Move will make requirements, including mandatory qualifications for social housing managers, more visible says RSH

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has published its response to a consultation on changes to standards to embed measures designed to raise standards in the social housing sector and improve transparency.

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The RSH is revising its standards to include competence and conduct requirements, including mandatory qualifications for social housing managers and executives.

In its initial consultation paper the RSH proposed including the new competence and conduct requirements within its Transparency, Influence and Accountability standard. However following opposition from some in the sector, including the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), RSH has now decided to put the requirements into their own, separate standard.

RSH said: “Campaign participants and a few other respondents to the survey called for the competence and conduct requirements to be set out in a separate standard to the TI&A Standard arguing it was a more accurate reflection of the government’s direction and reflected public statements from government.

“Their view was that including the requirements within the TI&A Standard could reduce the perceived importance of the requirements.”

RSH said it has made changes to position the requirements as a new and separate Competence & Conduct Standard and said the change will make the requirements “more visible to landlords and tenants.”

The change was welcomed by Gavin Smart, chief executive of the CIH, who in March warned in a column for Housing Today that folding competence and conduct into the TI&A standard “could risk signalling a downgrading of its significance”.

Responding to the decision today, Smart said: ”This sends a strong signal to the sector about the centrality of competence and professional conduct to service quality and resident safety.”

RSH also today announced changes to the TI&A standard to introduce new Social Tenant Access to Information (STAIRs) requirements that will require providers to make available information to the public relating to the management of social housing. Registered providers will have to proactively publish certain information about their activities that is set out in the government’s policy statement, and tenants will be able to formally request relevant information and receive timely responses.

Jonathan Walters, chief executive at RSH, said: “Greater transparency, stronger accountability and a stronger tenant voice are at the heart of these changes. They represent an important step towards improving outcomes for social housing tenants, helping residents better see and influence the services they receive.

“By supporting better engagement and consistent delivery of standards, these changes will help create a culture where tenant voices are heard, trust is strengthened, and the factors that can contribute to stigma are reduced.”

The new standards come into force from October 2026, with transition periods for elements of the STAIRs and C&C requirements.

Competence and conduct requirements at-a-glance

Under the Social Housing (Regulation) Act the regulator must set a standard that mean social landlords in England must:

  • Ensure senior housing managers and senior housing executives hold (or are working towards) an approved housing management qualification and take steps to ensure that service providers’ relevant managers do likewise. Senior housing managers must hold a Level 4 qualification in housing management, executives must hold a Level 5 qualification.
  • Ensure staff competence — all relevant staff must have the skills, knowledge, experience, and behaviours needed to deliver good quality housing services
  • Hold contractors to account — providers must take steps to ensure staff employed by their service providers also meet these competence and conduct requirements
  • Adopt a written policy — setting out how they will support learning and development, appraise performance, and address poor performance across their workforce
  • Embed a code of conduct — adopt or develop a code for relevant staff, ensure it is understood and applied across the organisation, and keep it current
  • Enable tenant influence — give tenants meaningful opportunities to shape and scrutinise both the competence policy and the code of conduct, and make these accessible, up to date, and fit for purpose

The Competence and Conduct Standard comes into force in October 2026. Providers managing more than 1,000 homes will have three years to ensure relevant managers are qualified or working towards a qualification, while smaller landlords will have four years.

 

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