Industry News News in brief
Regulator to undertake more in depth assessments of HAs
in depth assessments for larger and more complex HAs. Updating its Regulating the Standards document,
I
• Figures released by the Ministry of Housing show that local authorities in England sold 2,645 dwellings under the right to buy scheme from October to December 2018, an increase of 9.4 per cent on the previous quarter. In the same quarter, only 1,038 replacement dwellings were started on site or acquired, which is 32 per cent lower than the number of dwellings started or acquired in the same quarter of 2017/18. Since the reinvigoration of right to buy in April 2012, 75,618 council homes have been sold, while just 21,890 homes have been started or acquired to replace them. In October last year, CIH produced analysis showing that RTB discounts had climbed to £1 billion a year, costing local authorities £300 million a year. According to CIH’s calculations, reducing discounts by just a third could free up enough funds to deliver an extra 12,000 homes a year.
• Ministers have been strongly criticised for releasing a report on the problems faced by Universal Credit claimants, some 18 months after the report was completed. It revealed that tax credit claimants experienced “real financial problems” after they signed on to UC. Over half of claimants reported the routine six-week wait for a first payment took them by surprise, and nearly half of those who were expecting a delay underestimated by a third how long the wait would be. Half of those surveyed did not have sufficient savings to tide them over the initial six weeks. A few claimants endured “considerable stress” after payment delays meant they had to wait up to three months to get their money. Overall, 25 per cent said they were having real financial problems and falling behind with many bills and commitments.
the regulator says it will carry out IDAs on the largest and/or most complex housing providers every two years, up from the current practice of every three or four years. The new regime will come into force from April,
although most HAs can still expect an IDA on the same timetable as now. The regulator will also conduct an update meeting for each landlord in the year it is not receiving an IDA. It will also issue an interim regulatory judgement if a HA goes through a significant constitutional change or group restructure. The regulator introduced IDAs in 2015, when
they replaced annual viability reviews for registered providers with more than 1,000 homes. They were initially thought to be more like the Audit Commission’s inspections, which ceased eight years ago, but in reality IDAs have not focussed on the quality of homes or on services to tenants. Also in the new document is a stronger
requirement that HA boards have greater ownership of stress-testing exercises, with more focus on “severe but plausible scenarios”. This is being seen as a reference to the type of financial shocks caused by Brexit and other stock market disturbances.
n a shake up to how it assesses and oversees the work of housing associations, the Regulator of Social Housing is to carry out more frequent
Fiona MacGregor, Chief Executive of the
regulator, said: “As part of our commitment to take a proportionate, risk-based regulatory approach, we are making changes to our planned regulatory engagement with larger providers and those that have more risk exposure. This will allow us to seek the frequency of assurance that organisations are effectively managing their changing risk profiles and keeping pace with the fast-moving operating environment. “We will also ask for evidence of well-developed
and tested strategies that boards and senior teams of all registered providers have in place to be able to respond promptly and recover from potential scenarios such as a housing market downturn.”
Two Welsh HAs get extra scrutiny
The Welsh Government has increased its scrutiny of two social landlords amid concerns over their governance and financial viability. One of the housing associations is in the process of merging with another landlord, but the extra regulation is not expected to prevent this from proceeding. Mid-Wales HA which owns about 1,500 homes
and Cardiff YMCA which provides hostel accommodation to about 120 homeless people, both require “increased regulatory oversight”. Neither of their published judgements provide reasons for the gradings. However, the judgement for Mid-Wales HA says
it requires added oversight to meet five of the regulator’s performance standards, including those relating to effective board and executive management and demonstrating compliance. Mid Wales HA is set to merge with 2,272-home landlord Tai Ceredigion, which has earned the
20 | HMM April/May 2019 |
www.housingmmonline.co.uk
highest grading of ‘standard’ for governance and viability. Peter Swanson, Chair of Mid-Wales, said: “We welcome the additional support that such increased regulatory oversight brings. This is an enhanced model of co-regulation and is to be expected given the challenging and exciting programme currently being undertaken by the association.” Cardiff YMCA faces extra scrutiny on five
performance standards including effective board and executive management, effective tenant involvement and delivering value for money. Andrew Templeton, Chief Executive of Cardiff
YMCA, said: “We have worked closely with the regulator throughout this process and would like to reassure our tenants and residents that our services across Cardiff remain unaffected by this judgement. We look forward to consolidating our services and governance arrangements in the coming period.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
