Social housing is a tightly regulated sector. It needs to be. Housing associations are responsible for the safety and well-being of millions of people across the UK. That’s not something to take lightly. And many of the houses now owned by housing associations were originally paid for by central or local government as ‘council houses’. So we also need to be held to account to properly manage and safeguard properties that were largely paid for by the tax payer.
The main way in which the government keeps an eye on housing associations and sets boundaries for what we can and can’t do is through legislation and through the Regulator of Social Housing. The Regulator sets rules and criteria that all housing associations must meet. We are also required to regularly provide information to the regulator so that they can check that all our affairs are in order and that we meet the standards required of us.
Every few years the Regulator also puts each housing association above a certain size under the microscope – a process called an In-Depth Assessment. Our turn came in late 2023.
This is no light-touch check. It’s a weeks-long process that involves auditing and checking data and records as well as meetings and interviews with key people. Even the preparation before the assessment starts is detailed and time consuming.
So given the huge amount of work involved we were hugely reassured and pleased to retain our top-tier G1/V1 ratings (the G standing for governance and the V for financial viability). In fact Futures has an unbroken record of G1/V1 assessments going right back to the beginning of the organisation. This is quite an achievement as fewer and fewer associations now meet this standard, especially due to the growing financial pressure on the sector over recent years.
Even despite this great result we’re not resting on our laurels. From 2024 a new standard is added alongside the G and V ratings – namely C for our ability to meet the Regulator’s brand new consumer standards for customer service. Work has started to help ensure we meet all the relevant new criteria with a comprehensive improvement plan in place to help us tighten up where we need to.
Our customer-centric Insight Committee will be supporting us in this work and we’re setting our sights high for our next In-Depth Assessment with the hope of adding a C1 to our other two top-tier ratings. Watch this space.
