Issue - meetings

To provide Cabinet with an update on progress made towards delivering the outcomes of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, including revised consumer standards (report of the Assistant Director – Housing enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director - Housing, which provided the Cabinet with an update on progress made towards delivering the outcomes of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, including revised consumer standards.

The Portfolio Holder for Strategic and Operational Housing presented the report, which highlighted the large amount of important work that had been undertaken to date.

The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 delivered a number of key changes, including allowing the Regulator of Social Housing additional powers.  These changes:

·       Strengthened the regulator’s enforcement powers, making it easier for them to intervene where they believed that landlord services were failing tenants;

·       Placed the relationship between the regulator and the Housing Ombudsman’s Service on a statutory footing;

·       Extended the regulator’s powers, paving the way for the introduction of revised consumer standards, covering all aspects of landlord service;

·       Introduced a pro-active regime of inspections, inspecting all landlords with other 1,000 units a minimum of once every four years.

In order to ensure that the outcomes of the consumer standards were delivered, the Portfolio Holder for Strategic and Operational Housing had ensured that steps were in place to allow her to scrutinse the service regularly by chairing monthly compliance meetings and quarterly governance meetings, as well as chairing the Transformation Board.  She was satisfied that she was fully aware of the progress in delivering the Consumer Standards .  However, it was also important that Cabinet and Scrutiny were kept informed on the current position of the service.

The report set out an updated position on the following areas:

·       Consumer standards

·       Rent standard

·       Tenant Satisfaction Measures

·       Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code

·       Competence and Conduct Standard

Further reports providing updates on the position would be provided on a quarterly basis.

The following points were raised:

·       There was much work to be done in this area, however good progress was being made.  Tenant involvement was key to progression.

·       Was there the capacity and time available within the department for the appropriate staff training to be undertaken?

·       Some tenants had indicated dissatisfaction when responding to the TSM (Tenant Satisfaction Measures) survey - what actions were being undertaken to ascertain the reasons for their dissatisfaction?