Correspondence

2023 CEO letter re data collection (local authorities) - accessible version

Published 16 March 2023

Applies to England

Dear Chief Executive

I wanted to write to you to let you know about the arrangements for the collection of the Local Authority Data Return in the coming year. I would be grateful if this letter can be passed onto the appropriate person within your organisation.

LADR

The LADR, collecting information on social housing stock and rents, was first collected in 2020 and allows us to regulate compliance with the Rent Standard. We collect this return annually ^{[footnote 1]} from all local authorities registered with us ^{[footnote 2]}.

In 2023 the LADR survey will be open for submission between 3 April 2023 and 14 July 2023.

It is important that guidance materials are reviewed before the completion of the LADR, and that stock is correctly categorised and recorded accurately according to the latest applicable legislation. Please submit returns as early as possible within the survey period to allow sufficient time for us to answer any queries you may have.

NROSH+ closure and update

In order to prepare for the 2023/24 survey period, the NROSH+ system will be offline from 18:00 on Friday 17 March until launch on Monday 3 April. During this time, you should not 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 2023 collections.

Subject to final testing and quality assurance processes we intend to update the NROSH+ system during this downtime. This revised system should deliver a number of improvements requested by providers, whilst retaining a similarity to the current system. We have endeavoured to ensure that the layout and processes remain aligned to the existing application, however, there are some key changes which users will need to familiarise themselves with assuming the updated NROSH+ system launches. These include:

• Changes to the way in which survey data are imported to and exported from the system;

• Contact details being updated during the submission process and not within the surveys themselves; and
• Validations being viewable onscreen as well as the traditional exports.

Please note that we strongly recommend providers download PDF and/or Excel versions of their previous data returns as these will not be included in the revised system. Guidance on how to download previous data returns is available on the current NROSH+ application.

New guidance materials will be available on the website when it launches, and we will notify users of training sessions in early April. As with most IT systems, there will be a continuous development plan over the coming years, allowing the introduction of smaller changes, or to resolve smaller items of frustration. We welcome feedback on the revised system, and hope you will be patient as we resolve any issues we encounter.

We will keep users updated as to the system launch through their current user account details.

User accounts

Details on how to reactivate user accounts on the system once it relaunches will be sent to all current NROSH+ users. It is imperative they reactivate their user accounts to ensure that your organisation continues to receive notifications from the system.

Organisational and contact details

Once your organisation begins submitting data via the NROSH+ website, it will be responsible for maintaining contact details for both the Chief Executive and a suitable Regulatory Contact. This information must be kept updated and accurate throughout the year.

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. We aim to respond to all queries within five working days, but as the LADR return is still a relatively new collection there may be some queries that require a longer resolution period.

Yours faithfully

Will Perry
Director of Strategy

1. LADR is one of the returns included on the single data list from 1 April 2023 and must be completed by all LAs registered with us. ↩

2. All LAs who own any social housing stock are required to register with us and the rent standard applies to all. ↩