Creation of level 4 social housing surveying course aims to address sector’s skills shortage
Midland Heart, Tpas and University College Birmingham have created a new social housing qualification aimed at raising professional standards and addressing the sector’s skills shortage.
The social housing surveying NHC, equivalent to a Level 4 qualification, has been established as the sector prepares for the regulator’s new competence and conduct standard coming into force in October 2026.
The standard, which is part of the government’s response to the Grenfell inquiry, requires senior housing managers and executives to hold or be working towards a relevant qualification
The course was co-created with tenants and includes modules focused on understanding tenants’ lived experiences, engagement and communication.
It is the first programme within a planned regional housing sills academy for the West Midlands and will facilitate progression to levels 5, 6 and 7.
The move has been backed by mayor-led skills investment, with funding from the West Midlands Combined Authority available for all applicants.
Richard Parker, mayor of the West Midlands, said: “I’m investing tens of millions of pounds in new social and affordable housing because too many families are waiting too long for the safe, secure and warm home they deserve.
“We are also spending more than £70m giving people the constructions skills they need to build these new homes. But the work doesn’t stop after the last brick is laid.
”This new gold-standard skills training will produce some of the best qualified housing professionals in the country to look after tenants once they have moved into their new homes.”
Midland Heart, which owns and manages over 35,000 homes, noted that social housing skills shortages are most acute in surveying, building safety and retrofit.
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