How to implement Social Rent convergence

From:: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Published: 2 July 2025
Last updated: 28 January 2026 — See all updates

Applies to England

Read the full outcome

Outcome to consultations on future social housing rent policy and Social Rent convergence

HTML

Annex A: Direction on the Rent Standard 2026

PDF, 713 KB, 4 pages

Annex B: policy statement on rents for social housing

PDF, 899 KB, 39 pages

Detail of outcome

This document reports the outcome of the consultations on future social housing rent policy and Social Rent convergence.

Following the outcome of these consultations, a new policy statement on rents for social housing is being published and a new Direction from the Secretary of State is being issued to the Regulator of Social Housing to ensure that its Rent Standard reflects the government’s 10-year rent settlement for social housing. This includes:

permitting annual rent increases of up to CPI+1% on Social Rent and Affordable Rent homes from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2036
permitting the application of a Social Rent convergence mechanism, which would allow weekly rents for Social Rent homes that are below formula to be increased by up to additional £1 each year over and above CPI+1% from 1 April 2027, and by up to an additional £2 each year over and above CPI+1% from 1 April 2028, until formula rent is reached

Original consultation

Summary

We are seeking views on a new Direction to the Regulator of Social Housing in relation to social housing rent policy from 1 April 2026 that includes Social Rent convergence.

This consultation ran from
11am on 2 July 2025 to 11:45pm on 27 August 2025

Consultation description

Following the consultation on future social housing rent policy published in 2024, we are seeking views on a draft Direction to the Regulator of Social Housing that includes Social Rent convergence.

The Direction would require the Regulator to set a regulatory standard on rents that will apply to Registered Providers of social housing. This comprises:

Private Registered Providers (including housing associations that are Private Registered Providers)
Local authority Registered Providers (i.e. local authorities with retained housing stock)

Section 197 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 gives the Secretary of State the power to direct the Regulator of Social Housing to set a standard on rent, and about the content of that standard. Once issued, a Direction is binding on the Regulator. We propose to use this power to issue a new Direction to the Regulator on rent. The proposed Direction has been published alongside this consultation.

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