Agenda item

To provide an overview of the Regulatory Framework of Consumer Standards for all Registered Providers of social housing; and the provisional results of the 2024-25 Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) survey that was completed in December 2024. 

The Secure Sub-committee considered a report supported by a presentation on Consumer Standards for Registered Providers and Tenant Satisfaction Measures.

The report provided an overview of the Regulatory Framework of Consumer Standards for all Registered Provides of social housing; and the provisional results of the 2024-25 Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) survey that was completed in December 2024. The presentation detailed a high-level assessment of how North Tyneside Council was performing against the Consumer Standards and identified areas for further focus.

The report also provided the results of the 2024-25 Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) survey that was completed in December 2024. The provisional results for the service were positive, with satisfaction increasing across many areas of the Authority’s service and demonstrating a continual trend of improvement from the previous survey completed in 2023-24.

The Regulator of Social Housing (Regulator) was responsible for ensuring that social landlords delivered services against the consumer standards. Following significant events, including the Grenfell Tower disaster in 2017 and the tragic death of Awaab Ishak in 2020, the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 introduced a proactive role for the Regulator to ensure that Registered Providers meet the Consumer Standards. With effect from 1st April 2024, it gave the Regulator new powers to inspect and to intervene when they believed necessary, removing the ‘serious detriment test’ and giving the regulator new enforcement powers and tools.

The Regulator would now ensure compliance with the Consumer Standards through a programme of inspection that would include the Regulator issuing a consumer grading. All Registered Providers would be inspected within a

four-year period (by April 2028). In addition to programmed inspections, the threshold for self-referral on consumer matters had been clarified in the Transparency, Influence and Accountability standard, with landlords expected to communicate with the regulator in a timely matter on all material issues that related to non-compliance or potential non-compliance with the consumer standards.

A self-assessment against the standards was being prepared to provide a comprehensive assessment of how the Authority was performing against regulatory standards and would make recommendations that progress against its performance and service improvement activity that was monitored by Cabinet, relevant scrutiny committees and the Authority’s tenants to provide assurance around key areas of risk.

The Regulator of Social Housing set out 22 Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) to capture tenants’ views and provide an overview of how Registered Providers were performing across key areas. The measures allowed tenants to hold their landlord to account, see how well they were performing and provide an insight into where improvement is required. The Authority had a statutory duty to publish the results by the end of June 2025.

The survey was carried out between 23 September and 20 November 2024 with a computer-generated randomly selected sample of 5,000 tenant households chosen to take part. Paper self-completion questionnaires were distributed to the selected sample, followed by reminders three weeks later. The Regulator acknowledged that this methodology was statistically likely to produce results lower than face-face or telephone surveys and took this into account. For this reason, any comparison with other Registered Providers results needed to be caveated.

There were 22 TSMs in total. Twelve measures were classed as tenant perception measures (TP) and were collated from the annual tenant perception survey. The remaining ten measures were collated from management data collated by the service and were categorised by the following:

·       Building Safety check completed

·       Keeping properties in good repair

·       Complaints handling

·       Responsible neighbourhood management

Members of the sub-committee made positive comments regarding the feedback on safety with a 90% improvement on anti-social behaviour. Also, how this Authority compared favourably overall to other local authorities.

The Chair thanked officers for the comprehensive report and presentation.

It was agreed that North Tyneside Council’s position against the Consumer Standards and Tenant Satisfaction Measures be noted; and

(2) a progress report against the self-assessment action plan to be provided on an annual basis, be approved.