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 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.