Minimal Regulation - A Providers Perspective Eamon McGoldrick Chief Executive Homes for Islington

Order/Objectives of Presentation  Describe the outgoing regulatory regime – Will we miss it?  Explain more about the new landscape with minimal regulation  Suggest how housing providers could respond  Stimulate discussion and debate

Islington – A few facts  Inner London Borough.  14 th most deprived Local Authority  One of 20 most wealthy  Over 40% of households live in Social Housing

Homes for Islington  Islington’s ALMO  Established April 2004  Management of 25,000 tenants and 10,000 leaseholds  Decent Homes completion August 2011 (£650m invested)  Audit Commission Stars/Excellent Prospects  Tenants Satisfaction 2004 – 50% 2011 – 72%  Currently Building New Council housing/sharing and trading services

The Changing World of Regulation  2004 – Audit Commission Inspections  Services and prospects assessed consistently  Very comprehensive (14 Service Areas with KLOES)  Clear road map for continuous improvement  “Cheap consultancy”  Encouraged sharing and benchmarking

Post Decent Homes Co. Regulation Cross Domain Self Underpinned by - Emphasis on Self Assessment - Engagement with residents - Threat of Short Notice Inspections

Post April 2012  HCA “Backstop” Regulation  Strong focus on Governance and Financial viability (except LAs)  Customer Services – Intervention restricted to “serious detriment”  Local Offers still deemed to be good practice  Co-Regulation/Self Regulation still alive and well!

What are the Benefits of the new regulatory regime? -Less “Big Government” -Cheaper -Less Bureaucracy/Paperwork -Less Box ticking -More time for other priorities -More Freedom BUT…… with freedom comes risks and responsibilities

New and Emerging Risks  How will providers develop new build in a world with less HCA Grant/Affordable Rents?  Local Authorities – Are you ready to explain to residents your position on - tenure reform? - allocations policy? - use of Affordable Rents? - HRA/Self Financing? Lets examine two risk areas in more detail.

Local Authorities and HRA Self Financing Current Regime  Government sets guideline rents  Annual Subsidy settlements  No local influence/debate  Little room to use your asset base to raise funds  Easy to blame Government From April 2012 Councils will - set rent increases for 3/5/7 years - decide their own spending priorities - consider “sweating their assets” - and there is no cavalry coming over the hill!

Does your Council have - a robust Asset Management Strategy? - an up to date Stock Condition Survey? - a 30 year Business Plan? - a continued focus on value for money - staff and members with the right skill sets? - decision making processes that involve residents?

Customer Services How dependent were you on the Regulator to improve services? Will the past emphasis on - Continuous improvement - Excellence in customer services - Comparing/Sharing/Benchmarking - Accountability to an independent regulator Be replaced by -Mediocrity -Complacency – we’re ok! -“Coasting middle” -Abandonment of non core business

A Thought! If your organisation didn’t improve under the previous robust regulatory regime how is it going to under the new one?!

My Recipe for the Way Forward Use tried and tested principles of good governance and leadership Self Regulation  Strong Leadership and Governance at all levels  Produce robust Annual Improvement Plans  Write an honest and open Annual Self Assessment  Go for appropriate external assessments and accreditations

 Use a wide range of Independent Customer Surveys  Benchmark and compare with “Best in class”  Undertake Peer/Service Reviews  Embrace and demand a strong performance culture (Collecting PIs and setting challenging targets is still legal!)  Risk Management is crucial

 Don’t forget the other “Regulators” out there  Civil/Criminal Courts  Housing Ombudsman - Single service from 2013  Health and Safety Executive  Land Valuation Tribunals  Employment Tribunals  Fire Authorities

Co-Regulation  Get residents involved in designing and shaping services at every opportunity  Are you doing enough to involve residents in areas such as - Procurement exercises? - Appointments of senior staff?  If you are a Local Authority are you still holding onto all the key decisions?

Resident led Scrutiny Homes for Islington- Board and Monitoring Meetings held in public - Procurement Panels converted to Scrutiny - Focus Groups - Mystery Shopping - Resident Inspectors The combinations are endless, but make sure you encourage/train/support and incentivise residents to take part.

If you get it right residents can make a real contribution to - Co-Regulation - Public scrutiny of services - The Localism agenda - New Ombudsman arrangements - Improvement of services across the local housing sector - Help keep robust regulation at bay!

One Final Thought……  The Government message is clear – “Over to you”  In the near future some housing providers are going to fail  Lets work together to minimise the risk of failure because if we don’t, you will hear the call for a return of - Robust regulation/Inspection programmes/Intervention. The “ball is in our court” – Lets keep it there!

THANK YOU