Regulator calls on registered providers to have “robust reporting and assurance arrangements” to ensure effective oversight

All registered providers have an obligation to act to ensure the homes where their tenants live are safe, and must meet the full range of statutory health and safety obligations, the Regulator of Social Housing has stressed after publishing its Consumer Regulation Review 2018/19.

“This requires registered providers to have robust reporting and assurance arrangements in place for effective oversight of compliance by boards and councillors,” it said.

The Consumer Regulation Review 2018-19 includes case studies which demonstrate the Regulator’s approach to consumer regulation and explains its current role and mandate as set by Parliament.

The Regulator said the lessons from the review focused on the importance of registered providers of social housing ensuring there are effective systems in place to maintain compliance with the consumer standards including expectations that tenants’ homes are safe and well-managed.

Other key messages from the 2018-19 report include:

• Effective assurance relies on good quality data, and maintaining compliance requires effective systems
• Registered providers should understand and be able to demonstrate compliance across all aspects of the consumer standards, "including how they engage with their tenants, how they deal with neighbourhood issues, and how they allocate their properties"
• Delivering compliance with the consumer standards depends on good governance, and on an organisation’s culture
• The quality of relationship with tenants underpins registered providers’ ability to meet their objectives. "The effectiveness of registered providers’ complaints handling affects the level of trust and confidence tenants have in their landlord"
• Transparency with the Regulator is essential. "Co-regulation requires registered providers to be transparent with the Regulator, and a failure to do so can indicate broader governance concerns"

The Regulator’s Chief Executive, Fiona MacGregor, said: “The annual Consumer Regulation Review sets out the key issues we identified during 2018-19 in delivering our consumer regulation role and serves as a reminder to registered providers’ board members of our expectations.

“It also reinforces that well-run and well-governed organisations need to have systems in place to listen to and engage with tenants, and to take prompt and effective action when tenants may be at risk. I continue to urge all social housing providers to look at how accountable they are and how they can be more transparent with their tenants.”