Sixth Report - The Finances and Sustainability of the Social Housing Sector

The government agrees with the committee that providers face significant financial challenges and notes record investment in repairs and maintenance. It highlights its existing regulatory casework, where it has downgraded providers' governance judgements and worked with them to address failures in stock maintenance, without committing to the recommended annual social housing target or assessment.

The government agrees that providers must manage resources effectively and outlines the Regulator's existing processes for oversight. It states the Regulator ensures providers have plans in place for stock improvements, citing examples where governance judgments were downgraded due to maintenance failures.

The government agrees on the importance of providers listening and acting on tenant views in regeneration projects, stating that existing Governance and Financial Viability, and Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standards already set clear expectations for providers and are monitored during inspections.

The government agrees that providers should involve tenants and that the Regulator should assess resource use, stating that existing Value for Money and new consumer standards already cover these aspects through regulatory engagement, published measures, and governance judgements.

The government accepts the need for continuous improvement, detailing current efforts in recruiting specialist staff, engaging advisors, and conducting internal audits, along with a planned 2024-25 review of knowledge and development for for-profit providers.

The government welcomes the recognition of expertise importance, stating that its existing Governance and Financial Viability Standard and Code of Practice already set expectations for board capability and expertise, which are examined during regulatory inspections and inform governance gradings.

The government agrees on the importance of effective use of provider resources and outlines how existing Value for Money and new consumer standards, along with regulatory engagement, address this. It details how its value for money benchmarking tool and published governance judgements assess and contextualise provider performance.

The government describes existing regulatory standards and inspections by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) that ensure social housing providers have appropriate expertise and financial management capabilities to handle complex issues, without committing to new action regarding additional fire safety costs.

The government details how the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) already monitors the financial health of providers and intervenes in cases of financial difficulty, stating it has sufficient powers. It does not commit to providing social housing providers with equal access to building safety remediation funds as private sector landlords.

The government agrees on the importance of providers' effective use of resources and responsibility to tenants, stating that existing Value for Money and new consumer standards, along with regulatory engagement and benchmarking tools, already ensure landlords consider rent levels and reserves.

The government agrees on the importance of understanding and scrutinizing the for-profit sector, detailing how it has recruited expert staff, engages with advisors, conducts audits, and has a 2024-25 priority to review knowledge of for-profit providers, thereby addressing the need for careful regulation.