New value for money standard brought in for private providers of social housing

A new value for money standard and supporting code of practice will be applied to all private registered providers of social housing from 1 April, the Regulator of Social Housing has said.

The regulator - a successor to the Homes and Communities Agency - has also published value for money metrics that providers will report against.

These are based on information collected through the providers’ annual accounts returns.

It said that during consultation respondents generally “welcomed the move away from a narrative approach of value for money reporting to more focused reporting, and understood and supported the metrics approach”.

From 1 April private registered providers should meet the reporting requirements of the new standard, which requires them to publish performance evidence in their annual accounts against their own metrics and those defined by the regulator, and report how that performance compares to peers.

Simon Dow, interim chair of the regulation committee, said: “Overall, the responses have been very positive and the strengthened standard now sets out a clear expectation that value for money should be a key strategic consideration for boards.”

Mark Smulian