It is now almost a decade since the Grenfell Tower tragedy in 2017 triggered the creation of a new legal framework and regulatory reform to govern how all social housing landlords do their work.

As part of these changes, a new sector regulator was tasked with grading landlord performance and gathering data on tenant satisfaction. This is independent quantifiable evidence that offers the NFA and its members the opportunity to interrogate the ALMO model and ask – how does it compare to the traditional direct delivery approach where council housing is just one among a wide portfolio of local authority services? And can it still make a difference?

This new analysis by independent housing data specialists Housemark confirms that, on average, ALMOs deliver ‘good-as’ or better value for money as the traditional direct-delivery approach to council housing management; two-thirds of ALMOs management costs per home are at or below the median average for the whole sector. Meanwhile, over the last two years ALMOs have also consistently scored significantly higher than direct delivery across most categories in the Regulator’s compulsory annual Tenant Satisfaction Measures survey.

To be clear, this research finds that many councils that choose to deliver housing services directly also perform to a high standard and have excellent cost control. However, given that cost-saving is often the headline rationale for closing an ALMO, this research also shows that there is little quantitative evidence to support such reasoning.

Interestingly, this research also suggests that when a local authority creates specific housing-focused roles funded through its Housing Revenue Account, such as rent collection specialists and contact or complaints centre staff, these councils typically out-perform those that do not. This seems to confirm the value of the specialist focus that comes built into the ALMO model.

“This is hard evidence that ALMOs are still relevant, a viable and cost-effective way of delivering quality council housing management. Given that four of the nine councils who have so far earned a top C1 grading from the Regulator of Social Housing choose to run their homes through an ALMO, the message is clear – ALMOs meet the challenge of the new regulatory regime that frames all social housing landlords’ work,” said NFA MD Eamon McGoldrick.