SHR Update - December 2024

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Welcome

Social landlords and tenants continue to operate and live in the most challenging context we've seen. Our recent report on Registered Social Landlords’ five year financial projections highlight a range of the challenges they face.

We keep a strong focus on our statutory objective to safeguard and promote the interests of tenants and service users. Last month, we published the risks we will focus on in our next annual risk assessment of social landlords. We'll keep a strong focus on homelessness, Gypsy Travellers, landlord performance in how they deliver services, the development of new homes, tenant and resident safety and financial health and governance in registered social landlords.

We also published social landlords' Annual Assurance Statements which they need to send to us each year to confirm they meet regulatory requirements. The Statements reflect the challenging context landlords are working in.

In early November, we closed our consultation on the indicators we use to monitor landlord performance against the Scottish Social Housing Charter. This includes consultation on the development of new indicators on damp and mould. I would like to thank everyone who took the time to give feedback. We are reviewing this now and we will publish the outcome of our consultation early in the new year.

In October, we published the outcome of two of thematic reviews on tenant and Gypsy / Traveller participation in social housing and our review on the provision of services to people who use British Sign Language.

And we invited new member, Dr Abhishek Agarwal, to our Board.

The coming months look set to remain challenging. We will continue to work closely with tenants, landlords and all of our stakeholders as we continue to tackle the challenges ahead.

Michael Cameron

Chief Executive

Michael Cameron, Chief Executive

RSLs' finances weaken, but projections show some improvement

We've just published our report on the aggregated financial plans of RSLs for the next five years.

It states that RSLs' finances have weakened, but projections show slight improvement in the medium term.

It also highlights the range challenges facing RSLs including market volatility, cost increases, higher borrowing costs, challenges around net zero standards, and keeping rents affordable.

Shaun Keenan, Assistant Director of Financial Regulation said: “Whilst RSLs have worked to weather the challenges and the financial projections indicate a slight improvement in the medium term, finances at the aggregated level have weakened.

"We are engaging with more RSLs on financial matters than in the past, but most are still managing the financial pressures, albeit with tightening finances. As a result, RSLs have reduced capacity to respond to emerging costs, like National Insurance increases, which are not included in these projections. This means that Governing Bodies will continue to face some difficult choices and trade-offs as they prioritise expenditure. We will continue to engage with RSLs as they work to tackle the challenges ahead.”

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Pennies in a row and in a jar with a house o top.

The risks we will focus on

We recently published the risks we will focus on in our annual risk assessment of social landlords.

The main areas we will focus on are:

how social landlords deliver homes and services for people who are homeless;
landlord performance in how they deliver services;
the development of new homes
tenant and resident safety; and
financial health and governance in registered social landlords.

We will publish the outcome of our annual risk assessment including our updated engagement plans by March 2025.

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Annual Assurance Statements

We recently published social landlords' Annual Assurance Statements.

Social landlords need to send us the Statements each year to confirm that they meet regulatory standards and requirements or to set out how they will address any areas of non-compliance.

This year's Statements reflect the challenges and pressures social landlords face including rising costs, the cost of living crisis, uncertainties around future costs, and challenges local authorities are experiencing around meeting their their statutory duties on homelessness.

We'll assess the Statements as part of our annual risk assessment, taking in to account this context.

We'll publish the outcome including our updated engagement plans by March 2025.

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A page of a report showing charts over time

Tenant & Gypsy/Traveller participation in social housing

In November, we published the outcome of our inquiry in to tenant and Gypsy/Traveller participation in social housing in Scotland.

It gives the findings of a survey of social landlords and focus groups with tenants and Gypsy/Traveller tenants/residents about tenant & Gypsy/Traveller participation.

Landlords who responded to the survey said they use a range of tenant participation methods, and these are tailored to tenants needs. Tenants who took part recognised that landlords had introduced more flexible and informal ways to enable tenants and tenant groups to participate.

Both tenants and landlords noted that building trust is key for successful tenant participation and some landlords acknowledged the challenges to participation that Gypsy/Travellers face. But Gypsy/Traveller focus group feedback suggested that these challenges were not always recognised or fully addressed. It also states that many of the landlords who responded were not aware of the level of success of their approach to Gypsy/Traveller participation.

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People standing in a crowd forming the shape of a house

Update on reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete

We published an update on aerated reinforced autoclaved concrete (RAAC) in social housing in Scotland.

It showed that 145 social landlords have now confirmed that there is no RAAC present in their tenants’ homes. Sixteen landlords have identified the presence of RAAC in some of the homes they provide to tenants, with 2445 homes affected.

RAAC is a lightweight structural construction material used between the 1950s and 1990s in the floors, walls and roofs of some buildings in Scotland, including some residential properties.

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We found serious failing in Fife Council Gypsy/Traveller site

In November, we reported on serious failings in one of Fife Council’s Gypsy/Traveller sites. We published the finding in our updated engagement plan for the Council.

We investigated after residents of the Tarvit Mill Gypsy/Traveller site reported serious concerns about a lengthy delay to the redevelopment of the site, serious issues with the quality of the decant accommodation including health and safety concerns and a lack of communication from the Council about the issues raised.

Our investigation found that Fife Council had failed to meet its obligations under the Scottish Social Housing Charter and that the decant site did not meet the Scottish Government’s Minimum Site Standards.

The Council has accepted our findings and is working constructively to address the residents' concerns and deliver the necessary improvements.

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Notifiable events

Earlier this month, we published our first annual report on the notifiable events (NEs) that RSLs reported in 2023/24.

Notifiable events are things RSLs need to report to us as they could put tenants’ interests at risk or affect the reputation of the RSL itself or the housing sector as a whole.

We published the report in response to feedback from social landlords

It explains what notifiable events are, why RSLs need to report them and what the Regulator does when a notifiable event is reported and gives some case study examples. We hope landlords find it useful.

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SHR website on screen and mobile device.

Our Annual Report and Accounts 2023/24

We published our Annual Report and Accounts 2023/24 in October.

The report highlights the work we did during 2023/24 to safeguard and promote the interests of tenants, people who are homeless, and others who use the services of social landlords.

It also underlines the significant challenges the social housing sector faced during the past year and that it continues to face.

We will present to the Scottish Parliament's Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee on the work we did in our Annual Report during 2023/24.

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People in a crowd from above forming the shape of a house

RSL borrowing down in 2023/24 as interest rates reach 15-year high

We published the outcome of our annual analysis of landlord loan portfolio returns in October.

It states that during 2023/24 there was a reduction in both the number of RSLs arranging new borrowing and the level of new finance being put in place compared with 2022/23. However, overall liquidity in the sector remains robust.

It also highlights that 19 RSLs arranged new finance during 2023/24, totalling £198 million, bringing the total agreed borrowing facilities in Scottish RSLs to £6.84 billion. RSLs also plan to increase their borrowing by £1.5 billion over the next five years.

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We updated our National Report on the Charter

In October, we updated our National Report on the Scottish Social Housing Charter for 2023/24 following the Scottish Government’s publication of its annual homelessness statistics.

We will consider the statistics as part of our annual risk assessment of all social landlords.

This, along with our engagement with every local authority in Scotland, will inform our assessment of which local authorities are impacted by systemic failure or are at heightened risk of systemic failure.

Read more

A crowd of people standing on top of floor shaped like a housee

We welcomed a new board member

We were delighted to welcome a new Board, Dr Abhishek Agarwal in September.

Abhi has served as Board Member and Chair of the Grampian Housing Group. He is currently a Non-Executive Board Member of NHS Healthcare Improvement Scotland and was recently appointed as the Regional Chair of Forth Valley College. He was also a Non-Executive Director of Kirkgate Developments Limited.

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Dr Abhishek Agarwal, Board member

Our consultation on the indicators we use to monitor landlord Charter performance

Our consultation on the indicators we will use to monitor social landlords performance against the Scottish Social Housing Charter closed on 8 November.

We launched the consultation in September. We proposed to introduce specific indicators on tenant and resident safety which include new indicators to monitor landlords’ effectiveness in responding to instances of damp and mould.

We also invited views on the continuing appropriateness of existing Charter indicators and the removal of a small number of other indicators.

We would like to thank everyone who took the time to respond to our consultation and share feedback. We are reviewing the feedback now. We will publish the outcome of our consultation in early 2025.

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Our thematic report on British Sign Language users' access to housing & homelessness services

In September, we published our report on the outcome of our thematic inquiry into British Sign Language (BSL) users’ access to social landlords’ housing and homelessness services.

It sets out the challenges some BSL users experience communicating with their landlords, for example when applying for housing, getting repairs done in their homes and making complaints. It also gives good practice examples and makes recommendations for improvements.

We commissioned the British Deaf Association, a leading national Deaf-led organisation, to get an insight into BSL users’ experiences of accessing social landlords’ services in Scotland.

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Our speeches & events

We spoke at

Scotland's Housing Network's Annual Gathering in Edinburgh in November
The SFHA annual finance conference in November
The tenant Information Service Conference in Glasgow in November
Housemark Scotland's Leadership Forum

A persons walking ahead on a path in a park with pathway and sun ahead.

Engagement plans

We published revised engagement plans for the following housing associations:

Photo of the SHR website on laptop screen

What's next?

We'll present to Scottish Parliament's Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee in December on our work to safeguard the interests of tenants and service users during past year.
We'll publish the outcome of our consultation on the indicators we use to measure landlord performance against the Scottish Social Housing Charter in January 2025.

www.housingregulator.gov.scot

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