Navigating the new consumer standards regulations – Competence and Conduct Standard

Posted: 01/05/2024

The government has proposed a new Competency and Conduct Standard for registered providers (RPs).

The new consumer standards came into force on 1 April 2024. However, there is a latecomer to the party, as the government has concluded a formal consultation on a new Competence and Conduct Standard for the sector and is currently considering the responses. It is expected that it will issue a formal direction to the Regulator of Social Housing later this year, which will then produce the new standard; it is likely that it will apply from April 2025.

Under the new Competence and Conduct Standard, it is proposed that RPs must:

• ensure that their members of staff who are engaged in the delivery of services in connection with the management of social housing (relevant individuals) have the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to deliver good quality housing services and that they exhibit the necessary behaviours when doing so;
• have a policy setting out how they will achieve this and the steps that they will take to do so;
• have a code of conduct; and
• comply with the government’s policy statement on qualifications requirements for social housing.

This article will look at each of these proposed requirements in turn.

Skills, knowledge and experience

RPs will need to ensure that relevant individuals have the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to undertake their roles in a professional manner and deliver good quality housing services.

Written policy 

RPs will need a written policy which is regularly reviewed, and which sets out:

• how they will manage and develop the skills, knowledge, experience and conduct for relevant individuals, which will need to be tailored to their individual roles;
• the steps they will take to ensure that relevant individuals have the necessary and up to date skills, knowledge and experience and exhibit the proper behaviours; and
• the approach that will be adopted in respect of appraising and reviewing performance, and managing the poor performance of relevant individuals.

Code of conduct

Alongside the written policy there will be a requirement for RPs to adopt or develop an appropriate code of conduct for relevant individuals. RPs will need to ensure that the code is embedded within their organisation.

Qualifications requirements for social housing

Qualifications
The government has published a draft policy statement called ‘Policy Statement on Qualification Requirements for Social Housing’ which sets out what it considers should be the relevant qualifications for housing staff.

These qualification requirements will apply to members of staff who are either senior housing executives or senior housing managers of RPs who have a substantive role in managing delivery of housing management services, and spend a significant portion of their working time in this role (relevant person).

It is expected that the qualification requirements will not apply to staff who provide back office managerial services, unpaid volunteers, and care and support staff.

The government has proposed that the necessary qualifications should be set at level 5 for senior housing executives and level 4 for senior housing managers. Qualifications are to be regulated by Ofqual and must be specific to housing management delivered within social housing. The proposed core training varies depending on whether you are a senior housing executive or a senior housing manager, but is expected to cover professional practice skills, ensuring the needs of tenants are met, and customer service is maintained.

Timelines
As it will take time for all relevant persons to be fully trained and qualified, the government has proposed a two-year transitional period for RPs to do this. This has been challenged as too short by the National Housing Federation and too long by tenants’ bodies. How long the transitional period will be therefore remains up for debate.

Service providers

It is also worth noting that as well as applying directly to the RPs, they will be required to take steps to ensure that relevant staff of organisations that provide housing management services on their behalf also have the necessary skills, knowledge and experience, exhibit the right behaviours and have the right qualifications. Further, implied terms will be introduced to management service agreements between those RPs and their service providers.

For further information on this topic, please contact Caroline Leviss or Hugo Stephens.

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