Transparency data

RSH Board minutes - 17 March 2026

Updated 20 July 2026

Applies to England

Public minutes of the Board meeting

on Tuesday 17 March 2026

Ada Salter Room, Friends House, London, Euston

Members present

• Bernadette Conroy (BC) Chair
• Fiona MacGregor (FM) Chief Executive
• Kalpesh Brahmbhatt (KB)
• Dave Cassidy (DC)
• Deborah Gregory (DG)
• Chan Kataria (CKa)
• Sukhvinder Kaur-Stubbs (SK-S)
• Robert Light (RL)
• John Liver (JL)
• Geoff Smyth (GS)

Officers in attendance

• Kate Dodsworth (KD) Chief of Regulatory Engagement
• Karen Doran (KED) Director of Regulatory Engagement (PRPs)
• Angela Holden (AH) Director of Regulatory Engagement (LARPs)
• Rob Holroyd (RH) Senior Assistant Director, Investigation & Enforcement
• Will Perry (WP) Director of Strategy
• Emma Tarran (ERT) Senior Assistant Director, Head of Legal & Company Secretary
• Jonathan Walters (JW) Deputy Chief Executive
• Jim Bennett (JB) Item 8 and the workshop sessions

Minutes

• Chris Kitchen (CK) Board Secretary
• and Amber Gaskell (AG)

1 Welcome and apologies

01/03/26 BC welcomed everyone. There were apologies from officers Harold Brown (HB) and Richard Peden (RP).

2 Declarations of Interest

02/03/26 There were no new declarations of interest.

3 Minutes of last meeting

03/03/26 The confidential and public minutes from 17 February 2026 were agreed, subject to minor amendments.

4 Matters arising

04/03/26 The updates against actions were noted and members agreed to the items that will be closed.

34/02/26: update will be provided in the next I&E update. 14/01/26: management to schedule for July 2026 and consider different products to discuss with investors.

5 Forward planner

05/03/26 Members considered and noted the revised forward planner. Venues at other offices for future meetings to be considered.

6 Chair’s update

06/03/26 BC updated the Board as to:

• Yearly Appraisals: dates have been agreed and forms circulated. BC advised that in addition to the appraisal forms, members will be asked to complete a skills matrix which will support shaping the board going forward.

• NED recruitment: BC advised there will be 5 people coming to the end of their term within the next 24 months. BC proposed that we start the process of recruiting two new NEDs as soon as possible, before DG leaves in August.

• Letter from the Secretary of State (SoS): BC advised she had received a letter from the SoS, setting out his ambitions for the sector and the RSH. We intend to send a holding letter for now flagging that we are in the process of recruiting a new CEO, and a fuller response will be sent when the CEO is appointed.

• CEO recruitment: Board had discussed this in the confidential session.

7 Nominations & Remuneration Committee (N&RC) update

07/03/26 DG provided members with an overview of the discussions at the N&RC the previous day. The Board were reminded that SK-S and CKa had formally been appointed to N&RC.

08/03/26

• Forward planner: updated following a review of the ToR and consideration to the timing of papers to N&RC to tie in with when matters are discussed at Board. It was recognised that the forward planner will be fluid.

• Staff Survey action plan; EDI strategy and action plan and Corporate Centre: all these topics were discussed in detail and questions responded to by management. It was evident that there has been a lot of work carried out in all these areas with high levels of staff engagement. It was acknowledged that there are a number of interlinking strands, and it was agreed we need a coherent narrative across all the areas. N&RC have asked for clear timeline for the various strands of work to the N&RC meeting in June. JL will join N&RC meetings for papers on the corporate centre project and will report back to ARAC on any relevant areas of risk.

8 Chief Executive update

09/03/26 FM introduced the paper, and the slides were taken as read.

11/03/26 Key Issues: interest rates and inflation were starting to stabilise, however the current conflict in the Middle East has seen a return to uncertainly in the sector at a time they were considering funding and development.

12/03/26 Secretary of State: as well as the letter mentioned by BC, FM has also received a letter from the SoS in regard to building safety, stressing the importance of sector data to support this agenda. Homes England (HE) has set up a single data source across all sectors for building safety.

13/03/26 NAO study: the NAO are conducting a VfM study on quality of social housing. We will, with MHCLG, be two key organisations considered in terms of standards.

14/03/26 FM set the context for the discussion document giving an overview of the political backdrop during the last 12 months.

15/03/26 There was a discussion about the 1.5 million new homes manifesto target. Angela Rayner before she stepped down, reinforced the message to start building and played a role in the SAHP, rent settlement (CPI+1%) and rent convergence discussions. Government continues to give high priority to the 1.5m new homes target. The specific target for social housing is 300,000 homes from the £39bn funding over 10 years. Government is also expecting providers to play a role in reducing homelessness.

16/03/26 Other relevant announcements: £2.5bn low-cost finance for PRPs, changes to RtB discounts, the introduction of STAIRS, the Government direction and the regulator’s consultation on competence and conduct, the Renters Right Act, Awaab’s Law, Decent Homes, the MEES standard, and commonhold and leasehold requirements. It was acknowledged that some of these requirements will have financial impacts on providers.

17/03/26 Members asked about the possible implications for the RSH should the 1.5 million target not be met. FM clarified that there is no specific target within this for affordable homes, and there is political recognition that the targets are ambitious, but we must make sure our regulation does not cause unnecessary barriers. Members asked about other policy and legislative steps being taken to support the 1.5 million homes target. FM confirmed that there have been policy announcements on planning as this has been described as a particular constraint. Some changes to S106 requirements have been introduced to address feedback raised by house builders.

18/03/26 Local authority elections: dates and coverage have been confirmed.

19/03/26 Ethics and Integrity commission: FM advised members that the commission has launched a consultation about the role of Ombudsman system in all relevant sectors. FM also noted that the Housing Ombudsman is currently consulting on their business plan and are proposing a 25% increase of their fees, to increase staffing costs due to an increase in cases.

20/03/26 TI&A Standard: FM provided an update. - Consider appropriate Board meeting to discuss further.

21/03/26 FOIs: Government is consulting on a proposal to expand the freedom of information regime to TMOs.

22/03/26 There was a discussion about the report to Board on the lessons learned from the Digital Transition project and it was confirmed this will be followed up as part of reporting to ARAC. JW advised, that with the appointment of the new Head of IT, there have been improvements to digital service provision, but acknowledged there is more to do.

9 Any other business

23/03/26 There were no other matters for discussion as part of the formal part of the meeting.

Date of next meeting: 21 April 2026 – 2 Marsham Street

Workshops

Workshop sessions followed on Framework 28 and the Discussion Document.