2024 has been a whirlwind of a year for public services in the UK so far. As the sector faces the sharpest drop in customer satisfaction since 2002, the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) introduced new housing standards set out to empower tenants and ensure they receive secure, safe, and well-maintained homes with support and communication from their landlord.
The new standards are the result of the Social Housing Regulation Act (2013) and have led to a change in housing regulations, taking a proactive approach by setting out how social landlords should act.
What does this mean to landlords?
As landlords navigate these improved standards, the potential repercussions for non-compliance serve as a powerful incentive to uphold their responsibilities and deliver high-quality services to tenants.
Social landlords who fail to abide by the new social housing standards may be subject to a range of sanctions, including unlimited fines and the appointment of new management.
All social landlords, regardless of their organisational structure or size, are subject to these new UK housing regulations. However, one of the biggest changes is that Councils and housing associations with over 1,000 homes will now be subject to routine inspections at least once every four years.
The new UK social housing standards also brought the Housing Ombudsman Service’s Complaint Handling Code into law. Social landlords are now legally obliged to follow this code. It strives to implement a best practice for complaint handling to provide social housing residents with a better service.
As part of these changes, the Housing Ombudsman will now report its findings against landlords through a monthly report. The first of these was published on the 9th April 2024, focusing on ‘learning from severe maladministration’, highlighting the failings of 8 landlords in failing to make necessary adjustments for vulnerable individuals.
The first enforcement under the new UK social housing standards was made by the Housing Ombudsman on 25th April. It ordered the Orbit Group to review its damp and mould policy as part of a report with 15 recommendations, made under the Social Housing (Regulation) Act.
What’s next?
The upcoming UK general election on 4th July means that housing standards are once again a hot topic. The publication of the first Tenant Satisfaction Measures data, provided by social landlords, is expected to be published this autumn. This information will determine whether landlords are delivering on their services, enabling tenants to see how their landlords are performing.
Social landlords are now required to:
Effectively handle complaints and identify a way forward.Navigate complaints under the new housing standards with our software that prevents delays and confusion by streamlining the complaint process. CaseTracker ensures issues and complaints are addressed fairly and promptly as part of a two-stage process to prevent escalation. Our software ensures your organisation adheres to the Complaint Handling Codes to continuously improve your service delivery and overall performance. Find out more about how CaseTracker can help improve your complaints process and ensure compliance here.
Establish clear communication with tenants and listen to their concerns.With GovMetric CX software and in-built surveys you can easily gather immediate feedback at different tenant journey stages. This real-time data helps organisations identify areas of improvement and quickly address friction points.
Maintain the property to ensure it is safe, secure, and well-kept in line with housing standards to provide tenants receive a quality service.Our transactional surveys (GovMetric CX) are designed to gather immediate feedback on repair services, tenancies, estates, capital works and more.
Demonstrate that they understand and can support the diverse needs of the wider community with services that meet these needs. GovMetric CX solutions are designed to help housing organisations excel in TSM surveys. By continuously monitoring tenant satisfaction and implementing targeted improvements, organisations can achieve high TSM scores, which are critical for regulatory compliance and overall tenant happiness.
The introduction of these new housing standards signals a pivotal shift towards improved accountability and service quality in the social housing sector.
The measures for non-compliance, including unlimited fines and the potential for new management appointments, underscore the serious consequences for landlords who fail to meet these regulations and sanctions serve not only as a deterrent but also as a strong motivation for social landlords to improve their practices and ensure a higher standard of living for their tenants.
As these regulations take hold, we hope the landscape of social housing in the UK is poised for a significant transformation and will serve as an example to other public service organisations.
If you would like to discover some of our Customer Stories, highlighting real-world customer experience transformations within the public sector, click below.
Karolis Duoba is the Marketing Manager at GovMetric, home of the leading Citizen Experience Management solution for the public sector.
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