With approximately 250 delegates, Inside Housing’s inaugural Regulation & Governance conference was full of housing professionals keen to understand more about the changing regulatory backdrop and governance best practice in this challenging time.

For those who weren’t able to make it to the conference in person, we have summarised some of the key discussion points below.

If there was one key message that ran through all the themes of the conference, it was around data: collecting the right, good quality data, and then using it to make informed decisions. 

Key takeaways

• The economic backdrop remains challenging for RPs, with increased interest costs; higher repairs & maintenance costs; energy efficiency improvement costs – all at a time when rents are (at best) flat.  Will Perry from the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) stressed that the Regulator will be asking:
  
  • Are you turning off development early enough to stay in the financial safe zone; and
  • What are you doing about future tenants, and helping to solve the housing crisis?  How does this fit with your organisation’s development strategy?
  • It is a careful balance, but avoiding development is not always the best approach – appropriate development is vital to the sector.
    
• Consultation on the new consumer standards is now closed. Economic regulation will still be the “bread and butter” of what the RSH does, but once the new consumer standards are launched, IDAs will cover consumer standards as well, in particular covering stock condition, repairs, complaints and tenant engagement – and for some organisations inspections will also extend to ASB, allocations and treating tenants with respect.
• The RSH is keen to see organisations that are integrated to deliver a holistic strategy across development, finance, customer services etc
• The jump in severe maladministration findings by the Ombudsman has been widely reported in the press, although the 20% drop in findings of no maladministration is also significant.  The Ombudsman confirmed that it has not changed its approach.  The Ombudsman recognises that issues with contractors can impact RPs, and would like to see the sector collaborating to improve this, as well as focusing on good performance management and improved tenant communication to manage the expectations of residents.
• Challenging times means it is even more important than ever to ensure your board has all of the necessary skills – including understanding customer needs/tenant engagement, finance and technology/innovation.  Consider the skills and experience of board members, but also their behaviours, and fill any gaps.
• Mechanisms to ensure you are effectively listening to the voices of your residents take a long time to set up and bed in, so start the process now (if you haven’t already).  Make sure you aren’t asking questions designed to elicit the responses that you want – ensure you are really listening, particularly to those voices that don’t shout as loudly.  And be ready to adapt where needed.  Board members should be testing/validating information that they receive by speaking to staff and residents.
• Build trust and respect between your board and executive team.  This will allow challenging but constructive conversations to take place – diversity of thought is really beneficial 
• Encourage junior colleagues to raise issues in a “no blame” culture that strives for continuous improvement
• Does your organisation have a strategy to overcome racism in the sector?  For example, an action group empowered to refer issues directly to the Board.  This can result in uncovering some uncomfortable truths, but allows you proactively to change the status quo

Conclusion

Some really interesting issues were discussed, and practical tips to ensure improvement shared. 

But the message kept coming back to data.  For example:

• The RSH accepts that some units don’t meet Decent Homes, but they want each RP to demonstrate they know which these are and have a plan to rectify the position
• It isn’t just about holding a snapshot stock condition survey – it is about really understanding the quality of your stock and the experience of your tenants, and demonstrating what you are doing to improve the position.  For example, spotting trends in complaints and taking appropriate action.
• Ensuring data is detailed/granular enough to inform decisions is vital.  Data should be used to justify and prioritise decisions in an informed way, including adapting to new information. 
• Tenant engagement is essential – communicate with residents so that you can demonstrate how you are accountable, and how you understand what they are thinking.  Expect the RSH to request information about tenant satisfaction survey collection methods to help them to interpret the data that you present.
• Board assurance is based on board members being able to access up-to-date, relevant data – and board members must make sure they have access to all the information they need.
• Similarly, to challenge racism within the organisation you need to collect and act upon data in a proactive way

All of the above is crucial to managing health & safety, financial and reputational risks for RPs.

How Capsticks can help

Our regulatory and governance experts are on hand to support with the issues raised in this conference.  From establishing effective EDI policies, to ensuring your board is fit for purpose and your governance structure is appropriate, we bring expertise from working with RPs and public sector organisations from across the country.  We are at the cutting edge of work with the proposed new consumer standards and actively support clients with regulatory queries (including health & safety issues).

If you have any queries around what's discussed in this article, and the impact on your organisation, please speak to Susie Rogers to find out more about how Capsticks can help.