Correspondence

2021 CEO letter re data collection - large providers (including annex)

Published 16 March 2021

Applies to England

10 March 2021

Dear Chief Executive

I wanted to write to you to let you know about the arrangements for data collection in the coming year. Timely and accurate data submission is a cornerstone of the co-regulatory settlement and we rely on the information you supply us to ensure proportionate and risk-based regulation. I would therefore be grateful if this letter can be passed onto the appropriate person within your organisation.

NROSH+ Data Collection 2021

From April 2021, we will be commencing our round of data collection from private registered providers via the NROSH+ website

NROSH+ closure

In order to prepare for the 2021-22 survey period, the NROSH+ system will be offline from 6pm on Thursday 25 March until launch on Thursday 1 April. During this time, you will be unable to access the site and should make alternative provision to access documents and templates should you require these during this period. We will notify all users by email when NROSH+ launches for the 2021 collections.

Data returns

During 2021-22, all providers that own 1,000 or more units of social stock will be required to submit the following returns:

Data returns	Deadline
Statistical Data Return	31 May 2021
Financial Forecast Return (with business plan and other supporting documentation)	30 June 2021 We encourage submission within 6 weeks of business plan sign off by the provider’s board where this is earlier than 30 June 2021
Quarterly Survey	3 weeks after each quarter end (Q4 2020-21 is due 23 April 2021)
Electrical annual accounts	6 months after financial year end
Coronavirus Operational Response Survey	Next due by 9 April 2021

Regulatory documents	Deadline
Audited accounts Audit Management Letter Fraud Reports	6 months after financial year end
Quarterly disposal notification Priority disposal notifications	3 weeks after each quarter end As required (see disposal notification guide on NROSH+)

The CORS is currently under review and subject to what we see in CORS returns for the period up to and including 31 March 2021, we intend to withdraw this survey at that time. The next planned CORS, covering the period up to and including 31 March, will launch on 1 April 2021 with a deadline of 9 April 2021. We will confirm our position on further CORS before the end of April 2021.

The deadlines for all returns are in line with those operating in a standard collection year. We rely on the supply of timely and accurate data from all registered providers. Failure to supply quality data in line with the timescales we outline may be reflected in our judgements of your compliance with the regulatory standards. If any of these present a practical problem for your organisation, please contact your key contact or the referrals and regulatory enquiries team email NROSHenquiries@rsh.gov.uk or call 0300 124 5225 as soon as possible.

SDR submissions are due 31 May and are required from all registered providers even if a provider owns no stock. We will publish a list of all late or missing returns for 2021 when the SDR data is published in Autumn 2021.

Changes to returns for 2021

It is essential that guidance notes are reviewed before the completion of the surveys as there are new, moved and revised questions within each survey. Additionally, we remind you that it is your responsibility to correctly categorise and record stock accurately according to the latest applicable legislation and to ensure you understand and apply the rent rules correctly. For more information regarding these changes, please see the annex below.

Change to rent rules from 1 April 2020

From 1 April 2020 social housing rents have been regulated against our rent standard1. This is the first year that the data submitted through the SDR will reflect this change. We ask that you pay particular attention to the classification of units to ensure they align with the 2020 rent standard.

Submitting data

In 2021 the annual surveys will launch in a staggered pattern, with SDR and FFR surveys launching in April 2021 and the FVA launching in June 2021. The Quarterly Survey (Q4) will launch alongside the SDR and FFR in April. Guidance materials and templates will be released on NROSH+ as they become available. Please submit returns as early as possible within each of the survey periods. We encourage the submission of the FFR within 6 weeks of business plan sign off by boards where this is earlier than 30 June 2021. This will allow sufficient time to raise any questions you have regarding your submissions.

Query resolution

We aim to respond to all queries within five working days. Please note that queries made to us within five working days of a survey deadline may not receive a response until after the deadline has passed. This may result in submissions which do not meet the survey deadline. Extensions to the deadline will not be granted due to late queries.

During the checking of submissions, we may contact some providers to discuss their data returns before signing them off for further analysis. Subsequently, we may contact a minority of providers where there are any regulatory issues arising from this analysis of the validated data.

Organisational and contact details

The NROSH+ website requires your organisation to enter and maintain a suite of organisational and contact details. It is the responsibility of each individual provider to ensure that this contact information is kept updated and accurate throughout the year. This is important because we use this information to contact your organisation on regulatory matters. Please note that contact information cannot be updated between 1 April and mid-July except via your SDR return (please contact the enquiries team if you need to amend submitted data).

It is very important that the organisational and contact details in NROSH+ are kept accurate and up to date by your officers. If they are not:

(a) your organisation may not receive important information on statutory consultations and/ or regulatory requirements; and/ or

(b) correspondence (which may include information about the provider’s business or regulatory compliance) may be sent to the wrong individuals (who in some cases may no longer work for the provider).

We take our duties in relation to data protection seriously, but to do this we rely on providers updating their contact information in a timely fashion. Please see our privacy policy on the NROSH+ site for more details.

If you have any queries, please refer to the guidance and FAQs on the NROSH+ website. If further assistance is required you can contact the referrals and regulatory enquiries team NROSHenquiries@rsh.gov.uk who will assist you with your query.

Yours faithfully

Will Perry

Director of Strategy

Annex - Changes to regulatory data returns for 2021-22

Introduction

This note provides an overview of the changes to data returns for 2021/22. These changes have been made to ensure that they continue to most effectively support our operational approach and reflect provider structures and risks.

Key messages

The following points are applicable to all returns:

• Timely and accurate data submission is a cornerstone of the co-regulatory settlement and we rely on the information you supply us to ensure proportionate and risk-based regulation. Failure to provide accurate and timely data may be reflected in our judgement of a provider’s compliance with the regulatory standards. Following the 2021 Statistical Data Return collection the regulator will publish a list of all late or missing returns as it did in 2020.
• It is essential that providers read the guidance available on the NROSH+ website prior to starting any of the returns.
• Providers have a responsibility to correctly categorise and record their stock according to the latest applicable legislation. We ask that you pay particular attention to the classification of units to ensure they align with the 2020 rent standard.
• During the checking of submissions, we may contact some providers to discuss their data returns before signing them off for further analysis. Subsequently, we may contact a minority of providers where there are any regulatory issues arising from this analysis of the validated data.
• Please access NROSH+ via https://nroshplus.regulatorofsocialhousing.org.uk/. For help and advice please refer to the guidance available and contact the Referrals and Regulatory Enquiries Team via NROSHenquiries@rsh.gov.uk or 0300 1245 225.

Financial data

The regulator will keep the same suite of standard financial data returns that we collected in 2020-21 - Financial Forecast Return; Electronic Annual Accounts and Quarterly Survey.

FFR

Minimal changes have been made to the FFR in 2021. The adjustments are primarily to ensure that the data requested is relevant to the current operating environment.

FVA

There are no changes to the FVA since 2020. Guidance notes have been updated and providers should refer to these to ensure continued quality in data submission.

QS

The Quarterly Survey will continue to collect data on key financial indicators and emergent sector risks.

Statistical data

The following changes have been made to update terminology and to ensure the SDR continues to provide us with data required to support our operational activity.

Part 1: Entity level information

• Q3 has been modified to seek only confirmation of Almshouse classification.

Part 2: Low cost rental and rents

• Q2 has been reordered and the Affordable Rent category has been split to provide details on Affordable Rent general needs and Affordable Rent supported housing. Validations have been updated to reflect this change across this and the Affordable Rent section.
• Age bands relating to date of construction (Q6) have been modified and expanded to allow for recording of units constructed after 2020.
• Terminology in rent questions (Q10 to Q14) has been updated to reflect the terminology used in the 2020 Rent Standard and to reflect the rollout of Universal Credit.

Part 7: Affordable Rent

• Age bands relating to date of construction (Q3) have been modified and expanded to allow for recording of units constructed after 2020.

Part 8: Small provider stock and rents data

• Q1 has been reordered and the Affordable Rent category has been split to provide details on Affordable Rent general needs and Affordable Rent supported housing. Validations have been updated to reflect this change across this and the Affordable Rent section.

For more details on the SDR questions and changes please refer to the SDR Guidance materials available on the NROSH+ website including the Changes for 2021 Collection document.

Disposal notifications

Providers are required to notify us about disposals made in line with our Direction on disposal notification. The Direction and supporting guidance, available on our website, sets out the detail of what must be notified and the type of information that must be provided. Providers should read the Direction and associated guidance on NROSH+ prior to completion of the Disposal Notification Form.

Other returns

The Coronavirus Operational Response Survey is currently under review and subject to what we see in CORS returns for the period up to and including 31 March 2021, we intend to withdraw this survey at that time. The next planned CORS, covering the period up to and including 31 March, will launch on 1 April 2021 with a deadline of 9 April 2021. We will confirm our position on further CORS before the end of April 2021.

Organisational data

The NROSH+ website requires your organisation to enter and maintain a suite of organisational and contact details. It is the responsibility of each individual provider to ensure that this contact information is kept updated and accurate throughout the year. This is important because we use this information to contact your organisation on regulatory matters. We take our duties in relation to data protection seriously, but to do this we rely on providers updating their contact information in a timely fashion. Guidance on how to access and amend this data is available on the NROSH+ website.