Over the last few years the Regulator of Social Housing has introduced various new regulations and legislation on top of their already stringent checks around governance and finance to ensure that social housing residents live in a safe and decent home. These have included the Social Housing Regulation Act, the Tenant Satisfaction Measures and the Consumer Standards in 2024.
This means we’re regularly assessed and awarded scores and grades for our performance so we can be held to account if we’re not getting things right.
We’ve been working hard to ensure we’re fully compliant with the new Consumer Standards and hope to secure a C1 grading at our next in-depth assessment to match our long standing G1 and V1 grades. But from seeing other housing associations already assessed we know that scoring top marks is no easy feat.
The new standards have four categories covering safety and quality, transparency, influence and accountability, neighbourhoods and communities and tenancies. Some of the key things on the Regulator’s radar include checking that we:
- maintain tenants’ homes so that they are safe, of a decent standard and provide a quality service
- handle complaints effectively where things go wrong
- listen to tenants and support them to influence decisions
- have a relationship with our tenants underpinned by shared expectations of fairness and respect and a shared understanding of our respective rights and responsibilities
- show that we understand the diverse needs of the communities that we serve, and that our services reflect those diverse needs.
Raj Sharma, Director of Finance at Futures said: “Everything the Regulator is looking for is the type of service every single one of our customers should expect and what we set out as an organisation to do. We welcome these new standards and are confident we’re on a good path to hopefully achieve a top grade when the time comes.”
