I was delighted to be asked to speak at the NFA Annual Conference about how the RSH is continuing to develop its approach to proactive consumer regulation and here I want to cover some of the key points I wanted to shared on the day.

We closed our consultation on the proposed Tenant Satisfaction Measures in March and we were delighted that we received such a great response – over 1,000 people and organisations sent in their views, over half of which came from tenants, which is incredibly encouraging to us. We are now analysing those responses and plan to publish our decisions in late summer or early autumn this year.

These are going to be an important part of our proactive consumer regulation toolbox, but they aren’t the whole story on how we are going to assess how providers comply with our revised consumer standards (also something that we are busily working on right now).

The Government has recently published some draft clauses that will form legislation. This is an important step forward in the journey towards proactive consumer regulation. But it will still be some time before full implementation.

Don’t wait. It doesn’t mean there isn’t a huge amount that providers, including ALMOs, can be doing to prepare themselves for when our new powers kick in. If I was still wearing one of my previous hats as an Executive or Board member of a Registered Provider, these are the discussions that I would want to be having to ensure that my organisation does everything it can to be assured tenants are listened to; living in good quality homes and receiving professional and effective landlord services.

• Number one: what does our culture as an organisation tell us about how we treat, interact with and understand tenants? What does our data tell us about their diverse needs? What assurance am I getting that our teams across the piece are doing all they can to meet those needs? Do we treat complaints as gold for the invaluable feedback they give us?
• Number two: this obviously builds on the first, but what about communications, particularly in terms of the most effective ways to share information with tenants and hear back from them what they need and want? Our engagement with tenants throughout the TSM consultation (and elsewhere), told us very clearly that tenants want more effective communication and, for example, to know what is happening at every stage of the repairs’ process, especially where there are delays. Do tenants have opportunities to shape the services they receive? How are situations that don’t go according to plan handled?
• Number three: Are your repairs and maintenance services working effectively for all your tenants? What data do you have to give you assurance on this? Does it match the data you hold about your tenants and their needs? How do you respond to hot spots and mini crises? Do your teams have the right mechanisms to manage and deal with these? Where issues are complex to deal with is your communication clear, customer friendly and frequent? Are your frontline staff equipped with professional expertise and a drive to support respectful relationships through customer service?

If the new proactive consumer regulation regime was switched on tomorrow, would your Board and local councillors have the right evidence and assurance that they need to demonstrate to themselves, and to us, that they are meeting the requirements of the standards and our expectations? Would they have oversight of consumer issues and understand where improvements need to be made?

Creating the right culture – one which puts tenants and service at the centre, surfaces problems in order to expedite solutions and has real oversight of the frontline – are all things which require focus at a senior level right now.
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