LONDON, Dec. 9 -- The government of the United Kingdom issued the following news:

The Regulator of Social Housing(RSH)has launched a 12-week consultationtoday (Tuesday 9 December)on revisions to the Transparency, Influence and Accountability standard(TI&Astandard),ConsumerStandardsCode of Practice,andthe Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs).

TheMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG)has alreadyconsultedon Competence and Conduct and Social Tenant Access to Information (STAIRs). The purpose ofRSH's consultation is tonowensure that the directionsMHCLG has givenas a resultareaccurately reflected initsTI&A standard.

The Competence and Conduct requirements are aimed at driving greater professionalism and higher standards by ensuring relevant housing staff have the required skills, knowledge, experience,and behaviours to deliver a high standard of service to tenants.

Senior housing managers and executives will alsobe requiredto hold, or be working towards, a housing management qualification.

The STAIRs requirements will give tenants of private registered providers (PRPs) a similar level of access to informationrelating to the management of social housingthat local authority tenants already have.

PRPs will have to proactively publish certain informationabout their activitiesthat is set out in thegovernment'spolicy statement,and tenants will be able to formally requestrelevantinformation and receivetimelyresponses. 

RSH'sconsultation alsosets outhow RSH proposes to implement a new TSMcoveringelectrical safety checks.

RSH Chief Executive Fiona MacGregor said:

"The proposed changes to our standards we are consulting on will enable the sector to further improve outcomes for social housing tenants and deliver good services.

"All the changes being consulted onare intendedtoenhancethe transparency and accountability of landlords to their tenants.

"Weare keen to receive views ontheproposals from registered providers, tenants and anyone with an interest in social housing."

The consultation runs from9.30am onTuesday9December 2025to6.30pm onTuesday3March 2026.

Notes to editors 

1 - Theconsultationhasthree parts:  

* changes to the Transparency, Influence and Accountability (TI&A) Standard relating to Competence and Conduct, the Social Tenant Access to Information (STAIRs) and the Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs)  * changes to the associated Code of Practice  * the introduction of a new electrical safety checks TSM.

2 - MHCLG's consultation outcomes can be found on Gov.UK -Social Tenant Access to Information Requirements: consultation - GOV.UK;Competence and Conduct Standard for social housing: government response.

3 -The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 gave the government the power to direct RSH to introduce newCompetence andConduct requirements, which will set the professional standards that the staff of registered providers willbe requiredto meet.MHCLGconsulted on theirdirection to us including their policy statements for Competence andConductand STAIRs.Weareconsulting on theCompetenceand Conductrequirements (which, it is proposed, willbecome part ofthe TI&A Standard) and Code of Practice, having been directed by the government to do soin September 2025, with therequirementsexpectedto come into force from October 2026.

4 - The STAIRs requirements will give the tenants ofPRPsbroadly similar access to information to that of tenants of local authorities under the Freedom of InformationAct. From October 2026,PRPswillbe requiredto proactively publishcertaininformation relating to the management of their social housing. From April 2027, they will alsobe requiredto respond to information requests from their tenantsor their designated representatives.RSH wasdirected on STAIRsin September 2025. Itis proposedthat it will be reflected inthe TI&A Standard.   

5 - RSHis also planning toreissue the TSMs using our new powers of direction. This is a purely administrative change and should not affect registered providers or change or alter in any way how they currently collect, process, publish andsubmitto the regulator their TSM data - it is an exercise to align the TSMs to their proper legal context for the RSH.

6 - The introduction of an electrical safety checks TSM was committed to in theTSM consultation decision statement. With the introduction of newlegalelectrical safety requirements onsociallandlords,we can move ahead with this. The regulator currently regulates on electrical safety, including in our published judgements. The proposed TSM allows comparative and clear information to be collected by each landlord, published as part of TSM results and, for large landlords,submittedto us. As the TSM relates to checks as at the year end, weanticipateit will be in place to cover the 2026/27 reporting year for large landlords, and allsubsequentreporting years.

7 - RSH promotesa viable,efficientand well-governed social housing sector able to deliver andmaintainhomes ofappropriate qualitythat meet a range of needs. It does this by undertaking robust economic regulation focusing on governance, financial viability and value for money thatmaintainslender confidence and protects the taxpayer. It also sets consumer standards and maytake actionif these standards are breached and there is a significant risk of serious detriment to tenants or potential tenants.

8 - For press office contact details, seeourMedia enquiries page. For general queries, please email enquiries@rsh.gov.uk or call 0300 124 5225.

Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.