Correspondence

CEO letter re 2024/25 RSH data requirements (Local Authorities)

Published 12 March 2024

Applies to England

Dear Chief Executive

2024/25 RSH data requirements

I am writing to you to let you know about the arrangements for data collection in the coming year. Timely and accurate data submission is a cornerstone of the co-regulatory settlement, and we rely on the information you supply us to ensure proportionate and risk-based regulation. I would therefore be grateful if this letter can be passed on to the appropriate person within your organisation.

From April 2024, we will be commencing our annual round of data collection from local authority registered providers (‘providers’) via the NROSH+ website.

We will let you know in good time if there are any changes or additions during the year to either the information you need to submit or to our deadlines.

Local Authority Data Return

The Local Authority Data Return, collecting information on social housing stock and rents, was first collected in 2020 and allows us to regulate compliance with the Rent Standard. We collect this return annually^{[footnote 1]} from all local authorities registered with us.^{[footnote 2]}

In 2024 the LADR survey will be open for submission between 2 April 2024 and 12 July 2024.

It is important that guidance materials are reviewed before the completion of the LADR, and that stock is correctly categorised and recorded accurately according to the latest applicable legislation. Please submit returns as early as possible within the survey period to allow sufficient time for us to answer any queries you may have.

Fire Safety Remediation Survey

The Fire Safety Remediation Survey is a quarterly survey which the RSH asks all providers to complete. Providers are asked to complete the online survey and upload a spreadsheet containing detailed building level information for the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. This spreadsheet is provided within the documents section of the NROSH+ application each quarter and providers must ensure they are completing the correct version. This spreadsheet should then be uploaded as a supporting document to the FRS. We share the data from the FRS with DLUHC, including information on submission statuses and data quality. The building level spreadsheets are supplied to DLUHC as submitted to us.

We expect all providers to ensure they complete both the FRS and the correct version of the building level spreadsheet in line with the guidance provided. It is essential that providers check the data provided to the FRS and building level spreadsheet match, please see our FAQ on FRS and building level spreadsheet alignment on NROSH+ site for more information.

The next FRS will launch in late March 2024, for completion in the first weeks of April with an as at 31 March 2024 position being reported. The survey will align with standard reporting quarters for 2024/25. The deadline for each quarter will be notified to all providers on, or before, the launch of the survey.

Please note that this survey will not automatically be allocated to providers who own fewer than 1,000 units of social housing, and who have confirmed to us in a previous FRS submission that they are not the responsible entity for any building of 11 metres or more in height (or which has five or more storeys). However, providers must notify us if they acquire a building which they should report within this survey.

Tenant Satisfaction Measures Return

The Tenant Satisfaction Measures Return has been introduced for the first time this year^{[footnote 1]}. We expect all providers who own 1,000 or more units of social housing to submit this return to us in 2024.^{[footnote 3]}

This return captures the TSMs already calculated and published (or due to be published) by you in accordance with the requirements set out in the TSM technical requirements and the TSM tenant survey requirements. The return will collect the information necessary for us to independently calculate TSMs and provide some contextual information which will aid interpretation of these. These data will be used for our onward analysis and will help us identify any areas where the technical requirements may not have been met, where approaches have influenced the resulting TSMs and, will enable us to publish a sector level TSM dataset.

In 2024 the TSM return will be open for submission between 2 April 2024 and 30 June 2024.

As the TSM return is new in 2024 we ask that all providers pay particular attention to the return guidance to ensure they complete the return correctly and submit all relevant supporting documentation.

Please note that we will be updating one part of the TSM Technical Requirements in the next few weeks, ensuring the detail of the requirements on complaints TSMs (CH01 and CH02) is consistent with the Housing Ombudsman’s new 2024 Complaint Handling Code which applies from 1 April 2024. These changes will apply to TSMs calculated for the reporting year 2024/25. Your 2023-24 TSM submissions must be calculated in line with the current TSM technical requirements which reflect the 2022 Complaint Handling Code - available from the Housing Ombudsman website.

User accounts

You must ensure that your organisation maintains at least one active user on the NROSH+ system in order that your organisation continues to receive notifications from the system. Full access users on the NROSH+ system are able to create and maintain users for your organisation. However, if you are having any difficulties please contact our enquiries team (details in header).

Query resolution

Please submit returns as early as possible within each of the survey periods. This will allow sufficient time to raise any questions you have regarding your submissions.

We aim to respond to all queries within five working days. Please note that queries made to us within five working days of a survey deadline may not receive a response until after the deadline has passed. This may result in submissions which do not meet the survey deadline. Extensions to the deadline will not be granted due to late queries.

During the checking of submissions, we may contact some providers to discuss their data returns before signing them off for further analysis. Subsequently, we may contact a minority of providers where there are any regulatory issues arising from this analysis of the validated data.

Additionally, we remind you that it is your responsibility to correctly categorise and record stock accurately according to the latest applicable legislation and to ensure you understand and apply the rent (and any other) rules correctly.

Organisational and contact details

The NROSH+ website requires your organisation to enter and maintain a suite of organisational and contact details. It is the responsibility of each individual provider to ensure that this contact information is kept updated and accurate throughout the year. This is important because we use this information to contact your organisation on regulatory matters.

It is very important that the organisational and contact details in NROSH+ are kept accurate and up to date by your officers. If they are not:

• your organisation may not receive important information on statutory consultations and/ or regulatory requirements; and/ or
• correspondence (which may include information about the provider’s business or regulatory compliance) may be sent to the wrong individuals (who in some cases may no longer work for the provider).

Please note that from 1 April 2024 all providers are asked to provide the name and contact details of their Health and Safety lead through the NROSH+ and publish that information. Further details about the requirement can be found on our Information required from registered providers page.

We recently consulted on changes to our fees principles including the introduction of fees for Local Authority registered providers. While the outcome of the consultation has still to be confirmed, should fees be introduced for LAs we will require an email address to which we will be able to send invoices and we are taking this opportunity to invite the submission of those through NROSH+. Should fees not be introduced those details will not be retained.

We take our duties in relation to data protection seriously, but to do this we rely on providers updating their contact information in a timely fashion. Please see our privacy notice on the NROSH+ site for more details.

If you have any queries, please refer to the guidance and FAQs on the NROSH+ website. If further assistance is required you can contact the referrals and regulatory enquiries team NROSHenquiries@rsh.gov.uk who will assist you with your query.

Yours faithfully,

Will Perry

Director of Strategy

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1. The LADR and TSM Return are both included on the single data list from 1 April 2024 and must be completed by all LAs registered with us. ↩ ↩²

2. All LAs who own any social housing stock are required to register with us. The rent standard applies to all providers. ↩

3. Under our current requirements providers who own fewer than 1,000 units of social housing do not need to submit a TSM Return to us in 2024. However we are undertaking a voluntary pilot with small providers to gather data and will consider requirements for 2025 and beyond in light of these pilots. Those involved with the pilot schemes may be provided access to a specific, clearly labelled, version of the TSM return via the NROSH+ system as part of the pilot later in 2024. ↩