Housing Strategy

Net Zero

The Council has set its own target of reaching Net Zero by 2030. ‘Net Zero’ refers to the balance between the amount of greenhouse gas produced and the amount removed from the atmosphere. Net Zero is reached when the amount we add is no more than the amount taken away.

The Net Zero Strategy identifies key targets for housing which include establishing a decarbonisation path for our existing housing stock, ensuring all Council led housing development is built to low carbon standards and working with partners to improve the energy efficiency of homes in the private sector.

Regulation of Housing Services

The role of the Regulator of Social Housing

The Regulator of Social Housing was established in 2018 and act as the national regulator for landlord services, specifically registered providers of social housing. The Regulator sets standards which state outcomes that landlords must deliver on, and holds landlords to account where they fail to deliver on these outcomes. The overall goal is to provide protection for tenant’s homes and services and to achieve better outcomes for tenants.

The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 has given the Regulator of Social Housing more powers to intervene where landlords are failing. The Regulator now has a proactive role where they actively seek assurance from landlords that their standards are being met through means such as data returns and a programme of inspections. They also check how landlords are performing under the tenant satisfaction measures.

The regulatory standards set by the Regulator for landlords to meet are split into two categories: economic and consumer standards. They set out what landlords must do to provide quality homes and services to residents. As of April 2024, there are four new consumer standards which cover the promises made in the Charter for Social Housing Residents.

Consumer standards

These break down into four areas, with each covering a range of topics

Neighbourhood and community

• Safety of shared spaces
• Local cooperation
• Anti-social behaviour and hate incidents
• Domestic abuse

Safety and quality

• Stock quality
• Decency
• Health and safety
• Repairs, maintenance and planned improvements
• Adaptations

Tenancy

• Allocations and lettings
• Tenancy sustainment and evictions
• Tenure
• Mutual exchange

Transparency, influence and accountability

• Fairness and respect
• Diverse needs
• Engagement with tenants
• Information about landlord services
• Performance information
• Complaints

Economic standards

The Regulator of Social Housing set three economic standards, but only the Rent Standard applies to local authorities.

Standard: Rent

Rents should be set in accordance with Government policy

The Regulator is also planning to introduce a further consumer standard called the Competence and Conduct Standard. This standard will require social housing landlords to ensure their staff have the necessary skills, knowledge and experience and that they demonstrate the right behaviours to deliver a good service to tenants. It will also require senior managers and executives working in the social housing sector to acquire required qualifications in housing management.

Tenant Satisfaction Measures

The Regulator of Social Housing introduced tenant satisfaction measures in April 2023 and placed a requirement on all registered providers of social housing to collect and publish tenant satisfaction measures data annually. The measures allow for tenants to see how well their landlord is performing, as well as give landlords insight about where improvements can be made to their service.

There are 22 tenant satisfaction measures of which some measures come from management information we hold about our services, and some which come from what residents tell us through perception surveys.

The tenant satisfaction measures cover six areas:

• Overall satisfaction
• Keeping properties in good repair
• Maintaining building safety
• Respectful and helpful engagement
• Effective handling of complaints
• Responsible neighbourhood management

So far we have completed 2 tenant perception surveys which were carried out for 6 weeks from July to September in both 2023-24 and 2024-25. We also completed a pilot survey in 2022-23 prior to the formal introduction of the measures to learn as much as possible about undertaking the survey before the tenant satisfaction measures were officially introduced.

The results of the survey from 2023-24 highlighted both areas of good performance, as well as areas where satisfaction could be improved. We have reviewed the results of the survey to identify where our performance could be improved, particularly in areas where tenants expressed their dissatisfaction. We have also developed an improvement plan consisting of key actions to complete to support our improvement work, which will be updated following learning from the 2024-25 survey results.

The role of the Housing Ombudsman

The Housing Ombudsman is set up by law to look at complaints about registered providers of social housing. They resolve disputes involving tenants and landlords, and can investigate a complaint once it has exhausted the landlords’ complaints process. The Corporate Complaints Policy set out how the Council handles complaints.

The Housing Ombudsman has a Complaint Handling Code that all social housing landlords must follow. It became statutory in April 2024 and the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 places a duty on the Ombudsman to ensure that all landlords meet the standards set out in the Code for complaint handling. The Code sets out good practice to help landlords respond to complaints effectively and fairly.

Landlords are required to produce an annual complaint performance and service improvement report, which must include a self-assessment against the Code and submit this annually to the Ombudsman.

There is also a requirement under the Complaint Handling Code to have a Member Responsible for Complaints (MRC). The MRC is responsible for ensuring the governing body receives regular information on complaints that provides insight to the governing body on the landlord’s complaint handling performance. This person must have access to suitable information and staff to perform this role and report on their findings.

The MRC for the Council is the Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Housing (and Chair of the Housing Advisory Board). To support the MRC in the role, a housing complaints panel is planned to be set up to scrutinise complaint handling performance and ensure there is improvement to services from learning from complaints.