Correspondence

CEO letter Annex A – information on survey changes (local authorities)

Published 11 March 2025

Applies to England

Introduction

This note provides an overview of the changes to data returns for 2025/26 for local authority providers (‘providers’). These changes have been made to ensure that they continue to effectively support our regulatory approach and reflect provider structures and risks. Providers will be informed in good time if there are any changes or additions during the year to either our submission requirements or our deadlines.

Key messages

The following points are applicable to all returns:

• Timely and accurate data submission is a cornerstone of the co-regulatory settlement and we rely on the information supplied by providers to ensure proportionate and risk-based regulation.

• It is essential that providers read the guidance available on the NROSH+ website prior to starting any of the returns. We specifically ask providers to pay attention to the Fire Safety Remediation Survey and the Tenant Satisfaction Measures Return guidance.

• 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 providers where there are any regulatory issues arising from this analysis of the validated data.

• Please access NROSH+. For help and advice please refer to the guidance available and contact the Referrals and Regulatory Enquiries Team (NROSHenquiries@rsh.gov.uk and 0300 1245 225).

Local Authority Data Return

The Local Authority Data Return (LADR), 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]}

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.

The only structural survey change to the LADR in 2025 is that a question which was included last year (‘Does your organisation own any care home bedspaces classified as social housing?) has been removed.

Tenant Satisfaction Measures

Under our current requirements, we expect all providers who own 1,000 or more units of social housing to submit the Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSM) Return to us. Changes have been made to update terminology and to ensure the TSM continues to provide us with the data required to support our regulatory activity. These changes include:

Survey completion

• Addition of this new section for all providers to confirm how TSMs are being reported in the return

• This section collects the number of relevant tenant population households and other contextual information

• Addition of questions on the number of owned dwelling units at year end, which will be used as reference data

Background

• This background section collects information on the tenant perception survey approach, sampling and methodology

• The section is split into three sub-sections depending on the stock type being reported on: Section 1a for LCRA, Section 1b for LCHO and Section 1c for LCRA and LCHO Combined. You must only complete the section for the stock types you are reporting

• Addition of questions to gather information on who conducted interviews to collect survey responses

Published TSMs

• The collection of publication information has been streamlined

• Revision of this section into a summary of TSMs calculated from the data entered in Sections 3 to 6 for providers to review against their published figures and confirm this has been done

TSMs reported by all

• Addition of filter questions to TSMs that may not apply for all providers

• Previously optional repairs questions have been made mandatory for 2025/26. The structure and wording of these questions has also been reviewed and amended slightly to improve clarity

TSMs reported LCRA/LCHO/Combined

• Previously optional complaints questions have been made mandatory for 2025/26. The wording of these questions has also been reviewed and amended to reflect the 2024 Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code

• Removal of the additional information previously collected on CH02 maximum timescales

Fire Safety Remediation Survey

Changes to the FRS for 2024/25 Q4 are minor but include an expansion of Question 6 (remediation progress):

• For buildings with both External Wall System (EWS) and other life-critical fire-safety (LCFS) defects, the remediation progress of the EWS defects and of the other LCFS defects will be collected separately, alongside the overall remediation progress of all defects

• Addition of a text box to collect details about buildings reported as having remediation plans that are unclear or incomplete or awaiting further advice

Guidance notes for the FRS will be updated for each release of this survey and providers should refer to these to see if there are any changes to our requirements.

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

Providers must ensure all questions are answered for each building, including information about historic remediation works.

We share the data from the FRS with MHCLG, including information on submission statuses and data quality. The building level surveys are supplied to MHCLG as submitted to us.

Organisational data

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. 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. Guidance on how to access and amend this data is available on the NROSH+ website.

Providers must keep this information up to date. Any changes to this information should be made as soon as is reasonably possible or at a minimum within two weeks of the change happening. When publishing this information providers should ensure that in doing so they meet all the requirements of our standards. Further details about the requirement can be found on our website.

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

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