January 2023 – update on government’s work to improve the quality of social housing
The government has a programme of reform to improve the quality of social housing. Every month, progress on our commitments will be shared on these pages, as part of our commitment to respond to the tragic death of 2 year old Awaab Ishak.
Applies to England
Awaab’s law
Following the tragic death of two-year old Awaab Ishak, the Housing Secretary and the Health Secretary responded to the Coroner’s Report to Prevent Future Deaths on 13 January.
In the letter the Housing Secretary made clear that it is his relentless focus to restore the right of everyone in this country, whatever their race or cultural background, to live somewhere warm, decent, safe and secure.
He also set out that the government will take the following further steps to drive up standards and make sure a tragic case like this does not happen again:
-
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), will lead a rapid review of existing guidance on the health impacts of damp and mould in homes, and then – engaging widely with interested parties – develop new consolidated guidance tailored to the housing sector. We will publish this new guidance by the summer.
-
DLUHC is working closely with Awaab’s family to deliver tougher measures on hazards including damp and mould in homes. Further details will be announced in due course.
-
The Department also intends to create the new Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman through the upcoming Renters Reform Bill. We are committed to bringing forward legislation on this, and our wider reform package, in this Parliament. If the legislation is passed, we will seek to establish an Ombudsman as soon as practical and in tandem with our wider reforms.
Support for Manchester and West Midlands
The Housing Secretary announced £30 million for Greater Manchester and the West Midlands to begin improvements in the quality of social housing, as part of our drive to make every home decent.
The funding will support landlords in these combined authorities to improve thousands of social homes in their areas, with a focus on ensuring they are free of hazards of the kind that led to the tragic death of Awaab Ishak.
Making residents’ voices heard
Work continues on promises we made in the Social Housing White Paper. In the past few months this has included:
- Bringing together the Social Housing Quality Resident Panel, made up of 250 social housing residents from across the country.
- We delivered the first online community discussion, focused on complaints handling by landlords and the Housing Ombudsman. This ran from 12 to 18 December 2022.
- The next step will be a series of focus groups in February 2023 where members of the panel will discuss the transparency and accountability of landlords, including the future Access to Information Scheme. This is a new scheme that is being designed to allow residents to request information from their landlords about how they run their properties.
Updates on the work of the panel will be published on the Social Housing Quality Resident Panel page every 3 months.
Improving the energy efficiency of social homes
- Last year we announced plans to consult on improving energy efficiency in social housing within 6 months of the Social Housing Regulation Bill becoming law. This consultation will give social housing providers and tenants an opportunity to have their say before any new standards are introduced.
- Our Social Housing Regulation Bill will also make energy efficiency a main objective of the Regulator of Social Housing.
- Improving energy efficiency can play an important role in helping to reduce damp and mould in homes. It will also help tenants keep bills down, keep homes warmer and tackle climate change.
- We have committed £800 million to decarbonising social homes. Bids are currently being assessed for the latest round of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund - this investment will help providers install energy efficiency upgrades in their housing stock in England in homes currently below an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) C rating.
New consumer protections
- The Social Housing Bill will bring about one of the greatest changes to social housing regulation in over a decade.
- The Regulator of Social Housing has published its plan for how it will implement all these changes, including inspecting the largest landlords every 4 years.
- The Regulator has launched a trial inspection programme and the landlords included in the first trial are Bernicia Homes, Brunelcare, Cheshire Peaks and Plains, Eastbourne Borough Council, Folkestone and Hythe Borough Council, Guinness Housing Association and Torus62.
Delivering new laws so landlords face tougher sanctions
- The Social Housing Regulation Bill continues to move through Parliament, completing its Committee Stage 1 in the Commons on Tuesday 29 November and will shortly be moving to Report Stage 2.
- More information about how a Bill progresses through Parliament is available on the Parliament website.
Looking ahead
Details on the full programme of work the government is delivering can be found on the Social Housing Quality page.
We are committed to ensuring this update is as accessible as possible and are considering further options for sharing this information.
Footnotes
1. Committee Stage in the House of Commons is where a cross-party group of MPs scrutinise a bill line by line and vote on clauses remaining as part of a bill. Further amendments to a bill can also be made. Minutes from the day’s proceedings can be found on the Parliament website (PDF, 388KB).
2. Report Stage in the House of Commons is the last stage for the Bill where it can be proactively amended. The Bill is debated, and amendments are voted on, leaving the Bill at the end of the session in a near final form.