Agenda item

Meeting was informed that the Social Housing (Regulation) Bill enacts a set of measures to improve standards for people living in social housing, that it had gone through 1st and 2nd reading in House of Parliament . The bill sets out a new regulatory framework for the consumer regulation of social housing to strengthen the accountability of landlords for providing safe homes, quality services and treating residents with respect.

·       It was noted that many of the changes in the Bill are to be implemented by the Regulator for Social Housing (RSH) with Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TMS) forming part of this new framework.

·       Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) are the new performance metric for all landlords and in addition to the TSMs, the RSH will also carry out regular “Ofsted style” inspections and investigate organisational complaints to ensure compliance with the new standards.

·       The 22 TSM’s were published by the government in September 2022 after consultation. TSMs came into force from 1st April 2023 and it applies to all social landlords in England with over 1,000 properties.

·       Regulator for Social Housing (RSH) will monitor performance and standards through the above measures which will ensure standard and consistent measure across the social housing sector. There is an Annual reporting requirement and that RSH will publish results, including naming & shame social landlords.

·       RSH have powers to impose unlimited fines, remedial action orders, compensation.

·       It was also noted that Council’s with TMOs/Partners, are responsible for collecting and reporting on all TSMs and that Landlords must share the results with their residents.

·       Meeting was advised that earlier in the year, London Housing Directors’ Group commissioned Housemark to undertake a survey of stock-holding London borough Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs), that report was finalised and published in March 2023.

·       LBI scores 80% for complaints responded to within timescales (stage 1), which comparatively falls within the London Councils median quartile and the national average. The London Councils upper quartile score sits at 93.2% which is considerably higher than the LBI score and the national average. Contextually, the total number of complaints in London has increased by 20% from the previous year and this is representative of the fact that the sheer volume of properties in London is higher, and as such the complaints teams are seeing a greater demand for their services.

·       LBI scores favourably in the number of complaints per 1,000 properties at 29, which is in line with the national average. Comparatively the London Councils lower quartile scores this at 92.6 and the upper quartile at 38.6. This would indicate the LBI responds to a lower proportion of complaints based on the total number of properties it manages.

·       The LBI score for satisfaction that the home is safe and secure is 74%, which comparatively falls within the London Councils upper quartile, but lower that the national average at almost 83%. Contextually, resident perception will vary from London and inner-city areas to more rural areas, as local crime rates and other factors will differ considerably.

·       For the number of ASB cases per 1,000 properties, LBI scores favourably at 8. Comparatively, the national average is nearly 50 with London Councils lower and upper quartiles scoring at 55.4 and 69.8 respectively. Whilst this appears encouraging, the caveat would be that LBI has only recently started collecting and reporting on this specific metric, and therefore we need to exercise caution until we have at least two quarters worth of data to see a fuller and more accurate and up to date picture in this area.

·       LBI is taking part in RSH Pilot Inspection Framework, that the process started in May 2023, that initial contextual information and documentation has been provided.

·       Meeting was advised that RSH announced its first wave of Pilot inspections in 2022 with seven landlords, that the 2nd Wave of Pilot Inspections announced in April 2023 with four landlords, that the pilots will enable the regulator to test and refine its approach to consumer inspections, before rolling them out to social landlords from April 2024.

·       In addition to the above, meeting was advised that regulator will continue its work to prepare for new consumer regulation over the next 12 months and that another key milestone will come in summer 2023, when the regulator intends to launch its consultation on the revised consumer standards.

·       Identifying areas for improvement before an actual inspection will include, assessing the effectiveness of service delivery and quality assurance processes; identifying gaps in compliance with regulatory requirements; Improving staff understanding of regulatory requirements; boosting staff confidence in handling actual inspections; improving customer care/experience and outcomes; boosting resident confidence that landlord is compliant and offering excellent services – increase satisfaction.

·       Meeting was advised that detailed information has been provided to the RSH, who have acknowledged that the submission is highly professional compared to other submissions. Islington Council presently is the only large Local Authority Landlord which is in participating in this pilot work.

·       Meeting is being arranged to scope work out with the RSH in two weeks, that RSH are aware of the Housing Ombudsman investigation work at Islington, and they are liaising together.  The RSH will inspect the service during the last week in July or the first week in August.

·       Meeting was advised that going forward, RSH will be meeting the Chief Executive, Leader of the Council, Executive Member for Homes and Communities, the Corporate Director of Homes and Neighbourhoods, Housing officers, the Complaints Team. Also the RSH will aim to visit one of the Community drop in sessions and will view the meetings of the Housing Scrutiny and the Executive in July.

·       As part of the process, LBI will not receive a grading from RSH but will receive an action plan, that RSH welcome Islington piloting this work in areas such as tenants’ views and empowerment, Health and Safety, Repairs and complaints.

·       The Director acknowledged that this regulation only applies to social housing landlords, that a bill on private sector regulation is presently going through parliament.

·       The Director acknowledged that detailed data breakdown can be made available at future meetings for easy understanding.

·       On resident’s concerns highlighted in the report about safety in their homes, Director noted that is not in relation to building safety such as lift, gas and fire but around anti-social behaviour issues and crime in their neighbourhood. 

The Chair thanked Officers for the update, acknowledging that the measures will be an addition to the performance indicators which are reported quarterly to committee, and an opportunity for members to scrutinise the services.