Press release

Regulator publishes operational risks survey questions

RSH will use the information to help identify where there may be challenges that the sector or individual providers need regulatory support to meet.

From:
Regulator of Social Housing
Published
7 April 2020

The Regulator of Social Housing has published the questions today (7 April 2020) that it will use to survey providers about operational risks during the coronavirus pandemic.

The short survey will ensure that RSH has up-to-date information from providers on the issues that the sector has said are particular operational risks: gas and fire safety checks, care and support staffing levels, emergency repairs, and other health and safety checks. RSH will use the information from the survey to help identify where there may be challenges that the sector or individual providers need regulatory support to meet.

This survey is part of a suite of measures that RSH announced in its letter of 26 March to help support the social housing sector through the crisis. The wider measures include pausing its programme of In-Depth Assessments and delaying submission dates for regulatory information.

Fiona MacGregor, Chief Executive of RSH said:

We want to help providers maintain tenant safety by identifying emerging operational risks across the sector and providing regulatory support where it’s most needed. That’s why we’re surveying providers across the sector to give us up-to-date information about the areas worrying them the most.

We need providers to be honest with us about the risks they’re facing in these areas as they make difficult choices and trade-offs so that we can help them and others across the sector. This is neither box-ticking, nor an exercise to identify non-compliance.

Notes to editors

  1. The survey will ask providers to answer a single multiple-choice question on each of five key areas: emergency repairs; statutory gas safety checks; statutory fire safety checks; asbestos, electrical, legionella and lift checks; and care and support staffing levels. For each area it will also ask them to identify any key constraints, risks and mitigating actions and the scale of any backlog.

  2. The survey will be sent to all private registered providers with more than 1,000 homes, all local authority registered providers as well as some registered providers with fewer than 1,000 homes who RSH will be contacting shortly.

  3. The survey and supporting guidance will be available for providers to complete on the RSH data collection portal NROSH+ from Friday 17 April. Providers should submit survey responses through NROSH+ covering the period up to and including 17 April, by Friday 24 April.

  4. The Regulator of Social Housing promotes a viable, efficient and well-governed social housing sector able to deliver homes that meet a range of needs. It does this by undertaking robust economic regulation focusing on governance, financial viability and value for money that maintains lender confidence and protects the taxpayer. It also sets consumer standards and may take action if these standards are breached and there is a significant risk of serious detriment to tenants or potential tenants. For more information about RSH, visit: https://gov.uk/rsh.

  5. For press office contact details, see the Media enquiries page. For general queries, please email enquiries@rsh.gov.uk or call 0300 124 5225.

Published 7 April 2020