New Consumer Standards
The revised consumer standards and Code of Practice came into effect on 1 April 2024 as part of the Regulator of Social Housing’s new approach to consumer regulation.
The standards set out the outcome’s landlords are required to deliver and include:
| Required Standard | Required outcome |
| Safety & quality standard Stock quality Decency Health & Safety Repairs, maintenance & improvements Adaptations | Requires landlords to provide safe and good quality homes and landlord services to tenants. |
| Transparency, influence and accountability standard Fairness, respect, diverse Engagement with tenants Information about landlord services Performance information Complaints | Requires landlords to be open with tenants and treat them with fairness and respect so that tenants can access services, raise complaints when necessary, influence decision making and hold their landlord to account. This standard incorporates the existing TSM standard requirements. |
| Neighbourhood and community standard Shared spaces Anti-social behaviour Domestic abuse | Requires landlords to engage with other relevant parties (i.e. the Local Authority or the Police) so that tenants can live in safe and well-maintained neighbourhoods and feel safe in their homes. |
| Tenancy standard Allocations & lettings Tenancy sustainment & evictions Tenure Mutual exchange | Sets the requirements for the fair allocation and letting of homes and for how those tenancies are managed and ended by landlords. |
What we’ve done:
We held workshops to consult with staff and Community Voice (our main tenant body) to identify any areas of non-compliance against the standards and also areas for improvement.
We then created an action plan to capture any improvements needed so that progress can be tracked. The self-assessments and the action plan were then shared with our Board for discussion and challenge.
It is important to note that no areas of non-compliance were identified, although some minor actions were put into place there and then (e.g. adding additional information to the website).
Once the action plan is finalised, we will share this.
For more information on Consumer Standards, please visit the government website: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-the-consumer-standards/annex-4-consumer-standards-code-of-practice.