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Consumer standards

The standards

The Government sets out regulatory standards that set the outcomes that social landlords in England must deliver for tenants.

Who is responsible for meeting the Consumer Standards?

Redditch Borough Council is responsible for meeting the Regulator of Social Housing’s Consumer Standards and for making sure landlord services are safe, effective, transparent and responsive to tenants.

The Council has named senior officers who are responsible for overseeing landlord services and compliance with the Consumer Standards.

Role Responsibility
Executive Director Overall senior leadership and accountability for Council housing and landlord services.
Assistant Director – Environmental and Housing Property Services Responsible for housing property services, including repairs, maintenance, stock condition, building safety, compliance, planned works and housing investment.
Assistant Director – Community and Housing Services Responsible for housing management services, including tenancy management, allocations, rent income, anti-social behaviour, tenant engagement, complaints and neighbourhood services.
Housing Improvement Board / Senior Leadership Team Oversees delivery of the Housing Improvement Plan and monitors progress against the Consumer Standards.
Portfolio Holder for Housing Provides political oversight and receives regular updates on housing performance and improvement activity.

How we monitor compliance

We monitor compliance with the Consumer Standards through:

  • regular performance reports;
  • tenant satisfaction measures;
  • complaints and learning from complaints;
  • tenant engagement and scrutiny;
  • compliance checks and audits;
  • delivery of the Housing Improvement Plan;
  • reports for scrutiny to senior officers/Board, Members and relevant Council committees.

Here is a summary of some of our key actions linked to the standards, which you can read in full on the above link.

  • Policies and practices should be able to be adopted for individual estates/localities.
  • Listen to your residents about experience, address their concerns about ASB and neighbourhood management.
  • Ensure data on neighbourhood management is location specific to help ground responses to resident concerns.
  • Use regular estate inspections involving residents, boards/governing bodies and senior staff to address problems identified in the management of local neighbourhoods.
  • Learn from complaints on ASB and other neighbourhood management matters. Respond positively and change practices where necessary.
  • Ensure partners delivering services to your neighbourhoods are fully on board with your aims and objectives.
  • Board/governing body understands their responsibilities
  • Look to other providers for good practice to adopt on neighbourhood management.

Tenant Satisfaction Measures

  • TP10 Satisfaction that the landlord keeps communal areas clean and well-maintained

  • TP11 Satisfaction that the landlord makes a positive contribution to neighbourhoods

  • TP12 Satisfaction with the landlord’s approach to handling anti-social behaviour

  • NM01 Anti-social behaviour cases relative to the size of the landlord

  • Comply with critical legal health and safety items: gas, electricity, fire, asbestos, water, and lift safety where appropriate
  • Meet the Decent Homes Standard, including compliance with enhanced focus on safety and energy efficiency
  • Use accurate and up to date data on characteristics of your housing stock (including safety) and repairs service performance
  • Find out from your residents what they think about the safety of their homes and the performance of your repairs service. Act on that
  • Learn from residents’ complaints about safety and repairs performance. Problems might reveal more widespread issues
  • Board/governing body understands their responsibilities
  • Look to other providers for good practice to adopt on the best ways of investing in, repairing and maintaining your stock, and on safety.

Tenant Satisfaction Measures - safety

  • BS01 Gas safety checks

  • BS02 Fire safety checks

  • BS03 Asbestos safety checks

  • BS04 Water safety checks

  • BS05 Lift safety checks

  • BS06 Electrical Safety checks

  • TP05 Satisfaction that the home is safe

Tenant Satisfaction Measures - quality

  • TP02 Satisfaction with repairs

  • TP03 Satisfaction with time taken to complete most recent repair

  • TP04 Satisfaction that the home is well maintained

  • RP01 Homes that do not meet the Decent Homes Standard

  • RP02 Repairs completed within target timescale

  • The way housing is allocated meets regulatory standards and legislation
  • Allocations are fair and enable all communities reasonable access to the housing
  • Work supports the meeting of housing need, particularly on homelessness
  • Monitor data for performance on allocations and lettings
  • Take all reasonable steps to maintain tenancies, seek possession as a last resort (especially with the cost of living)
  • Board/governing body leads on allocation of housing stock with oversight of tenancy management.

Tenant Satisfaction Measures

None.

  • Engagement methods consider different needs and aspirations of communities
  • Residents are integral to governance structure (resident views represented at board level or equivalent)
  • Targets are set for achieving high satisfaction on engagement
  • Data collected is correct, and you learn from it
  • Performance data is presented to residents
  • Data can be considered at a more local level than "Redditch" - even to the level of individual estates
  • Other performance data is also shared, e.g., on rent arrears, voids, etc
  • Complaints are done right: act swiftly, address failings, offer redress, learn
  • Complaints data used to identify and act on wider issues 
  • Ombudsman reports and judgments studied for best practice tips
  • Board/governing body leads at strategic level
  • Residents play critical role in influencing and overseeing the implementation of this standard
  • Look to other providers for good practice to adopt on transparency, influence and accountability.

Tenant Satisfaction Measures

All 22 TSMs apply to transparency, influence and accountability.

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