Regulator publishes engagement plan for every social landlord as its new Regulatory Framework goes live

The Scottish Housing Regulator has published an engagement plan for every social landlord across Scotland. This marks the first of the changes introduced under the new Regulatory Framework which went live yesterday (1 April). The regulator also published a summary of its engagement plans for social landlords this year.

The main areas of engagement with local authorities will be the delivery of services for people who are homeless and the standards within sites provided for Gypsy/Travellers. 

The main areas of engagement with registered social landlords (RSLs) will be financial health, governance and delivery of services for tenants and service users. The regulator said it has identified significant increases in the scale of the planned development programmes of some RSLs and a corresponding increase in debt, and it is engaging with a number of RSLs about their development and funding plans.

The new framework introduces changes in social housing regulation. The main changes include new assurance statements for all social landlords and the publication of a Regulatory Status for each RSL.

Michael Cameron, Chief Executive, said: “We want to see well-run social landlords that deliver good services and good outcomes for tenants, people who are homeless and Gypsy/Travellers. And our new Regulatory Framework has been designed to promote openness, transparency and self-assurance.

“Landlords will soon be thinking about preparing their first Annual Assurance Statements. These are due by October. We’ve published guidance and frequently asked questions to support landlords to do this. We will consider the Annual Assurance Statements as part of our risk assessment in the coming year. We will publish a regulatory status for every RSL from April 2020.”

Sally Thomas, SFHA Chief Executive, said:

“We welcome the publication of the SHR’s new Regulatory Framework. The final framework reflects the outcome of a comprehensive period of consultation that began in 2017. SFHA used a number of methods to gather member views during this time, including putting together a Regulatory Sounding Board that met throughout the process and feeding into, and helping to develop, an ongoing SHR Working Group to look at the specifics of some of the proposals. This informed and influenced the framework in a constructive and practical way.

"We look forward to continuing this approach in the implementation of the framework, helping landlords to achieve excellence in all aspects of governance and regulation."