LGA submission to the Regulator of Social Housing’s consultation on changes to consumer standards and requirements

This consultation is not inviting views on the content of the directions or policy statements as they have already been consulted on and published by the Government. The LGA responded to DLUHC’s consultation on this in April 2024. 

View the consultation outcome: Competence and Conduct Standard for social housing.

Further considerations on the Direction, policy statement and LGA activity can be found in Annex 1. The LGA is engaging with the Regulator on these issues outside of this consultation.

• The LGA is satisfied that the proposed amendments in this consultation relevant to local authorities are an accurate reflection of the content of the Direction from MHCLG.
• The LGA continues to engage with councils as they prepare for the new requirements and is making recommendations to the Regulator of Social Housing on the practical implementation of the standard. The LGA wants to work with the Regulator to share best practices in relation to the new competence and conduct requirements once they begin to be regulated against from October 2026.
• Whilst the impact of the competence and conduct requirements is out of scope of this consultation, we would also remind the Regulator that the Government has been and is currently introducing multiple changes that will impact on the delivery of housing management services by registered providers of social housing. Good coordination between the Regulator, Government and other parties is needed to ensure that these changes are coordinated and introduced in a sensible manner so that landlords can review their housing management services and delivery models and respond to them in the round.
• Whilst the implementation of the competence and conduct requirements is out of scope of this consultation, we do have concerns about the practical implementation of the new professionalisation agenda, particularly in relation to the qualification requirements. It is our view that there needs to be increased flexibility on transition periods and qualification eligibility thresholds. This would help councils as registered providers of social housing to plan and implement the changes more effectively, alongside all the other regulatory changes that are being introduced in parallel, allow more time for staff to prepare for qualifications and also help training/qualification providers to ensure they have sufficient capacity to deliver the relevant qualification programmes.
• The Government has been and is currently introducing multiple changes that will impact on the delivery of housing management services by registered providers of social housing. The cumulative impact of these changes and new regulations will have a significant financial impact on council housing revenue accounts (HRAs), over a third of which are in deficit this financial year (25/26). These concerns have been fed back to the Regulator outside of this consultation.

Consultation question on the proposed amendment to the TI&A Standard to reflect the STAIRS Direction

Question 1: Do you agree or disagree that the proposed change to the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard accurately reflects the government’s STAIRs Direction to the regulator? 

The LGA has not responded to this question as STAIRs does not apply to local authorities and has not responded to changes or impact assessment of STAIRS in other questions within this consultation response.

Consultation question on the proposed amendments to the TI&A Standard to reflect the Competence and Conduct Direction

Question 2: Do you agree or disagree that the proposed changes to the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard accurately reflects the government’s Competence and Conduct Direction to the regulator?

The LGA agrees that the proposed changes to the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard accurately reflect the government’s Competence and Conduct Direction to the regulator. Whilst not in scope for this consultation, Annex 1 sets out the LGA’s position on the Government's Direction and policy statement and concerns for implementation.

Consultation question on the proposed amendments to the TI&A Standard related to TSMs

Question 3: Do you agree or disagree with the proposed changes to the specific expectations in the Transparency, Influence and Accountability (TI&A) Standard for the Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs)?

The LGA agrees with the proposed changes to the specific expectations in the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard for the TSMs. The LGA supports the principle that landlords should ensure that their reported TSM information is an accurate, reliable, valid, and transparent reflection of their performance against the TSMs. As there are no changes to the TSMs themselves or the technical or tenant survey requirements, and this will not change what landlords are required to do to meet them, the LGA agrees with the proposed changes.

Consultation question on proposed changes to the Code

Question 4: Do you agree or disagree with the proposed changes to the Code?

As STAIRs does not apply to local authorities, the LGA is not responding in relation to these revisions to the code.

The LGA agrees with the proposed competence and conduct and TSM revisions to the Code. The Code reflects the expectations set out in the Government’s Direction and policy statement. Whilst not in scope for this consultation, Annex 1 sets out the LGA’s position on the Government's Direction and policy statement.

Consultation question on proposed Electrical Safety Checks TSM

Question 5: Do you agree or disagree that the proposed TSM will provide an appropriate level of information about landlord performance in carrying out required electrical safety checks?

The LGA agrees that the proposed TSM will provide an appropriate level of information about landlord performance in carrying out required electrical safety checks. We support the principle that all registered providers of social housing should ensure that their tenants are clearly informed about their performance. Councils are already measuring their performance on electrical safety and are reporting this data internally.

We agree with the proposed TSM calculation, which calculates the number of dwelling units owned for which all required electrical safety checks were carried out and recorded as at year end as a percentage of the number of dwelling units owned for which electrical safety checks were required to have been carried out as at year end.

Consultation question on impacts

Question 6: We want to explore whether there might be any regulatory impacts or impacts on people who share protected characteristics which we haven’t thought about in relation to our proposed changes (within the scope of this consultation).

Do you agree or disagree with our regulatory and equality impact considerations in Annex 5?

As the STAIRs direction does not apply to local authorities, the LGA is not answering this question in relation to its regulatory or equality impact.

The LGA agrees that there is likely to be minimal regulatory impact resulting from the proposed changes to the TI&A Standard and Code relating to the TSM requirements, as these changes would not alter the TSMs themselves or the technical or tenant survey requirements.

We agree that the proposed electrical safety checks TSM could have a positive impact through providing tenants with further transparency, and support tenants in holding their landlords to account, in relation to building safety. We broadly agree that landlords will likely already hold and collect the information needed for the TSM, and agree that there may be some transitional costs in understanding the new requirements, disseminating information and updating processes and systems.

As noted in Annex 1, we would also remind the Regulator that the Government has been and is currently introducing multiple changes that will impact on the delivery of housing management services by registered providers of social housing.

Note (outside of scope of this consultation)

We support the overarching principle of broad, outcomes-focused competence and conduct requirements which will ensure councils as registered providers of social housing have a policy in place which sets out their approach to managing and developing the skills, knowledge, experience and conduct of those of their staff who are relevant individuals. We also support the principle that all registered providers of social housing should ensure that their tenants are clearly informed about their performance.

Whilst the impact of the competence and conduct requirements is out of scope of this consultation, we would also remind the Regulator that the Government has been and is currently introducing multiple changes that will impact on the delivery of housing management services by registered providers of social housing. Good coordination between the Regulator, Government and other parties is needed to ensure that these changes are coordinated and introduced in a sensible manner so that landlords can review their housing management services and delivery models and respond to them in the round.

Whilst the implementation of the competence and conduct requirements is out of scope of this consultation, we do have concerns about the practical implementation of the new professionalisation agenda, particularly in relation to the qualification requirements. It is our view that there needs to be increased flexibility on transition periods and qualification eligibility thresholds. This would help councils as registered providers of social housing to plan and implement the changes more effectively, alongside all the other regulatory changes that are being introduced in parallel, allow more time for staff to prepare for qualifications and also help training/qualification providers to ensure they have sufficient capacity to deliver the relevant qualification programmes.

The Government has been and is currently introducing multiple changes that will impact on the delivery of housing management services by registered providers of social housing. The cumulative impact of these changes and new regulations will have a significant financial impact on council housing revenue accounts (HRA’s), over a third of which are in deficit this financial year (25/26). 19 per cent of HRA’s have projected a shortfall every year over the past three years, and over one third will hold equivalent to less than 10 per cent of their annual spending their reserves by the end of 25/26.

These concerns have been fed back to the Regulator outside of this consultation.