poor conditions affecting vulnerable people, other issues such as empty properties, modern slavery and money laundering could be involved. Knowing the nature of the issues helps when formulating a plan of action to tackle those landlords persistently providing poor conditions and services. Examples here include Sunderland City Council’s multi-stage approach to enforcement and Boston Borough Council’s engagement with landlords to send clear messages on what’s expected of them.

Licensing must be seen as part of a wider network of policies and practice if it’s to achieve improvement in the PRS, the new report concludes. Officers were unanimous in their view that the national property portal (register) proposed in the Renters (Reform) Bill would be an extra that helps provide data, not a solution in itself.

Licensing Private Rented Homes, Roz Spencer and Julie Rugg for Cambridge House

https://thinkhouse.org.uk/site/assets/files/2964/ch0324. pdf

Improving the Private Rented Sector, HQN for the Local Government Association

https://www.local.gov.uk/improving-private-rented-sector

Building belonging: Transforming spaces into communities

Dr Eve Blezard, HQN

“You don’t care. You only pretend to care” Cathy Ward, Cathy Come Home 1966

In the decades since the Cathy Come Home television play, the struggle within social housing for health, well-being and a sense of belonging remains. Despite legislative advances like the Social Housing (Regulation) Act of 2023, merging housing policies, resident-led research and public health strategies is now crucial for genuine community enhancement. This article draws from a study on a British social housing estate, ‘Rookwood’1, offering a microcosm of the broader socio-economic challenges permeating UK social housing. The research uses residents’ narratives to explore the profound impact of communal

spaces on community vibrancy and individual well-being, advocating for a shift towards more inclusive, healthpromoting living environments.

The transformation of Rookwood from a bustling postwar community to its current state offers a poignant look into the dynamics of social housing. This once-thriving estate, rich in amenities and communal spirit, now grapples with diminished communal spaces and heightened isolation. The stark contrast between Rookwood’s past and present is a microcosm of broader socio-economic shifts affecting social housing across the UK.

The residents’ narratives vividly illustrate how the loss of ‘third places’ – informal public spaces outside of home and work essential for fostering community through regular social interaction and relationship building (Oldenburg, 1999) — has significantly impacted Rookwood. This decline in essential communal spaces for interaction and play has

eroded the estate’s physical landscape and social cohesion, stifling opportunities for social engagement and leading to a pervasive sense of loss. Rookwood’s narrative emphasises the urgent need for policies that prioritise and rejuvenate these communal spaces, underscoring their role in fostering a sense of belonging, enhancing wellbeing and nurturing a resilient community spirit.

Change, loss and community

Rookwood is a testament to communal spaces’ pivotal role in shaping residents’ health and wellbeing (Hickman, 2013). This once vibrant social housing estate, born out of postwar aspirations for community and belonging, has seen

its shared green spaces and play areas gradually diminish, leaving behind a palpable void in the fabric of community life. Residents mourn the loss of these ‘third places’ that once offered safety and fostered bonds among neighbours, emphasising how essential they are for children’s play and the community’s collective identity.

Nothing to make a community

Susan: “Yeah, there’s just nothing to make a community a community, you know, there are no resources.”

In Rookwood, the decline of communal spaces has deeply affected community dynamics. Previously, residents enjoyed a strong sense of belonging, facilitated by shared spaces for children’s play and socialising. However, as these spaces have dwindled, so too has the ability for residents to connect and build social networks.

This shift has particularly impacted longstanding residents who recall a more vibrant community life. The loss of such ‘third places’ has led to disconnection and underscored their importance in fostering wellbeing and a sense of community among residents.

Community as resident power

Mary: “They took the community away from us.”

In Rookwood, community spaces were more than social spaces; they symbolised residents’ control over their environment. The loss of these spaces through redevelopment and austerity significantly impacted the community, stripping away essential social hubs and reducing residents’ autonomy. This reflects wider issues in social housing, where resident autonomy has been stifled through stigmatisation and dehumanisation (McKenzie,2015).

The concept of third places as communal spaces for fostering community and belonging underscores the need for policies that allow communities to shape these spaces themselves, highlighting a systemic issue of resident autonomy and calling for

AI generated art representing change, loss and community

empowering community-driven policy changes.

Home as a right

Helen: “It’s a house, it’s not a home. It’s got to be a home… You’ve got to feel it.”

The impact of crime and loss in Rookwood has deeply influenced residents’ connection to their community, straining their sense of belonging and desire to remain. This difficult reality has trapped many between the desire to leave and a lack of belonging. The term ‘negotiated settlement’ captures their situation, as residents weigh their ideal living conditions against their current reality (Popay et al., 2003, p.67).

The narratives highlight the essential role of strong community bonds and supportive networks in overcoming these challenges. They underscore the broader need for policies enabling residents to actively shape their living spaces, fostering a true sense of home beyond the built environment.

Taking the narrative wider

Rookwood’s story mirrors the challenges faced across UK social housing, emphasising the necessity for policies that enhance communities’ physical structures and social fabric. The experiences shared by Rookwood residents underline the importance of communal spaces for creating a sense of belonging, improving mental health and building resilient communities amidst challenges like crime and social changes.

This narrative extends to a broader call to action for policymakers and practitioners to prioritise more inclusive, community-led approaches in social housing development. It stresses the need to embrace resident voices in planning, ensuring communal spaces are preserved and nurtured to support vibrant, healthy and cohesive communities. This approach not only combats stigma but also aligns with the deeper values of social housing – safety, belonging and creating homes beyond mere shelter, advocating for a future where every resident can truly feel at home.

Here are some recommendations from the research findings to enhance community wellbeing and resident engagement.

• Champion communal spaces: policies should focus on creating and preserving communal areas vital for community wellbeing

• Elevate resident narratives: ensure that policies reflect the diverse experiences of social housing residents and recognise their right to a safe and meaningful home

• Counteract stigmas: platform resident-led narratives and experiences to help dismantle the stigma around social housing

• Enhance resident participation: encourage housing providers to enable real resident participation in decisionmaking, particularly around communal spaces

• Prioritise well-being: shift housing practices to highlight residents’ quality of life, support projects that connect

communities with their history and culture

• Advocate for interdisciplinary studies: support research that intersects health, housing and well-being, focusing on residents’ real-life experiences to inform healthier housing policies

• Leverage public health insights: incorporate health considerations into housing studies and policies to create environments that support physical and mental health.

Conclusion

Rookwood’s narratives reflect wider challenges in social housing, emphasising the vital role of home and community in ensuring residents’ sense of safety and belonging. Ultimately, the research argues for housing policy reforms that acknowledge the broad impacts of housing on health, wellbeing and community cohesion. However, the study is not simply a narrative of Rookwood – it should also serve as a hopeful call to action. It invites policymakers, practitioners and communities to unite in redefining social housing as spaces where safety, belonging and well-being aren’t mere ideals but lived realities for every resident.

“Identifying with a place as the home was transformative, especially when supported by friendly neighbourhood interactions, safety and accessibility of local amenities.”

(Fossey et al., 2020, p.1)

Dr Eve Blezard is HQN Networks Project Manager, and this article is based on her doctoral study: Blezard, E. (2022). Change, Loss and Community: Resident narratives of life on a social housing estate. University of Salford (UK)

References

Fossey, E., Harvey, C., & McDermott, F. (2020). Housing and support narratives of people experiencing mental health issues: Making my place, my home. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 10, 939.

McKenzie, L. (2015). Getting By: Estates, class and culture in austerity Britain. Policy Press

Oldenburg, R. (1999). The great good place: Cafes, coffee shops, bookstores, bars, hair salons, and other hangouts at the heart of a community. New York: Marlowe.

Popay, J., Thomas, C., Williams, G., Bennett, S., Gatrell, A., & Bostock, L. (2003). A proper place to live: health inequalities, agency and the normative dimensions of space. Social Science & Medicine, 57(1), 55-69.

1 The name of the estate has been changed to preserve the anonymity of the residents

Evidence newsletter editor: Dr Janis Bright

www.hqnetwork.co.uk

email: evidence@hqnetwork.co.uk

 follow us on twitter @hqn_news

Housing in Practice

Time for action

In the latest of our series, Neil Merrick reports on how a housing association’s community action days combine tenant consultation and support with joint efforts to improve communal space.

The residents’ story

Three years ago, the green space opposite houses in Shinewell Gardens seemed neglected and unloved.

A children’s play area had been dismantled by Southampton City Council due to vandalism, while residents looked out on a scene of old mattresses, shopping trolleys and other rubbish.

Efforts to improve the area began with a community action day, organised by the housing association Abri, which owns most of the homes in the cul-de-sac. At the same time, residents were assisted to tidy up their front gardens.

Three years later, while the area is not immune from vandalism, the green space boasts a picnic bench, raised flower beds for flowers and herbs, and a ‘bug hotel’, generating interest in biodiversity. Worn-out fencing between the green area and a local school has been replaced.

flag up problems, including damp and mould, and request repairs.

An Abri ‘handyman’ attends each action day to deal with straightforward jobs. At the same time, staff offer advice on employment and benefits, including opportunities for volunteering.

The exact nature of the event partly depends on the location. In a quiet cul-de-sac, staff may erect a gazebo and put out tables and chairs. “If we create a bit of a buzz, more people come and talk to us,” says Stanley.

“In some cases, vandalism, other criminal activity and antisocial behaviour renders such green space unusable, even though residents are keen to have somewhere to relax and enjoy cleaner air”

Lucy Davis, Abri’s community development officer for the area, says the action day in late 2020 presented the opportunity to bring residents together and agree on a joint effort. “Most residents were unhappy with the neglected and misused green space,” she says. “I’m pleased we were able to clean up the area so that it’s more attractive.”

Why is green space important to residents?

Studies show that during the pandemic appreciation of parks and other green space rose significantly, particularly in urban areas. But, though valued, some areas are in poor condition, often strewn with litter.

In some cases, vandalism, other criminal activity and antisocial behaviour renders such green space unusable, even though residents are keen to have somewhere to relax and enjoy cleaner air.

What is a community action day?

The community action day at Shinewell Gardens took place in November 2020, as the UK moved in and out of lockdowns. In effect, it became a pilot for a programme of such days that Abri now holds in neighbourhoods across southern England.

The programme took off over the next two years as, post Covid, Abri recognised the need to become more customer facing. “Levels of satisfaction were down,” says Stephanie Stanley, an Abri community investment area manager. “Covid brought a lot of challenges in terms of visibility and it was vital for us to start having a two-way conversation with customers.”

Residents are informed in advance that Abri staff will be in the area, with reminders sent out on the day via text. Essentially, tenants meet Abri employees over a cup of tea,

So are the days all about staff helping residents?

No. Abri is keen to avoid ‘us and them’ situations and stresses the need for tenants to participate where possible. This is especially important when it comes to looking after communal areas.

Rather than maintenance staff complete a job and leave, officers attempt to look into the root of a problem, such as how to prevent fly-tipping. “We try to establish why something is happening in the first place,” says Stephanie Stanley. “We don’t want to just come in cold and disappear.”

Danielle Lane, community development officer in Windsor, says residents welcome Abri’s “visible presence” in their area and wish to hear about what local services are available. Tenant feedback also benefits Abri as an organisation. “It helps us to understand current issues and work better with the community,” she adds.

How many community action days are held each year?

The number of action days is increasing. Last year, 18 were

A greener environment

held for Abri residents across southern England, from Somerset to Berkshire. At least 25 are planned, or have already taken place, this year.

The increase is partly due to Abri taking over homes in Bracknell previously owned by Silvar Housing Association, bringing its total stock to more than 50,000 properties.

During the past two years, three quarters of action days were held in one of Abri’s 11 community investment zones –neighbourhoods identified as requiring extra support due to deprivation.

How did things work out in Shinewell Gardens?

Plans to place residents in charge of monitoring and maintaining the area opposite their homes in Shinewell Gardens were put on hold after a storage unit and water butt were vandalised, leading to tenants feeling disheartened.

But the community action day in 2020, and three subsequent ‘community days’, gave Lucy Davis and other Abri staff the opportunity to continue encouraging residents to keep their gardens clean and make the most of the green space.

“Ultimately the community action day gave me the platform to speak to residents at the same time. I was able to bring in a skip so we could clean up the area and listen to what residents wanted to improve,” says Davis. “If I’d spoken to them one by one, it wouldn’t have had the same effect.”

What other improvements have resulted from action days?

Rubbish clearance and the improvement of communal space are common features of community action days.

In Weymouth, Abri set up a short-term community

investment plan after residents complained about problems caused by drug users. Staff gained a clearer picture by knocking on doors, leading to an area being identified where drug users congregated.

Abri used money from its social value procurement fund, plus materials donated by builders’ merchants Travis Perkins, to renew torn down fencing. The work was completed by a local contractor.

At Whitehill and Bordon, in Hampshire, Woolmer Forest Timebank joined a litter pick and clean up, filling three bags with items that would have otherwise gone to waste.

Action days also create opportunities for closer liaison with the police and local authorities. In Salisbury, a suggestion from a tenant led to the city council adding cricket for children to its planned pop-up youth events.

What lessons can be learnt from Abri’s community action days?

To be effective, a community action day must be properly publicised and have the support of a large number of residents. A landlord’s employees must be ready to not just respond to problems, but listen and learn.

At the same time, residents should play their part, keeping gardens tidy and assisting in making community areas more usable for everyone.

Under the new tenant satisfaction measures for social landlords in England, housing associations and local authorities must show they have policies in place to address concerns among residents about the quality of neighbourhoods.

“We are keen to create better living environments,” says Stephanie Stanley. “We provide assurance that Abri is interested in a problem, but resident involvement is crucial. We don’t want it to be a one-day event that ends there.”

Proving your worth –keeping tenants safe while meeting the consumer standards

The countdown has started. The Regulator of Social Housing’s inspections are now underway. Meanwhile, the Housing Ombudsman is publishing its special reports into investigations at landlords. No one wants to receive a follow up letter from the minister.

HQN can support you to answer the key inspection questions.

Can you prove you:

• Hold the right data on all your homes?

• Have accurate Tenant Satisfaction Measures and act on them?

• Are taking all necessary steps to keep residents safe?

• Are listening to and acting on what residents say?

• Deal with complaints thoroughly? Do you learn from them?

• Tailor services around the needs of tenants and look after vulnerable people?

Are your plans to improve services plausible? Are they SMART?

Does your board or cabinet have a firm grip on the service? Can they answer questions from inspectors?

We can:

• Brief leadership teams on what the RSH and Housing Ombudsman expects of you

• Brief staff on how they can help meet the standards –“Empowering staff is key to improving service delivery” says the Housing Ombudsman

• Run reality checks on the quality of customer-facing services (eg call handling, voids and record keeping)

• Analyse the quality of complaint handling

• Provide hands on help – document reviews and on-tap critical friend support through to intelligence-led in-depth mock inspections.

“The most helpful (and engaging!) session I’ve been to on consumer regs (and I’ve been to a few!). I shared the slides with our exec and leadership, flagging the key task slides in particular – some great challenges.”

Rosie Hazeldine, settle

No landlord will be perfect at the start. HQN is working with landlords of all types and sizes, including those that have been through the RSH pilot exercises.

We have a service for every budget, with discounts for HQN members. Members get access to our self-assessment toolkit on the consumer standards.

To find out more, contact Anna Pattison at anna.pattison@hqnetwork.co.uk or visit hqnetwork.co.uk/consultancy

Ombudsman Corner

By Richard Blakeway, the Housing Ombudsman

The new regulatory landscape sends a clear message: landlords need to know who lives behind the door as well as maintaining the home. Often our casework shows the two things are indivisible: overlooking individual circumstances could present risks or hazards to the resident as well as the landlord.

This means services need to adapt to a changing demographic. Frontline staff should be empowered to deliver fair outcomes, as well as management ensuring there’s a clear framework for consistent decision-making.

As our Spotlight report, Relationship of Equals, shows, complaints are a vital tool to navigate this complex landscape, especially given how the increase in mental health difficulties and housing shortages have made for an increasingly challenging environment.

The report showed many landlords have good policies in place to assist residents and every recommendation we made was based on a piece of existing good practice. Yet it also showed that for other landlords, their current approach is potentially inadequate for responding effectively.

housing and social care, and it’s important that landlords’ plans include that. It’s almost more important to consider accessibility, aids and adaptations to existing homes, as well as the level of service provision, communication and relationship building.

Our report discusses how some landlords have restructured their housing departments to better meet residents’ needs.

Given the complexity and challenges, the governing body of the landlord needs to be central to ensuring the strategic direction is the right one. So, how can the executive team engage the board in these discussions? Is your board assured that the current approach to vulnerabilities is working?

“Crucial is focus on not only considering the world of social housing today but also tomorrow”

Can you demonstrate relevant policy is being implemented? If not, where does the disconnect lie? Does your approach align with The Equality Act, the Human Rights Act and the Care Act? Do you offer a ‘human-centric’ service provision. Given we live in an aging society, have you considered training on handling dementia, sight and hearing loss?

Crucial is focus on not only considering the world of social housing today but also tomorrow. Consider Chris Whitty’s last annual report where he set out how the NHS, social care and government must start planning more systematically on the basis of where the population will age in the future. The Marmot review over a decade ago also considered housing and health inequalities.

So, long-term housing plans shouldn’t just focus on supply and affordability but be reflective of the reality of what ‘general needs’ housing means, now and in the future. It’s no longer possible to make an artificial distinction between health and housing, or between

If your board commissioned a “Resident of the Future” forecast for the next ten years, what would it like look like, and where would you foresee gaps? How and why do you keep records, and have you reconsidered your approach in light of recent guidance from the Information Commissioner? How are you raising awareness of the complaints procedure to ensure it’s accessible for residents who may face barriers to raising a complaint, as required by the now statutory Complaint Handling Code?

A social landlord is so much more than bricks and mortar – and our report and these recommendations should help landlords achieve the vision and values that inspire so many to have careers in the sector.

How can social housing providers address the retrofit skills challenge?

David Pierpoint, CEO, The Retrofit Academy

The UK government has started to accelerate the retrofit industry’s growth through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) and Home Upgrade Grant (HUG). Now that funding is in place, I can explore how social housing providers and their appointed contractors can address the skills gap to deliver high-quality retrofit at scale.

Twenty-seven million homes – this is the scale of the retrofit challenge as we look to decarbonise the UK’s housing stock in line with our net zero commitment.

Funding from the SHDF –most recently the £75m Wave 2.2 allocation – has been vital to getting projects off the ground, and it’s encouraging to see so many social housing providers and local authorities begin the process of upgrading homes.

important to first work out the scale of the upgrades you need to make, and how long these will take, to calculate the skilled workforce needed. Whether ten homes or 10,000, understanding the workforce required will ensure that targets and deadlines can be met. Tools such as The Retrofit Academy’s Workforce Modelling system can make this more easily achievable.

Social housing providers and contractors looking to get into the retrofit industry may find that existing team members already have the foundations and knowledge to take on new skills required for a retrofit role. The Retrofit Academy’s Training Needs Analysis Tool can help employers identify suitable candidates and create a tailor-made programme to train employees and satisfy the skill demand.

Considering an organisation’s skills gap and training needs, decision-makers may also need to make external hires or utilise their local supply chain. Dedicated retrofit employment platforms allow employers to connect to qualified professionals in the industry.

“A successful, high-quality retrofit department or business also relies on those who take up the roles to have had the expected quality training to receive accredited qualifications”

To make a success of these programmes, we need to train tens of thousands of retrofitters to fill the professional roles laid out in the PAS 2035 standard, in addition to the trades required to deliver the installations. Organisations with housing stock need to get involved in retrofitting and will need a skilled workforce, but how do they go about developing one?

Workforce development

Retrofit coordinators, assessors, advisors, evaluators and designers are all vital in ensuring a project is completed to the quality stipulated by the PAS 2035 standard, as well as on time. A successful, high-quality retrofit department or business also relies on those who take up the roles to have had the expected quality training to receive accredited qualifications.

When building a retrofit team within a business, it’s

A matter of quality

Arguably the most important facet of addressing the retrofit challenge is quality. To make a success of retrofitting 27 million homes the first time, quality needs to be built in at every level. This doesn’t just mean the installations and upgrades themselves. It also includes the content and delivery of training courses. If the qualifications deliver competent retrofitters able to do the job that PAS 2035 stipulates, the industry can be on the front foot as it begins the upgrading of homes to make them more efficient, warm, healthy and sustainable.

It’s important that when social housing providers are looking for a partner to develop their retrofit workforce, they can access accredited training courses that have quality embedded in their resources, materials and teaching. This provides a foundation for organisations to continue collaborating to address the skills challenge and maintain high levels of quality as the industry evolves into the future.

For more information about how The Retrofit Academy can support your organisation, visit retrofitacademy.org/ the-one.

Lies, damned lies and public relations

Neil Merrick, Housing Journalist

Faced with increased homelessness, government spin doctors had little real option but to create an alternative version of the truth.

Instead of acknowledging that the number of families in temporary accommodation was rising, the department’s press team focussed on the fact fewer people were asking local authorities for assistance. “Homelessness in England falls,” declared a press release.

No, this isn’t a vision of the days immediately before the next general election. In fact, it happened nearly 20 years ago under the last Labour government, courtesy of the then Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

To be fair, one of the press officers who spoke regularly to journalists in those days was slightly embarrassed by his colleagues’ attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of the media. “I didn’t have anything to do with it,” he said.

machine that’s on a non-stop spin cycle – fearlessly churning out ministers’ claims while fending off pesky fact checkers and even, on occasions, regulators from the UK Statistics Authority.

At least they aren’t making as many videos. Since Esther McVey’s brief reign as housing minister ended in early 2020, her hard hat and high-vis jacket appear to have been retired to the DLUHC’s props room.

It’ll be interesting to see if they reappear for the rumoured post-election exhibition honouring the achievements of the numerous men and women to have held the post of housing minister since the turn of the century.

Meanwhile, and more seriously, are press officers automatically biased towards the party in power? Well, yes and no. To some extent, they’re motivated by the desire of all PR professionals to ensure their employer gets the best publicity, regardless of minor inconveniences such as the truth.

“By the end of this year, there’s every chance that any DLUHC press officers with photos of Michael Gove on their bedroom wall will have torn them down, replacing them with pictures of Angela Rayner, or whoever”

Also, on the positive side, press officers did at least chat to journalists back in the mid-2000s. Fast forward to 2024, and you’re lucky if the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities even responds to your enquiry.

Then again, they are extremely busy. Busy, in the main, ensuring the government gets its message across ahead of the election with slogans and stats that should slip easily into campaign literature distributed by Conservative MPs.

Read many press notices and you’d be forgiven for thinking they were written, or at least approved, by the Conservative Party. Not by a government department. So, is there any real difference?

In theory, government press officers are civil servants. Non-partisan. But they are also part of a ruthless publicity

But they’re also flexible enough to spot a change in power when they see one. By the end of this year, there’s every chance that any DLUHC press officers with photos of Michael Gove on their bedroom wall will have torn them down, replacing them with pictures of Angela Rayner, or whoever.

In the meantime, they wage the same war as ministers against developers, councils and anyone else that can be blamed for the government’s failures in housing during the past 14 years.

Things reached a high (or low) point in February when a press notice announcing changes to brownfield planning policy took aim at councils in general and London mayor Sadiq Khan in particular.

Local authorities are too bureaucratic, it said. Not flexible like the government, which is fuelled by common sense and building record numbers of homes, if you ignore the homes it hadn’t built before it started building them. And so it went on.

Never mind. Pretty soon all government press officers will put their feet up prior to the election. Their work will be done. And what’s more they can rest assured that, ultimately, voters will target their anger at politicians, not shoot the messenger.

Have you heard?

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The Building Safety Act 2022 –

where are we and why is competency so important?

David Barnes, Acting head of policy and public affairs, Chartered Institute of Building

As we approach the second anniversary of the Building Safety Act 2022 coming into force, we look at the Building Safety Regulator’s (BSR) key milestones for 2024 and beyond, as well as some of the key dates the housing sector and wider built environment sector must prepare for.

In late 2023, the BSR set out its strategic plan for 2023-2026 to drive positive change for building safety in England. It aims to do this by setting a roadmap for change through three main stages: year one (April 2023-March 2024) – implementation; year two (April 2024-March 2025) –consolidation; year three (April 2025-March 2026) – steady state.

The ‘implementation phase’ focused primarily on putting the new regime in place and ensuring duty holders are aware of their new responsibilities, it also includes the publication of a register of higher-risk buildings (HRBs).

and registered with the BSR to become registered building control approvers (RBCAs), which replaces privately approved inspectors.

In England, 6 April 2024 was expected to be the mandatory date for registration of building control inspectors and approvers. However, following campaigning from built environment bodies, such as Local Authority Building Control (LABC), the BSR extended the deadline until 6 July 2024. But building control professionals in England were still required to register with the BSR on or before 6 April.

In Wales, the original date for registration was also 6 April, but the Welsh government has also recently extended the deadline for registration to 1 October 2024.

The delay enables more time for the building control profession to undertake the necessary competence assessments. The BSR estimates there are around 4,500 building control professionals in the UK and, according to the latest figures, around 3,261 professionals have started their applications to register.

“One of the most significant changes has been for building control professionals to be assessed, certified and registered with the BSR to become registered building control approvers (RBCAs), which replaces privately approved inspectors”

Alongside this register, the BSR has also made it clear that those living in HRBs in England should be given the necessary assurance and protections about safety decisions that affect them, as well as providing clear processes for reporting safety concerns.

Further, the act has also sought to improve consumer protections in the new build market through the advent of the New Homes Ombudsman as well as the New Homes Quality Board.

April 2024 focuses on the ‘consolidation phase’, which includes further guidance and insight to support industry stakeholders to develop a collective understanding about the new building regime. Most notably, it was expected to be an important month for the building control profession.

One of the most significant changes has been for building control professionals to be assessed, certified

Demonstrating competency is now a legal requirement for the new dutyholder roles of the Building Safety Act. Last year’s amendments to the building regulations mean that, as of October 2023, anyone carrying out the new dutyholder roles of principal contractor and principal designer on construction projects must demonstrate their competence.

Importantly, enhancing the competency of those working in the sector will lead to likely improvements in the delivery and quality of housing stock.

The CIOB Principal Contractor Competency Certification Scheme (PCCCS) is a competence-based validation of a person’s skills to carry out the new dutyholder role of principal contractor under the building safety legislation and doesn’t relate to the historic role under CDM regulations.

The scheme has two categories: one covers all buildings excluding HRBs and the other is for all buildings.

Candidates need to be a member of CIOB or another professional body that holds them to a code of ethics, and have three years of experience.

Further information on the PCCCS can be found here: www.ciob.org/learning/specialist-certification

Consumer standards: What we learned from the pilot

Stephen Blundell, Operations Director, Leeds Federated Housing Association

Last year, when our in-depth assessment (IDA) was due, the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) asked us if we’d take part in its consumer inspection pilot. While not entirely sure what to expect, we seized the opportunity so we could gain first-hand experience and learn more about the RSH’s expectations.

Every housing provider is unique and each consumer inspection pilot was different. But as you would expect, we were all asked about topics that are central to ensure effective governance and risk management.

Asset management

The pilot explored four key themes, including asset management and maintenance. For this element, the RSH wanted to know how our board has reassurance about any building safety and remedial actions needed, but also how well we know our homes. From managing damp and mould, identifying potential risks and the investment needed – every detail was important.

Transparency, influence and accountability

Another focus area was our understanding of fair access, diverse needs and differential satisfaction. This involved demonstrating that we treat tenants with fairness and respect, while also showcasing how they’re involved and how they scrutinise and influence service delivery.

We were also asked how we share performance data and learning from complaints externally and internally, as well as explain our attitude as an organisation to complaints.

Data quality and data management

This was a recurring theme. The RSH wanted to test the robustness of the data we were using to develop strategies and measure organisational performance, in addition to understanding how we maintain and validate the integrity of this data.

Triangulation

In separate sessions with our executive team, board

and tenant representatives, the RSH probed us on our understanding of the organisation.

Overall, I found our involvement with the pilot to be philosophical in nature but purposeful. While we worked together to debate and deconstruct ideas and the language we use, I found the regulatory team to be approachable and engaging – making the experience genuinely enjoyable. And it’s this factor that I think is the key for any provider moving forward.

Right track

In a more relaxed environment, people naturally move away from reciting strategies, goals and risk maps, and share how they truly feel about an organisation, enabling the RSH to gain a much better understanding of how it really functions and the quality of its relationships.

In September 2022, ahead of our IDA, we had already started implementing and recording our tenant satisfaction measures (TSMs) and had some initial analysis we could share. This, in conjunction with us carrying out a stock condition survey of nearly all our homes and collating qualitative research into tenant experiences of damp, mould and condensation, positioned us favourably for the pilot.

Although we didn’t receive a consumer grading, we did get confirmation that we were on the right track, while also identifying areas for us to work on. The experience we gained from the consumer pilot helped us to refine our thinking and direction of travel. This resulted in us accelerating our plans to invest and setup a new department focused on service improvement – bringing together critical functions linked to customer experience and priorities.

Advice

On one level, our job is to demonstrate that our teams meet the specific expectations in the consumer standards and that we’re delivering the required outcomes. But to view the new standards as a compliance framework would, in my view, be a mistake.

The consumer standards are written in a way which means they are never ‘done’. Rather, they’re something that we should always be working towards in a spirit of openness and transparency.

I believe the consumer standards are a call to action on driving down the undeniable gap between corporate rhetoric and tenant experience.

As a sector, we have a responsibility to show we understand our strengths and weaknesses, and demonstrate how our organisations are learning and improving holistically for residents.

Navigating the fog: The vital role of effective board members in a changing landscape

Peter Brown, Non-Executive Director, Heart of Medway Housing Association

the board’s failure to interrogate. The key is to take a proactive approach, anticipating change and its potential consequences. Effective board members identify potential problems and ask critical questions before issues escalate.

It’s always after the event that people are wise. Long after the event people pontificate about what’s happened, weep about the tragedy and the pointless suffering and loss of life, and then they analyse and say, lessons must be learnt. So, we get analytical reports, that are summarised into professional articles, that are abridged to bullet-pointed learning points, that are abbreviated into pithy sayings. And the merry-go-round starts again until there’s another tragedy or failure and we ask – where was the board, have the lessons not been learnt?

The housing sector, like any other, is constantly changing. New legislation, evolving customer expectations and shifting reputational pressures all combine to create a complex and rapidly evolving environment. Gone are the days when simply reviewing board papers and making cursory comments at meetings sufficed. Too many non-executive directors (NEDs) read the board papers, turn up to the meeting, make a few comments then leave feeling that they have earnt their fee. Nothing could be further from the truth. To be truly effective, we need to engage more deeply.

Housing organisations are organic entities. They constantly grow and develop; staff turnover, new regulations and changing public perceptions all necessitate a dynamic approach to leadership. The traditional image of the CEO as a captain steering a ship through clear waters is no longer apt. Today’s leaders are more like figures navigating a dense fog, guiding their teams through a constantly shifting landscape. The future is uncertain, and past experiences aren’t fully understood.

For NEDs, one of the biggest challenges is accessing reliable information. Separated from the day-to-day operations, they receive filtered reports and presentations. All information is mediated, all interactions are in the context of a perceived power differential. It can be difficult for the executive to present a truly objective picture of an organisation’s inner workings. The information presented to boards is often curated and may not reflect the full picture, so it’s essential to recognise this inherent bias. The true work of inquiry doesn’t begin at board meetings or while reviewing papers; it’s a continuous process.

Long after an organisational failure, we hear about

So, what questions should board members be asking? While the future is unpredictable, certain trends are identifiable. We know that changes in IT systems regularly damage customer service, that cost cutting in construction can compromise safety, that new legislation can divert resources, that cash flow can cripple and that lack of controls on procurement can open the door to corruption.

As a NED, how can you ensure you’re not simply rubberstamping the next organisational failure? The answer lies in thorough preparation and asking the right questions. Here’s a framework for information evaluation:

• Space – when reviewing board papers, compare the organisation’s performance against benchmarks, both housing and other sectors. How does it measure up?

• Time – analyse historical data. Look at the numbers to understand past performance trends and identify potential future challenges

• Data – critically evaluate the information presented. Look for gaps and potential biases. What’s been omitted? What’s missing from the picture?

• People – consider who’s been consulted in the decisionmaking process. Crucially, were residents, customers and employees involved? Who prepared and analysed the data?

Conclusion: Continuous improvement through active engagement

Gone are the days of passive participation and rubberstamping decisions. Effective boards must be proactive, inquisitive partners who bring a strategic lens to the organisation’s journey. This requires a commitment to continuous learning, staying abreast of industry trends, potential disruptions and best practices.

By adopting the four pillars of information evaluation –space, time, data and people – board members can move beyond the limitations of pre-digested reports and curated data. Critically examining industry benchmarks, analysing historical trends, scrutinising data for bias and actively seeking diverse perspectives from residents, employees and industry experts allows them to paint a more complete picture of the organisation’s health.

Successful boards hold the executive team accountable for strategic goals and ensure the organisation is constantly learning and evolving. This proactive approach to navigating the ever-changing landscape of the housing sector is the key to ensuring not just survival, but long-term success.

Empowering residents and the importance of customer collaboration

Julie Layton, Chief Executive, Advance

Customers are central to everything we do. So, for Advance, which provides housing and support to customers with learning disabilities and mental health conditions, many of the practices in the new Social Housing (Regulation) Act are nothing new.

Several of the regulatory changes centre around working closely with hard-to-reach tenants. For us, this is business as usual, as all the customers we work with are considered hard to reach because of their individual needs or their location.

Beyond a ticked box

By meeting customers, they will tell you what they think, and will often share information that may not have been forthcoming in a formal survey. But it’s important that people meeting with residents have a consistent approach to recording and acting on feedback, especially for customers with additional support needs.

A culture of consistency

The fundamental starting point is creating the right culture, and a significant amount of time and effort goes into this – from my role as chief executive, through to inspiring colleagues and supporting customers daily.

“Just because something has been well received before, it doesn’t mean we can’t improve”

At Advance, engagement is more than a tick-box exercise. We want to empower our customers to achieve their goals and know their voices are heard.

Alongside our Customer Partnership, the formal link to our board, our Customer Collective offers customers the chance to make a meaningful difference, share ideas and feedback, and to socialise with others.

This year, we’ll also be delivering in-person roadshow events, creating further opportunities for customers to engage with us and share their experiences and we’ll provide transport for customers for whom accessibility may be an obstacle.

Valuable data

When considering the new Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs), our priority is ensuring surveys are accessible and data is meaningful. This is tricky with a prescribed set of questions, so we’ll check results through focus groups and individual conversations so we can identify the right actions for our teams.

Before the TSMs, we’ve always guaranteed at least an annual visit to every customer, priding ourselves on visibility and believing face-to-face contact is pivotal to relationshipbuilding.

Our values run through everything we do. Our onboarding sets the tone for what we expect from staff and is embedded through regular communications and events. We involve customers wherever possible in setting our vision and values, developing training and contributing to events, and we adapt our approach to enable customers with varying needs to get involved.

Fundamentally, everyone is here for the same reason – to transform the lives of people with a disability or mental health condition by providing the best quality housing and support, and the way to achieve that is to know our customers, hear from them and understand their wants and needs.

Further progress

We’re proud of our achievements, but there’s more to do. One main driver of complaints for us, and many providers, is communication. This year, we’ll be carrying out a project with customers to review and update letters, newsletters, customer packs and more. But that’s just the start.

I’m challenging employees to consider what processes currently are, and ask what can make things more friendly or more accessible. Just because something has been well received before, it doesn’t mean we can’t improve.

And that’s what the new regulations are doing, too. We know there’s incredible, life-changing work going on across the sector, but we shouldn’t settle.

We must evolve as our customers’ expectations evolve. Advance’s vision is to enable customers to live the lives they choose, achieve their goals, feel valued and know they’re heard. And I believe the new regulations will help us achieve exactly this.

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Fast practical guidance on everything to do with housing

A life in 15 questions

Helen White

Chief Executive, Taff Housing

1. What do you do for fun?

Walk my dog and watch funny cat videos on TikTok.

2. You have the power to change one thing about the social housing sector: what would it be? That everyone has access to a warm, safe, affordable home.

3. What advice would you give to someone starting out in housing? Ask questions, volunteer to do stuff, get stuck in and don’t be afraid to make mistakes.

4. Who’s your favourite author, and why?

Sue Townsend, she was a genius! I reread all the Adrian Mole books at least once a year and recently listened to them with my children as audio books which was a real joy.

5. Strangest thing you’ve ever experienced?

I once ate a bath bomb thinking it was a bonbon sweet. It was at a corporate event whilst the host was speaking, and I was busy foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog!

6. What are your three favourite albums?

This is Acting by Sia Achtung Baby by U2

Use your Illusion 1&2 by Guns’n’Roses

7. If you didn’t work in housing, what would you do?

I’d like to be a hotel concierge; I love solving problems quickly and creatively!

8. If you had to work in housing in another country, which would it be, and why?

Uganda, beautiful people, beautiful country, huge challenges.

9. A world without music or a world without literature?

Hideous question but literature.

10. Favourite food?

Roast beef, preferably cooked by my mum.

11. Pessimistic, optimistic or unsure about the future?

Optimistic – always.

12. You can resurrect anyone from history and talk to them for an hour: who, and why?

William Wilberforce, I’m weirdly obsessed with him! Much of what he championed was at odds with so many of his peers. I’d love to know what, above an obvious sense of social justice, gave him the courage and strength to be at odds with much of the mainstream thinking at the time.

13. Favourite film? The Wizard of Oz

14. Sat snugly at home or travelling around the world?

Travelling.

15. What makes for a good life?

I enjoy working really hard and being absolutely shattered on a Friday night! I know that might not fit with the

narrative around wellbeing – but for me personally, I like to feel I’ve given it my all and done all I can to make a difference. I love it when my youngest boy tells people he wants to be a chief exec like his mum!

I value my health and have become much more conscious of investing in my physical and mental wellbeing over the last ten years. Your health really is your wealth. I cherish mine and don’t take it for granted.

Laughing makes life good. I love it when something really tickles me. I take what I do seriously, but I don’t take myself too seriously. I also take great joy in the success of others around me. I love seeing people succeed, particularly if they’ve taken a risk or really pushed beyond their comfort zone. The sense of achievement when working in a team is also joyous – my success at the expense of others is no success at all. Achievement is so much more fun with other people involved!

A week in the life of...

Kate Ratcliffe Senior Performance and Insight Analyst VIVID

Employee since: 2018

Location, location, location: Portsmouth

Previous employment: VIVID graduate programme

I work for VIVID, a leading provider of affordable homes and extensive support services in the south of England. As an analyst, I monitor and track performance, supporting teams with customer insight and analysis to better understand our customers and their needs, and identify any potential barriers to our services. I really enjoy converting data into actionable insights, working across the business to put this into practice and help to influence our customer satisfaction.

Monday

The start of a month is always a busy week for our team – Research and Insight. We pull together our corporate scorecard KPIs, and other monthly monitoring dashboards, such as our service standards key measures, and check Power BI dashboards. We highlight talking points, such as key changes in performance, to understand the business impact or any change needed going forward. These reports and dashboards are then circulated across the business, either to exec meetings or made available on our internal VIV page.

My specialist areas are customer experience, income, lettings and complaints. I turn my focus to income and debt recovery, pulling key stats into PowerPivot and Power BI. The income team can see their performance at team and individual levels compared to trends over time – recognising high performance and areas for support. I analyse the rent balance four weeks into our new tenancies to help guide lettings and the income of new customers that need more support.

Tuesday

Today the focus was on building our latest customer experience insight report. We’ve recently moved to an omni-channel service, introducing a chatbot and WhatsApp live chat. I analyse our customer satisfaction feedback, providing an update on key figures, with trends of low scores and suggested actions to resolve this. The use of the ‘5 why’s approach’ to understand the root cause is something I refer to and provide actionable insight. Always putting our customers first in anything I/ we do is always something I keep in mind. I identified an element in our chatbot which was confusing for our customers and subsequently triggered an action to amend this to help improve this service. Knowing I can influence change for our customers is something I’m proud of.

Wednesday

We’re part of the Social Value Leadership Group (SVLG), led by Hyde, that has social value representatives all over the country. We meet quarterly to network, share best practices of social value within procurement, and hear from different agencies to ensure we’re best supporting our suppliers to help make a bigger difference in our communities. It was great to hear from others today, their challenges and recent successes.

VIVID Plus is our charitable arm, set up to provide targeted support for customers and investment to local communities to help them thrive. We invest in a wide range of services to provide our customers with tailored, individual support and tackle community priorities, through supporting place-shaping projects and initiatives. Through VIVID Plus, we’d partnered with Hampshire Cricket Board to deliver free, accessible weekly cricket sessions to young people in deprived areas across Hampshire. Today, I calculated their latest outcomes, measuring the wellbeing uplift of the young people involved through HACT’s social value, and tracked the difference in crime stats in the areas.

Leading on measuring our social value, I also met with a new supplier with our place-shaping manager to discuss their social value contributions with us over the contract, to link in with our VIVID Plus objectives. We spoke about our community focus and agreed to support a local food pantry and work together to improve a local green space. Food pantries are great initiatives, projects I’m proud to support – they offer healthy food at a lower cost than supermarkets, providing a more sustainable model, with an aim to reduce food waste. Playing a part in VIVID Plus, to help and support our customers and the local community, is a great feeling.

Thursday

From the new consumer standards, we’re working on how to better collect and hold our customer data to shape our services and make any service adjustments. We discussed with key stakeholders on how we’d develop our online account’s functionality to allow customers to provide their key information to shape better customer communications.

As a business, we’re undertaking a business transformation project, moving onto iProperty Cloud. As the subject matter expert for surveys, I met with a business analyst to map out our current ‘as is’ processes for surveys to understand how we’d then move to a new system going forward.

Friday

I met with a member of my team to discuss recent complaints root cause headlines. We talked through key themes across our resolved complaints in March to understand recurring themes and areas of concern. We agreed three deep dives into common themes to understand why our customers have complained, and what went wrong in our processes to understand changes needed to prevent dissatisfaction for our customers. Learning and evolving for our customers is at the heart of what I do, and, of course, VIVID as a whole.

As the winner of last year’s Housing’s Next Generation, HQN’s annual competition designed to showcase and celebrate young talent working in housing, I’ve been invited to join as a judge and met with the judging panel to discuss the approach for this year’s competition. I’m really looking forward to reviewing applications and meeting those who’ve entered this year. It’s a great opportunity and I wish good luck to all those who’ve entered!

Another week is done – on to the next!

Healthy eating

In the frame

 Land ahoy! South Liverpool Homes

The housing provider has gifted a piece of unused land to social enterprise Autism Adventures CIC, who are creating an inclusive outdoor space for young people with neurodiverse conditions.

 Thirsky work Karbon Homes

A development of 47 energy efficient, affordable properties in Thirsk was welcomed by local MP Kevin Hollinrake for bringing muchneeded homes to the area.

 Let’s grow! Garden Organic

The sustainable gardening charity wants to empower tenants to take control of growing in their shared community spaces through its Growing Buddies project. It’s looking to partner with housing associations across the UK.

Photo: Shaun Fellows at Shine Pix Ltd

 Staying safe Orbit

Orbit’s ‘look after your mates’ campaign has been designed to further reinforce existing health and safety procedures by encouraging site teams to take responsibility for their own safety, look out for each other, point out bad or unsafe practice and take note of colleagues’ mental health.

 Knitting together nicely The Abbeyfield Society

A knitting group at The Firs, an independent living complex for older people in Sherwood, has been hard at work knitting blankets and baby jumpers that are given away to people in need around the world.

 Freestyle bpha

35 girls aged between five and 12 years have taken part in a week of free swimming lessons, thanks to a partnership between bpha, Be Active and Sport England.

If you’d like to be featured In the Frame, please email your pictures to max.salsbury@hqnetwork.co.uk

Return to inspections

Inspection is back. What does that mean for you?

Find out at our special in-person events this summer where you can hear directly from the regulator as well as getting Alistair McIntosh’s hot tips on how best to prepare for the inevitable visit by the inspectors.

Wednesday 5 June

Central Manchester

Thursday 20 June London

To find out more and book your place, visit hqnetwork.co.uk/events

By Hannah Fearn, freelance journalist specialising in social affairs

The last word

I’ve been sticking up for housing for 20 years – but you’ll never convince me that shared ownership works

This year marks 20 years since I started my journalism career. My first job, at Inside Housing, was a fortuitous accident. I’d applied for another role at the same publisher but my CV was scooped up by a news editor who called me in to interview for their trainee reporter vacancy. On that day I couldn’t possibly have guessed then that two decades later I’d still be covering the same issues – even less still that those issues would be more pressing than ever.

I like to think over all these years I’ve been a mildly critical but very good friend to the social housing sector. I may have raised an eyebrow at very high chief executive salaries but I’ve also made the case for housing each time it was overlooked and misunderstood by multiple governments. Yet there’s one issue on which we’ve rarely seen eye to eye, and that’s shared ownership.

“It was designed as a foot on the ladder but for many tenant owners, shared ownership proved more expensive and less beneficial than continuing to rent, even privately”

In my view, shared ownership is the next housing crisis coming down the track –not only an economic disaster with real human cost, but also a massive PR grenade from which the pin has just been pulled.

The debate over leasehold reform has gained real momentum in the last few months, and Labour has committed to converting leasehold ownership into a form of commonhold. The anti-leasehold lobby is well mobilised on social media and there’s now real political capital in making that change happen. Because of the interest in leasehold relationships, and the public investigation into the Grenfell cladding crisis, the problems faced by shared owners have also been exposed to the sunlight.

And those problems are coming thick and fast: rapid service charge rises, high mortgage interest rates and rent rises for the portion of the property that shared owners don’t own. Meanwhile, real terms wages have either stagnated or shrunk. And remember, the original arrangement is designed so that buyers are required – that’s forced, not encouraged – to buy in at the highest property share that their finances allow: at the moment a shared owner completes on their purchase, they are already maxed out. In the current economic climate, that’s devastating for household budgets.

Shared ownership was, and still is, sold as a step onto the housing ladder for those that have no other options. But house price rises have been a double-edged sword for the product. I’ve spoken to shared owners in high cost areas, such as Brighton, where a combination of house price increases, stagnant wages and mortgage rises mean they’re now trapped in a property they cannot afford to stay in. They can’t sell it – the buy-in price is now far too high for most potential buyers to pass stringent affordability tests, and some mortgage lenders are pulling away from them altogether – but they can’t afford to keep paying the costs of ownership either.

It was designed as a foot on the ladder but for many tenant owners, shared ownership proved more expensive and less beneficial than continuing to rent, even privately. The model is impoverishing people. Yet even within the last week, I have received a press release from a very large housing association that will remain nameless touting the product as the answer to the housing crisis for women. What a terrible falsehood that is.

Of course shared ownership has played a huge role underpinning development plans and cross-subsidising deeply under-funded social rent. I understand how this crisis has arisen. But committing to the future of such a broken offer raises a lot of questions about the ethos of the sector, and at a time when further scrutiny may be unwelcome.