Why the Regulatory Standards are important to us?

The Regulator of Social Housing’s role is set out in The Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 and in order to help them deliver this role, the Regulator developed a set of ‘Standards’ by which all Registered Providers (RPs) of social housing in England must comply.

There are seven standards; 3 economic and 4 consumer as follows:

Economic – with the objective to make sure that RPs are well managed and financially stable

• Governance and Financial Viability Standard - how well is the organisation run and is it financially viable?
• Value for Money Standard - does the provider make the best use of the resources it has to meet it objectives?
• Rent Standard - are rents set in accordance with Government policy for social housing rents?

Consumer – with the objective to make sure that tenants get quality accommodation, have choice and protection, and can hold their landlords to account.

• Home Standard – covers quality of accommodation and repairs and maintenance
• Neighbourhood and Community Standard – covers issues around neighbourhood and communal areas and anti-social behaviour
• Tenancy Standard – covers how properties are allocated/exchanged and terms around tenure
• Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Standard – covers customer service and complaints, tenant rights and involvement.

As with all RPs, Connexus has to comply with these Standards which are at the core of the Regulatory framework.  All the Standards must be signed off by our Board as demonstrating Connexus’ compliance and reported as such in our financial statements.  The Regulator’s proactive engagement with us focuses on compliance with the economic standards, with regulation against the consumer standards being reactive to any issues that emerge.  On this basis each RP is provided with a Governance grade of G1 to G4 (G1 and G2 being compliant and G3 and G4 being non compliant) and Viability grade of V1 to V4 (with the same associated compliance principles).  Connexus is currently G2/V2 with a review of this grading due at the end of this calendar year.  

In 2019 Connexus received a Regulatory Notice which required us to make some changes to the way in which we ensure the health and safety of our tenants.  Over the past couple of years there has been extensive improvements made in this area including the recruitment of a Head of Health & Safety and Compliance to ensure that this area of the business has a dedicated high level resource.

At Connexus, compliance with the Standards is a base position which we use as the foundation in the delivery of our Corporate Plan priorities.  We are committed to demonstrating that Connexus is not only compliant with the Standards but has a strong ethos of doing the right thing for our tenants and customers above and beyond what is required by our Regulator.   

Sarah Noakes

Assistant to the Chief Executive