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New legislation with 'EU Exit' in the title that references (and therefore may change) this legislation item: Due to a high volume of changes being made to legislation for EU exit, we have not been able to research and record them all. More information is available about EU Legislation and UK Law.

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Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities 

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Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities 

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Chapter 21: Domestic Abuse

This should be integral in your practice.

21.3 – Should have DA policies and procedures which highlight this. Recognise DA isn’t just physical but encompasses various forms of abuse

21.8, 21.9 – Intersectional approach in your service delivery and the barriers survivors with protected characteristics face.

21.10 – Having a robust response in place (backed up by frequent case audits) but also partnership working with local DA services

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Guidance on providing homelessness services to people who have experienced or are at risk of domestic violence or abuse.

21.1 This chapter provides guidance on providing homelessness services to people who have experienced domestic violence or abuse, or are at risk of domestic violence or abuse.

Understanding domestic violence and abuse

21.2 Domestic violence or abuse is 'domestic' in nature if the perpetrator is a person who is associated with the victim. It is not limited to physical violence or confined to instances within the home.

21.3 Housing authorities must take account of the cross-government definition of domestic violence and abuse when designing and delivering services. This defines domestic violence and abuse as:

21.4 Any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are, or have been, intimate partners or family members regardless of gender. The abuse can encompass, but is not limited to:

1. (a) psychological - including: intimidation, insults, isolating the person from friends and family, criticising, denying the abuse, treating the person as inferior, threatening to harm children or take them away, forced marriage;

2. (b) physical - this can include: shaking, smacking, punching, kicking, presence of finger or bite marks, bruising, starving, tying up, stabbing, suffocation, throwing things, using objects as weapons, female genital mutilation. Physical effects are often in areas of the body that are covered and hidden (i.e. breasts, legs and stomach);

3. (c) sexual - including rape (including the threat of rape), sexual assault, forced prostitution, ignoring religious prohibitions about sex, refusal to practise safe sex, sexual insults, passing on sexually transmitted diseases, preventing breastfeeding;

4. (d) financial - not letting the person work, undermining efforts to find work or study, refusing to give money, asking for an explanation of how every penny is spent, making the person beg for money, gambling, not paying bills, building up debt in the other person's name;

5. (e) emotional - including: swearing, undermining confidence, making racist, sexist or other derogatory remarks, making the person feel unattractive, calling the person stupid or useless, eroding the person's independence, keeping them isolated from family or friends.

21.5 Controlling behaviour is a range of acts designed to make a person subordinate and/or dependent by isolating them from sources of support, exploiting their resources and capacities for personal gain, depriving them of the means needed for independence, resistance and escape and regulating their everyday behaviour.

21.6 Coercive behaviour is an act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish, or frighten their victim.

21.7 So-called honour-based abuse is also a form of domestic abuse, explained by the perpetrator of the abuse on the grounds that it was committed as a consequence of the need to protect or defend the honour of the family; it can include all the types of abuse listed above and specific crimes such as forced marriage and female genital mutilation.

21.8 Domestic violence and abuse can affect anyone regardless of their age, gender identity or reassignment, race, religion, class, sexual orientation and marital status. Housing authorities should bear in mind that the provisions of the Equality Act 2010 for public authorities apply to policies, practice and procedures relating to homelessness and domestic violence and abuse.

21.9 An important factor in ensuring that an authority develops a strong and appropriate response to domestic abuse is understanding what domestic abuse is, the context in which it takes place in and the impacts are on victims; as well as how the impacts may be different on different groups of people. Specialist training for staff and managers will help them to provide a more sensitive response and to identify, with applicants, housing options which are safe and appropriate to their needs.

Identifying abuse and preventing homelessness

21.10 Housing authorities should have policies in place to identify and respond to domestic abuse. Alongside their role in tackling homelessness authorities should take an active role in identifying victims and referring them for help and support. They are key partners in local domestic violence partnerships and should be represented at their local multi-agency risk assessment conference ( MARAC).

21.11 The MARAC leads multi-agency safety planning for high-risk victims of domestic abuse. It brings together the police, independent domestic violence advisers, children's social services, health, social landlords and other relevant agencies. They share information and write a safety plan for each victim and family, which may include actions by any agency present. The housing authority should be consistently represented at the MARAC and encourage relevant social landlords to also be represented.

21.12 Victims can experience many incidents of abuse before calling the police or reporting it to another agency. Housing providers may be able to identify abuse at earlier stages and should consider how they can best provide support to their residents. By understanding the indicators of domestic abuse through training and professional development, housing officers can increase their confidence to speak to people experiencing abuse, risk assess and safety plan alongside them.

21.13 Housing authorities should also be alert to the wider role they play in ensuring victim safety. Procedures should be in place to keep all information on victims safe and secure. In many cases, particularly where extended family members or multiple perpetrators may be involved, for example in female genital mutilation, forced marriage and so called honour based violence cases, perpetrators go to great lengths to seek information on victims.

21.14 The housing authority must be alert to the possibility of employees being, or having links to, perpetrators. Housing authorities should not disclose information about an applicant to anybody outside the organisation without consent, and should be particularly alert to the need to maintain confidentiality wherever domestic abuse is involved. In some circumstances, it may be necessary to restrict access to cases where abuse is disclosed to only named members of staff. Housing authorities should also consider how they flag case files so they can identify those victims who have been referred to the MARAC and may present as homeless.

21.15 Households at risk of domestic abuse often have to leave their homes and the area where they have lived. There is a clear need for victims of abuse and their children to be able to travel to different areas in order for them to be safe from the perpetrator, and housing authorities should extend the same level of support to those from other areas as they do to their own residents.

Duties to those homeless or threatened with homelessness

21.16 Section 177(1) of the 1996 Act provides that it is not reasonable for a person to continue to occupy accommodation if it is probable that this will lead to domestic violence or other violence against:

1. (a) the applicant;

2. (b) a person who normally resides as a member of the applicant's family; or,

3. (c) any other person who might reasonably be expected to reside with the applicant.

21.17 Section 177(1A) provides that 'violence' means violence from another person or threats of violence from another person which are likely to be carried out. 'Domestic violence' is violence or threats of violence which are likely to be carried out by a person who is associated with the victim. Domestic violence is not confined to instances within the home.

21.18 In the context of defining domestic violence, section 178 provides that, for the purposes of Part 7 of the 1996 Act, a person is associated with another if:

1. (a) they are, or have been, married to each other;

2. (b) they are or have been civil partners of each other;

3. (c) they are, or have been, cohabitants;

4. (d) they live, or have lived, in the same household;

5. (e) they are relatives, i.e. father, mother, stepfather, stepmother, son, daughter, stepson, stepdaughter, grandmother, grandfather, grandson, granddaughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, niece or nephew (whether of full blood, or of half blood or by marriage or civil partnership) of that person or of that person's spouse or former spouse. A person is also included if they would fall into any of these categories in relation to cohabitees or former cohabitees if they were married to each other;

6. (f) they have agreed to marry each other, whether or not that agreement has been terminated;

7. (g) they have entered into a civil partnership agreement between them, whether or not that agreement has been terminated;

8. (h) in relation to a child, each of them is a parent of the child or has, or has had, parental responsibility for the child (within the meaning of the Children Act 1989). A child is a person under 18 years of age;

9. (i) if a child has been adopted or 'freed for adoption' ( section 18 of the Adoption Act 1976), 2 persons are also associated if one is the natural parent or grandparent of the child and the other is the child or a person who has become the parent by virtue of an 'adoption order' ( section 72(1), Adoption Act 1976) or has applied for an adoption order or someone with whom the child has at any time been placed for adoption.

21.19 The term 'violence' should not be given a restrictive meaning, and 'domestic violence' should be understood to include physical violence, threatening or intimidating behaviour, and any other form of abuse which directly or indirectly may give rise to harm; between persons who are, or have been, intimate partners, family members or members of the same household, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.

21.20 An assessment of the likelihood of a threat of violence or abuse being carried out should not be based on whether there has been actual violence or abuse in the past. Assessments must be based on the facts of the case and should be devoid of any value judgements about what an applicant should or should not do, or should or should not have done, to mitigate the risk of any violence and abuse.

21.21 It is essential that inquiries do not provoke further violence and abuse. Housing authorities should not approach the alleged perpetrator, since this could generate further violence and abuse. Housing authorities may, however, wish to seek information from friends and relatives of the applicant, social services, health professionals, MARACs, a domestic abuse support service or the police, as appropriate. This is not an exhaustive list and there may be other sources of evidence that would be appropriate. In some cases, corroborative evidence of actual or threatened violence may not be available, for example, because there were no adult witnesses and/or the applicant was too frightened or ashamed to report incidents to family, friend or the police. Housing authorities should not have a blanket approach toward domestic abuse which requires corroborative or police evidence to be provided.

21.22 There may be occasions where victims of abuse seek emergency assistance having left behind ID and other documentation that may be required to support their application. Housing authorities should work with police; domestic abuse agencies (as appropriate) and the applicant to ensure that essential documentation can be recovered or replaced without putting the applicant at further risk of abuse.

21.23 In many cases involving violence and abuse, the applicant may be in considerable distress and an officer trained in dealing with the particular circumstances should conduct the interview. Applicants should be given the option of being interviewed by an officer of the same sex if they so wish. Housing authorities should be aware that this may be the first time a victim has disclosed their abuse and that the period during which a victim is planning or making their exit, is often the most dangerous time for them and any children they have.

21.24 The following services are among those subject to the duty to refer, meaning they are required to refer service users in England they consider may be homeless or threatened with homelessness within 56 days to a housing authority, with the service user's consent:

1. (a) emergency departments;

2. (b) urgent treatment centres;

3. (c) hospitals in their function of providing in patient care; and,

4. (d) adults and children's social care services.

For further guidance on the duty to refer see Chapter 4.

Prevention and relief duties

21.25 Following an application for assistance under Part 7 of the 1996 Act, whether an applicant is threatened with homelessness or is actually homeless will be a matter for the housing authority to assess taking into account all of the relevant circumstances. For example, a person at risk of domestic violence or abuse may be threatened with homelessness because a perpetrator is soon to be released from custody (and so the person is likely to become homeless within 56 days); but would be actually homeless if the perpetrator was in the community and presented a risk to them at their home (and so it is not reasonable for the person to continue to occupy the accommodation).

21.26 When developing a personalised housing plan the housing authority should be particularly sensitive to an applicant's wishes and respectful of their judgement about the risk of abuse, unless there is evidence to the contrary. For further guidance on assessments and personalised housing plans see Chapter 11. Victims should be allowed sufficient time and space to absorb and understand the options available to them.

21.27 The reasonable steps that a housing authority might take to help an applicant to retain or secure safe accommodation might include provision of sanctuary scheme or other security measures, assistance to find alternative accommodation, or help to access legal remedies such as injunctions where these might be effective. Single people might also be assisted to access supported housing, or helped to gain more support from family and friends through the intervention of the housing authority.

21.28 Sanctuary schemes can prevent homelessness by enabling victims to remain safely in their home where it is their choice, and it is safe to do so. A sanctuary comprises enhanced security measures in the home which delay or prevent a perpetrator from gaining entry into and within a property, and allow time for the police to arrive. Use of sanctuary is not appropriate if the perpetrator lives at, or retains a legal right to enter the home, or if the victim continues to be at risk in the vicinity around the home.

21.29 Housing authorities may wish to inform applicants of the option of seeking an injunction against the perpetrator. Where applicants wish to pursue this option, authorities should inform them that they should seek legal advice and that they may be eligible for legal aid.

21.30 Housing authorities should recognise that injunctions ordering a person not to molest (non-molestation orders), or not to live in the home or enter the surrounding area (occupation orders) may not be effective in deterring some perpetrators from carrying out further violence, abuse or incursions, and applicants may not have confidence in their effectiveness. Consequently, applicants should not be expected to return home on the strength of an injunction. To ensure applicants who have experienced actual or threatened violence get the support they need, authorities should inform them of appropriate specialist organisations in the area as well as agencies offering counselling and support.

21.31 When dealing with domestic violence and abuse within the home, where the authority is the landlord, housing authorities should consider the scope for evicting the perpetrator and allowing the victim to remain in their home. However, where there would be a probability of violence if the applicant continued to occupy their present accommodation, the housing authority must treat the applicant as homeless and should not expect them to remain in, or return to, the accommodation. In all cases involving violence the safety of the applicant and their household should be the primary consideration at all stages of decision making as to whether or not the applicant remains in their own home.

Assessing priority need

21.32 A person has a priority need if they are vulnerable as a result of having to leave accommodation because of violence from another person, or threats of violence from another person that are likely to be carried out. ( Article 6, Homelessness (Priority Need for Accommodation) (England) Order 2002).

21.33 It is not only domestic violence and abuse that is relevant, but all forms of violence, including racially motivated violence or threats of violence likely to be carried out. In assessing whether it is likely that threats of violence are likely to be carried out, a housing authority should only take into account the probability of violence, and not actions which the applicant could take (such as injunctions against the perpetrators).

21.34 In considering whether applicants are vulnerable as a result of leaving accommodation because of violence or threats of violence likely to be carried out, a housing authority may wish to take into account the following factors:

1. (a) the nature of the violence or threats of violence (there may have been a single but significant incident or a number of incidents over an extended period of time which have had a cumulative effect);

2. (b) the impact and likely effects of the violence or threats of violence on the applicant's current and future wellbeing;

1. (i) whether the applicant has any existing support networks, particularly by way of family or friends; and,

2. (ii) the continuing threat from the perpetrator.

For further guidance on priority need see Chapter 8.

Providing suitable accommodation

21.35 There are a number of accommodation options for victims of domestic abuse, and housing authorities will need to consider which are most appropriate for each person on a case by case basis taking into account their circumstances and needs. This may include safe temporary accommodation and/or a managed transfer. Housing authorities may, for example, provide temporary accommodation whilst action is taken to exclude or to arrest and detain a perpetrator. Opportunities to plan for victims to remain or return to their homes are much improved by housing authorities working with partners in the MARAC to reduce risk.

21.36 For victims at risk from highly dangerous perpetrators, refuges will usually be the most appropriate choice. Refuges provide key short term, intensive support for those who flee from abuse. Given the intensity of the support and the vulnerability of the victims, attention should be paid to the length of time they spend in a refuge. Refuges are not simply a substitute for other forms of temporary accommodation. The housing authority should work with the refuge provider to consider how long a person needs to stay before the provision of other accommodation (which may be temporary in the absence of settled accommodation) may be more appropriate, potentially with floating support if needed.

21.37 Account will need to be taken of any social considerations relating to the applicant and their household that might affect the suitability of accommodation offered to them to prevent or relieve homelessness, or under the main housing duty. Any risk of violence or racial harassment in a particular locality should be taken into account. Where domestic violence is involved and the applicant is not able to stay in the current home, housing authorities may need to consider the need for accommodation that would not be found by the perpetrator (which may involve an out of district placement) and which has security measures and appropriately trained staff to protect the occupants. Housing authorities may consider implementing a reciprocal agreement with other housing authorities and providers to facilitate out of area moves for victims of domestic violence and abuse.

Local connection referrals

21.38 A housing authority cannot refer an applicant to another housing authority where they have a local connection if that person or any person who might reasonably be expected to reside with them would be at risk of violence and abuse in that other district. The housing authority is under a positive duty to enquire whether the applicant would be at such a risk and, if they would, it should not be assumed that the applicant will take steps to deal with the threat. For further guidance on local connection see Chapter 10.

21.39 Section 198(3) defines violence as violence from another person or threats of violence from another person which are likely to be carried out. Housing authorities should be alert to the deliberate distinction which is made in section 198(3) between actual violence and threatened violence. A high standard of proof of actual violence in the past should not be imposed. The threshold is that there must be:

1. (a) no risk of domestic violence (actual or threatened) in the other district; and,

2. (b) no risk of non-domestic violence (actual or threatened) in the other district. Nor should 'domestic violence' be interpreted restrictively.

Eligibility

21.40 People who have no recourse to public funds are not generally eligible for homelessness assistance. However, the Destitute Domestic Violence Concession supports those who have entered or stayed in the UK as a spouse, unmarried partner, same-sex or civil partner of a British Citizen, or settled citizen and this relationship has permanently broken down due to domestic violence and abuse. A victim may be eligible if:

1. (a) they came to the UK or were granted leave to stay in the UK as the spouse or partner of a British Citizen or someone settled in the UK;

2. (b) their relationship has permanently broken down due to domestic violence and abuse.

21.41 They can then apply to the Home Office for limited leave to remain (3 months) under the Destitute Domestic Violence Concession to enable them to access public funds and advice, whilst they prepare and submit an application for indefinite leave to remain (or to make alternative arrangements).

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Homelessness code of guidance for local authorities

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Guidance on providing homelessness services to people who have experienced or are at risk of domestic violence or abuse. 21.1 This chapter provides guidance on providing homelessness services to people who have experienced domestic violence or abuse, or are at risk of domestic violence or abuse.

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Breaking the link between homelessness and domestic abuse
(Crisis UK)

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Please note that this is still in draft format, as we are waiting for the accreditation process to be finalised.

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Assessment Task Workbook Reading & Resources List

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Assessment Task Workbook Reading & Resources List

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This reading list should provide all of the resources required for you to complete your assessment, along with the weekly course materials.

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Passed into law 29th April 2021
An Act to make provision in relation to domestic abuse;
to make provision for and in connection with the establishment of a Domestic Abuse Commissioner;

to make provision for the granting of measures to assist individuals in certain circumstances to give evidence or otherwise participate in civil proceedings;
to prohibit cross-examination in person in family or civil proceedings in certain

circumstances;
to make further provision about orders under section 91(14) of

the Children Act 1989;
to provide for an offence of threatening to disclose

private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress; to provide for an offence of strangulation or suffocation; to make provision about

circumstances in which consent to the infliction of harm is not a defence in proceedings for certain violent offences; to make provision about certain violent or sexual offences, and offences involving other abusive behaviour,

committed outside the United Kingdom; and for connected purposes.

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A Whole Housing Approach to Domestic Abuse, DAHA 2020.

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A Whole Housing Approach to Domestic Abuse, DAHA 2020.

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The Whole Housing Approach
(WHA) was first conceptualised
in 2018 by the Domestic Abuse
Housing Alliance (DAHA) in
collaboration with the National
Housing and Domestic Abuse
Policy and Practice Group. This
group brings together extensive
knowledge and experience from
individual organisations across
the housing and domestic abuse
sectors and aims to find consensus,
share best practice, and influence
policy and practice on domestic
abuse and housing at both central
and local government levels.
It keeps the experiences and
perspective of victim/survivors
at the core of its work.

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Here is the funding allocation for Safe Accommodation. The first part includes the amount each Tier 1 will be awarded.  And the latter includes what each LA will receive as a new burden fund to help them prepare for the new duty.

The draft statutory guidance for the safe accommodation is listed at the bottom of this page - ‘delivery of support to victims of DA, including children, in DA safe accommodation services’

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Domestic Abuse Bill 2020: overarching documents

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Participation – We ask that you take part as much as you can, we have included a variety of different activities so that everyone will hopefully feel able to join in as learning from each other is really valuable. If we have a skills practice session - just to reassure you, you will be in groups of 3 people and won’t have to practice in front of the whole group. You will just be asked to share feedback about how it went after practising in your small group.

Respect each other, we never know in the training room who may have their own lived experience of domestic abuse either now, or in the past as an adult or child. Be mindful of sharing any judgments and how that would impact a survivor in the room.

Challenge opinion not person.  It is ok to have differing opinions but let’s use that as an opportunity to be curious about the difference rather than challenge a person on theirs.

We also ask you respect this learning space by minimising distractions such as mobile phones and closing other tabs on your computer, especially email.

Confidentiality – Please do not share other people’s stories without consent or use their names. Throughout the day, we will consider why maintaining confidentiality is so important to survivors and this also applies to any colleagues who share their personal experiences. As trainers, we also have a responsibility to ensure that people are safe and if we hear information that indicates someone is at risk of harm, we may need to share that beyond this room. If this happens, we will speak to the person first before we do unless this puts someone at further risk. We are sharing this with you now so you’re aware and can make a choice about what you share with others.

Self-care - This training can be emotive. If you become upset or overwhelmed by any of the content, please take a break, turn camera off and mute yourself as part of looking after yourself – we are here to support/talk to at lunch/end of session. Can send a private message to the trainer in the chat (if Zoom) or contact us by email after the training.

Breaks: We will have 3 short breaks during the session – one 15 minute tea break and two 5 minute “stretch’ breaks

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1. Terms are interchangeable, term ‘domestic abuse’ used in recognition that includes all types of abuse not just physical violence. Often people living with DA won’t use this term themselves. Today as we go through the material, have a think about how you might bring this up in a conversation, what else can you say besides the term DA.

2. Most people prefer the term ‘survivors’ – though in certain contexts the term ‘victim’ is more appropriate we’ll use them as appropriate, but we too prefer ‘survivor’. To avoid all labels (as even survivor is a label that is rejected by someone who has experienced domestic abuse) it is also possible to use language such as ‘someone who has experienced/been affected by domestic abuse.’ If you are ever talking to a tenant/member of staff who has experience DA, you should ask them how they would like to be referred to as it is very personal and varies from individual to individual.

3. Some survivors will not be ready to think in terms of ‘perpetrator’ and it might feel more appropriate to say ‘person who is using abuse/being controlling’ while someone is exploring if their relationship is abusive.

4. Disclosure means sharing their experience of DA

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Hannah Gousey - Office of the Domestic Abuse Commissioner

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Hannah Gousey - Office of the Domestic Abuse Commissioner

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Hannah walks us through the passage of the DA Bill through the Parliament to its enactment in early May 2021, and what it means for survivors, perpetrators and housing providers.

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Comprehensive listing of government policy and initiatives

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We use some essential cookies to make this website work.

We'd like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services.

We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services.

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We use some essential cookies to make this website work. We'd like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services. We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services.

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Improving access to social housing for victims of domestic abuse - MHCLG

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Improving access to social housing for victims of domestic abuse - MHCLG

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Section 179
Also review Sections 175-177

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An Act to make provision about housing, including provision about the social rented sector, houses in multiple occupation, landlord and tenant matters, the administration of housing benefit, the conduct of tenants, the allocation of housing accommodation by local housing authorities and homelessness; and for connected purposes.

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Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004

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Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004

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Legislation is available in different versions:

Latest Available (revised): The latest available updated version of the legislation incorporating changes made by subsequent legislation and applied by our editorial team. Changes we have not yet applied to the text, can be found in the 'Changes to Legislation' area.

Original (As Enacted or Made): The original version of the legislation as it stood when it was enacted or made. No changes have been applied to the text.

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Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004

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An Act to amend Part 4 of the Family Law Act 1996, the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and the Protection from Harassment (Northern Ireland) Order 1997; to make provision about homicide; to make common assault an arrestable offence; to make provision for the payment of surcharges by offenders; to

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Charter for Social Housing Residents - para. 136-137

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Charter for Social Housing Residents - para. 136-137

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Supporting tenants facing domestic abuse

136. Landlords have a role to play in supporting the victims of domestic abuse. They are well-placed to identify early signs of abuse and through allocations policies can offer an escape to safe housing. Many are already committed to taking action in support of this through sector-led initiatives such as the ‘Making a Stand’ pledge.

137. The Domestic Abuse Bill will place a statutory duty on county and unitary councils in England (excluding London Boroughs), as well as the Greater London Authority and the Isles of Scilly Council, to work with other bodies to develop a strategy for, and commission services to provide support for victims of domestic abuse and their children within safe accommodation. Landlords must work with local authorities to deliver this requirement, and it is important that this expectation is reflected in the regulatory standards. We will expect the Regulator of Social Housing to review and amend its regulatory standards to make it clear that landlords should have a policy setting out how they should tackle issues surrounding domestic abuse, working with other agencies as appropriate.

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Foreword from the Prime Minister

As a cub reporter in the 1980s, I was once despatched to a Wolverhampton council estate to call on a young family who had written in about the damp in their flat.

And what struck me most when I arrived wasn't the condensation streaming down the windows like a waterfall or the black spores of mould metastasising across the walls or even the rasping cough of the small baby, which seemed to get worse even in the short time I was there.

It was the miserable despair of the father, a man utterly bereft of hope at the problem ever being sorted out. He'd complained to the housing office, he'd complained to his local councillor, he'd complained to anyone who would listen and many who wouldn't, but nobody seemed to care, nobody seemed willing or able to do anything about it.

And while that scene unfolded more than 30 years ago, the culture and attitude that allowed it to happen - the idea that social tenants are less worthy of respect or can be ignored when their views are inconvenient - remains all too prevalent today.

Although the exhaustive independent inquiry into the causes of the Grenfell tragedy will not report its final findings for some time yet, it is already clear that the people who called Grenfell Tower home were, like that Wolverhampton father, no strangers to their voices going unheard.

If there were only a handful of social tenants in this country it would be a matter of grave concern.

In a nation where many millions rely on their local council or a housing association to help keep a roof over their head - and in the UK the social rented sector makes up a greater share of housing stock than in most other major economies - it is nothing short of a scandal. And it's one this government is going to deal with.

The proposals in this White Paper will make clear the standards that every social tenant in England is entitled to expect from their landlords.

They will ensure that people feel safe and secure in their homes, can get problems fixed before they spiral out of control, and see exactly how good their landlord is at dealing with complaints.

Above all, it will give social housing tenants a voice, and ensure that it is listened to.

We're levelling up this country, making it fairer for everyone - and that includes making sure social housing tenants are treated with the respect they deserve, so that nobody should ever again feel as hopeless as the man I met all those years ago.
The Rt. Hon. Boris Johnson MP
Prime Minister
Foreword from the Secretary of State

One of the privileges of my time as Secretary of State has been meeting with the bereaved and survivors of the Grenfell Tower tragedy. Their courage and grace shone through on each encounter, however harrowing and heart breaking the stories they told.

Time and again, former residents would return to two themes: firstly, that they didn't feel listened to when they raised concerns and complaints and could only wonder what might have been avoided if their voices had been heard. And secondly, a broader sense that they had not been treated with the dignity and respect they deserved. Indeed, the same dignity and respect they themselves have exhibited, in unimaginable grief and distress since the night of 14 June 2017.

These conversations with me and my predecessors were the genesis of this White Paper. Those most affected by the events at Grenfell Tower understandably seek answers and justice and that is what an independent public inquiry aims to provide. But, it is clear to me they also seek positive action and change for the benefit of others. I do not presume to assert that this White Paper alone answers that desire, but it is in that spirit that we publish it and will ensure its aims and ambitions are realised.

This Charter for Social Housing Residents sets out to raise the standard of social housing and meet the aspirations of residents throughout the country, today and in the future. It speaks to safety, to quality, to family, to life free from the blight of crime and antisocial behaviour, to the opportunity to move from rent to ownership, where this is possible.

I want housing associations and local councils to ensure that those who live in social housing are treated with dignity and respect. The interests and perspective of residents must be given greater prominence in service delivery. And when things go wrong, as they inevitably sometimes do, tenants should be able to seek redress and know that they will be heard. No one should accept poor service, nor show deference to those that provide it. Landlords should welcome the views of their tenants as a route to better management.

I want tenants to feel protected and empowered by a regulatory regime and a culture of transparency, accountability, decency and service befitting of the best intentions and traditions of social housing in this country.

I hope the ideas and regulatory changes we set out in this White Paper will make a measurable difference to the experiences of those living in England's four million social homes in the years ahead.
The Rt. Hon. Robert Jenrick
Secretary of State for Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Executive Summary
A home should always be more than just four walls and a roof.
A home should provide safety, security and dignity. An opportunity to put down roots and contribute to our community so we can enjoy social and civic lives. Regardless of who you rent from, your landlord should treat you fairly and with respect. And if things go wrong there should be a swift and effective means of redress.

We all have these expectations, but for some social housing residents they have not always been met. This White Paper seeks to change that, establishing a new Charter for social housing residents.

This country has a long tradition of providing homes for those most in need, going back many centuries. The first recorded almshouse was founded in York by King Athelstan. The oldest still in existence is the Hospital of St Cross in Winchester, dating to about 1132. During the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, great philanthropists and social reformers changed the face of housing. They recognised that good quality homes with open space and amenities were essential to overcoming the chronic public health challenges of the time. Model villages such as George Cadbury's Bournville in Birmingham, Joseph Rowntree's New Earswick in York, and George Peabody's and Octavia Hill's developments in inner city London were born. Octavia Hill said her aim was to 'make lives noble, homes happy and family life good'.

From the 1890s, some local councils started to build social housing. This was given a huge boost by the Addison Act of 1919, which provided central government funding to local authorities to build "homes fit for heroes" as troops returned from World War 1. Ever since, local councils have played a significant role in providing good homes to working people and creating strong communities, particularly rebuilding the country after the devastation of World War 2 when the country lost over a million homes and 4 million more were damaged.

As of 2018, local councils provided homes to over 1.6 million households. This government has been clear that we want to see councils build more homes and has made this possible through removing restrictions on their borrowing so they can invest.

Since the 1970s we have also seen the tremendous growth of housing associations, which has transformed how social housing is delivered now. Many housing associations began in that decade from community roots, often from local churches or communities coming together in response to homelessness. Several of those small charities have become the large housing associations we know today. Housing associations own approximately 60% of our social housing. The 1974 Housing Act enabled the charitable housing association sector to access funding to build new homes. In the 1980s, housing associations were given freedom to access private borrowing, seeking to blend charitable aims with commercial acumen to build more homes and take on homes from local authorities. We want housing associations to build yet more homes and to deliver their mission of charitable purpose combined with the best customer service of the private sector.

From the 1980s, social housing became not only a crucial safety net for those in need, but also, for many, a vital step on the ladder towards home ownership.

The introduction of the Right to Buy and shared ownership enabled millions of social tenants to buy a home of their own. We want to support even more social housing residents to own a home. This is why we are introducing a simpler and fairer shared ownership offer, allowing people to get on the first rung by buying only 10% of their home - and why we have introduced the Right to Shared Ownership, which will enable people living in rental homes built under the new Affordable Homes Programme to purchase their own home through shared ownership.

Today, the sector provides homes to 4 million households. Many landlords provide a good service to their residents. They provide a decent and safe home. They support thriving neighbourhoods and communities. They are open with their residents, listen to them and treat them with respect.

But this is not true of all landlords.

The tragedy at Grenfell Tower in June 2017 raised critical questions for everyone involved in social housing, including residents, landlords, developers, and local and national government. We are committed to learning the lessons of the Grenfell tragedy and have already taken significant action. We have supported the bereaved and survivors, established an independent public inquiry and started implementing the recommendations of its Phase 1 findings. And through the Building Safety Bill we are undertaking the biggest change in building safety for a generation.

We have also been listening intensely to social housing residents across the country about the change that they want to see. The social housing Green Paper in 2018 sought views on a wide range of potential changes, and alongside it we launched a Call for Evidence about how social housing is regulated. We received over 1,000 responses to the social housing Green Paper and over 100 to the Call for Evidence. Many residents reported positive experiences, but others did not. We heard concerns about safety and quality; of complaints being handled slowly or poorly; and about residents feeling they were not listened to, or not treated with respect.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the importance of people's homes, communities and neighbourhoods - including access to green spaces. Good landlords have ensured that their vulnerable residents have not been left alone, and have gone the extra mile to support them. It remains important for people to have access to open green spaces and playgrounds to promote exercise and mental wellbeing. And it is critical that those in social housing, as elsewhere, can live free from the blight of crime, drugs and anti-social behaviour, in developments well designed to protect them and with law enforcement there to take decisive action where necessary.

Alongside the challenges posed by COVID-19, social landlords are seeking to increase energy efficiency, and are working to improve the safety of their buildings.

We recognise that these pose very significant challenges and are assisting through targeted grants and support.

Many landlords have made positive changes since the publication of the social housing Green Paper. And there have been welcome initiatives to support sector- wide culture change, such as the National Housing Federation's Together with Tenants programme and the resident-led guide on how to engage with residents by See the Person and the Chartered Institute of Housing.

But there is more to do to ensure that all social housing residents have the experience we expect for them. This White Paper sets out how we will achieve this, through our new Charter for social housing residents.

Building on the commitments we have already made on building safety, to the highest single funding commitment to affordable housing in a decade, and to establishing more routes for tenants to own their own home, this White Paper will deliver transformational change for social housing residents.

A new Charter for social housing residents

Our new Charter sets out what every social housing resident should be able to expect:

1. To be safe in your home. We will work with industry and landlords to ensure every home is safe and secure.

2. To know how your landlord is performing, including on repairs, complaints and safety, and how it spends its money, so you can hold it to account.

3. To have your complaints dealt with promptly and fairly, with access to a strong ombudsman who will give you swift and fair redress when needed.

4. To be treated with respect, backed by a strong consumer regulator and improved consumer standards for tenants.

5. To have your voice heard by your landlord, for example through regular meetings, scrutiny panels or being on its Board. The government will provide help, if you want it, to give you the tools to ensure your landlord listens.

6. To have a good quality home and neighbourhood to live in, with your landlord keeping your home in good repair.

7. To be supported to take your first step to ownership, so it is a ladder to other opportunities, should your circumstances allow.

How we will ensure this Charter is met

This white paper sets out what we will do to ensure landlords live up to this new Charter. Our package of measures is summarised below. The most important step we will take is to work with the Regulator of Social Housing ("the regulator") to create a strong, proactive consumer regulatory regime, strengthening the formal standards against which landlords are regulated and requiring them to:

Summary of the policy measures in this white paper

To be safe in your home

Building and fire safety is a paramount concern for residents. We are committed to ensuring that all homes are safe to live in, and have identified ways both to raise safety standards and to help residents feel safer in their homes. Chapter 1 sets out that we will:

Legislate to strengthen the Regulator of Social Housing's consumer regulation objectives to explicitly include safety.

Legislate to require social landlords to identify a nominated person responsible for complying with their health and safety requirements.

Expect the Regulator of Social Housing to prepare a Memorandum of Understanding with the Health and Safety Executive to ensure effective sharing of information with the Building Safety Regulator.

Launch a consultation on requiring smoke alarms in social housing and introducing new expectations for carbon monoxide alarms.

Consult on measures to ensure that social housing residents are protected from harm caused by poor electrical safety.

Continue to work with the Social Sector (Building Safety) Engagement Best Practice Group and the Building Safety Regulator to ensure resident voices are heard.

To know how your landlord is performing

If tenants are to be able to hold their landlord to account, they need to know how it is performing and what decisions it is making. This will allow them to challenge their landlord when things are not working as they should, and to compare its performance with that of other social landlords. Chapter 2 sets out how we will:

Create a set of tenant satisfaction measures for landlords on things that matter to tenants.

Introduce a new access to information scheme for social housing tenants of housing associations and other private registered providers of social housing, so that information relating to landlords is easily available.

Ensure landlords provide a clear breakdown of how their income is being spent.

Require landlords to identify a senior person in their organisation who is responsible for ensuring they comply with the consumer standards set by the Regulator of Social Housing.

To have your complaints dealt with promptly and fairly

Residents should get swift and effective resolution of complaints. But we heard from some residents that making a complaint can be difficult and take too long - and that it can sometimes take months for the complaint to be resolved, or for the resident to be able to access the Housing Ombudsman. Chapter 3 sets out how we have recently:

Acted to speed up access to the Housing Ombudsman by removing (through the Building Safety Bill) the need for residents to either go to a 'designated person' or wait eight weeks before approaching the Ombudsman directly.

Expanded the Housing Ombudsman service, and increased its powers, so it will make decisions more quickly and can take stronger action against landlords where needed.

Chapter 3 also sets out how we will do more to:

Provide residents with consistency across landlord complaint handling by ensuring landlords self- assess against the Housing Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code by 31 December 2020.

Ensure tenants know how to raise complaints and have confidence in the system by launching a communications campaign. We will expect landlords, the Housing Ombudsman and the Building Safety Regulator to ensure residents have clear and up to date information on how to complain.

Legislate to ensure clear co-operation between the Housing Ombudsman and the Regulator of Social Housing to hold landlords to account more effectively when things go wrong.

Make landlords more accountable for their actions by publicising the details of cases determined and published by the Housing Ombudsman.

To be treated fairly and with respect, backed by a strong consumer regulator for tenants

Transformation of consumer regulation is needed to further drive the right behaviours and hold landlords to account when they fail. This will complement the robust economic regulation already in place, which will be maintained. Chapter 4 sets out our commitment to:

Transform the consumer regulation role of the Regulator of Social Housing ("the regulator") so it proactively monitors and drives landlords' compliance with improved consumer standards.

Remove the 'serious detriment test' and introduce routine inspections for the largest landlords (those with over 1,000 homes) every four years.

Change the regulator's objectives to explicitly cover safety and transparency, and work with it to review its consumer standards to ensure they are up to date and deliver its revised objectives.

Give the regulator the power to publish a Code of Practice on the consumer standards to be clear what landlords are required to deliver.

Strengthen the regulator's enforcement powers to tackle failing landlords and to respond to new challenges facing the sector.

Hold local authorities to account as landlords, including how they manage Arms Length Management Organisations and Tenant Management Organisations, to make sure they deliver a good service to tenants.

Require the regulator to set up an Advisory Committee to provide independent and unbiased advice on discharging its functions.

To have your voice heard by your landlord

Stronger resident engagement by landlords will give residents a clearer voice so that they can hold landlords to account. In Chapter 5 we set out how we will:

To have a good quality home and neighbourhood to live in

We heard that tenants are proud of their communities and want greater investment in them. We want to ensure social tenants have good quality, decent homes and neighbourhoods, including access to green space and support for wellbeing. Chapter 6 sets out that we will:

To be supported to take your first step to ownership

We are continuing to increase the supply of good quality social homes, and working to give as many residents as possible the right to purchase their own home. Chapter 7 explains how we are:

Investing £11.5 billion to build up to 180,000 affordable homes - the highest single funding commitment to affordable housing in a decade. Around half of these new homes will be for affordable home ownership.

Implementing a new, fairer and more accessible model for Shared Ownership.

Implementing a new Right to Shared Ownership for tenants of housing associations and other private registered providers who live in new grant funded homes for rent.

Emphasising through our new National Design Guide the importance of building beautiful and well-designed social homes.

Introducing a new Affordable Homes Guarantee Scheme.

Encouraging local authorities to take advantage of our removal of the borrowing cap to build more council homes.

The measures in this White Paper apply to social housing landlords and residents in England. Separate arrangements apply in the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Key terms used in this White Paper:

Residents - This White Paper considers the issues facing all residents of social housing, including those who rent, leaseholders and shared owners. We have referred throughout to "residents" to include all those living in social housing, except where an issue is only relevant to those who are renting from a social housing landlord, in which case we refer to "tenants".

Landlords - Generally throughout this White Paper we use the term "landlord" to cover anyone who rents social homes to people. It also covers social landlords of leaseholders and shared owners.

Changes to the Regulator of Social Housing and its powers will apply to tenants. (Some of the regulator's Standards do not apply to shared owners as set out at: gov.uk/guidance/regulatory-standards

There is a full glossary of terms used at the end of this White Paper.

Chapter 1: To be safe in your home
Ensuring good health through good quality, safe and decent homes has been at the cornerstone of developing social housing over the past century, led by the vision shown by the pioneering work of Octavia Hill, George Peabody and others.
The tragedy at Grenfell Tower shook public trust in building safety and revealed significant failings. Our renewed drive in this White Paper puts residents back at the heart of building safety and goes further in delivering changes to ensure that every social housing resident is safe in their home.
We have already: We will:

Legislate to strengthen the Regulator of Social Housing's consumer regulation objectives to explicitly include safety.

Legislate to require social landlords to identify a nominated person responsible for complying with their health and safety requirements.

Expect the Regulator of Social Housing to prepare a Memorandum of Understanding with the Health and Safety Executive to ensure effective sharing of information with the Building Safety Regulator.

Launch a consultation on mandating smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in social housing.

Consult on measures to ensure that social housing residents are protected from harm caused by poor electrical safety.

Build on the work of the Social Sector (Building Safety) Engagement Best Practice Group, supporting the development of statutory and good practice guidance on engaging residents in all tenures on safety issues.

Ensuring buildings are safe

1. Building safety is a top priority for the government. We have already made up to £400 million available to social sector landlords to fund the removal and replacement of unsafe cladding of aluminium composite materials (ACM) on residential social housing buildings over 18 metres. At Budget 2020 we went further, announcing an additional £1 billion to accelerate the remediation of unsafe non-ACM on residential buildings over 18 metres. At the end of October 2020, 151 (97%) of the 155 social sector buildings identified with ACM cladding systems unlikely to meet Building Regulations had either completed or started remediation, with 90 (58%) having now completed remediation and 74% in total having de-risked the building by removing the ACM cladding. Plans are in place to remediate the remaining 4 buildings.

2. In July 2020, we published our Building Safety Bill, which brings forward measures to put in place an enhanced regulatory regime for all buildings, including a more stringent regime for the design, construction, day-to-day management and maintenance of higher-risk buildings, with residents having a strong voice in the system. The new regimes will deliver stronger enforcement and sanctions to ensure homes are safe. These will ensure the right people are held to account and will drive a culture change to put safety first. Local enforcement agencies and national regulators, including a new Building Safety Regulator, will work together to ensure that the safety of buildings across all tenures is improved. The Building Safety Regulator will be responsible for all regulatory decisions under the new regime during the design, construction, occupation and refurbishment of higher-risk buildings.

3. The proposals in the Building Safety Bill aim to bring about a culture change so that organisations who manage buildings across all tenures, including higher-risk buildings, prioritise residents and their safety. It is important that the social housing regime supports fire safety, and that the building safety and social housing regimes work effectively together. To do this we will:

Legislate to strengthen the Regulator of Social Housing's consumer regulation objective so that it explicitly includes safety (paragraph 59).

Legislate to require social landlords to identify a nominated person responsible for complying with their health and safety requirements (paragraph 61).

Expect the Regulator of Social Housing to prepare a Memorandum of Understanding with the Health and Safety Executive, once the national Building Safety Regulator is created, to ensure effective sharing of information (paragraph 62).

4. Alongside the Building Safety Bill, we published the Fire Safety Consultation as part of government's package of reform to improve building and fire safety in all regulated premises where people live, stay or work. The Fire Safety Consultation seeks views and asks questions on our proposals to implement the recommendations in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry's Phase 1 report that require changes to the law. These proposals seek to provide residents with greater assurance and fire safety improvements in their buildings. We are seeking to implement the recommendations in the most practical, proportionate and effective manner. In many cases, our proposals go beyond the Grenfell Tower Inquiry's recommendations, whilst in others we have proposed an approach which prioritises residents' safety in a way that is proportionate to the risks the Grenfell Tower Inquiry identified.

5. We published a Fire Safety Bill which clarifies that under the Fire Safety Order 2005 a responsible person or duty-holder for multi-occupied residential buildings must assess the fire safety risks for the structure, external walls and flat entrance doors as part of the fire risk assessment process. Where appropriate, the responsible person or duty-holder must put in place general fire precautions to mitigate any risks in relation to these parts of the building.

Engagement on safety

6. Putting residents at the heart of building safety continues to be a core priority for us. The Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, commissioned following the Grenfell tragedy, called for government action to develop a national culture of engagement on fire and structural safety for residents of all tenures. We also heard in response to the Building a Safer Future consultation that residents want more effective, tailored, regular communication around fire and structural safety issues, and a range of ways to engage. Residents told us that more effective engagement with landlords would help to support them to feel safer in their homes.

7. Social landlords have a key role to play in supporting their residents to feel safe in their homes. For residents, knowing you live in a safe, secure building is of paramount importance, for your physical safety and for your mental health. Trust in your landlord is crucial to this, and ensuring there is two-way engagement on how safety is managed is a central part of gaining that trust. To support this change in culture, we want to make sure that residents know how to communicate with their landlord or building manager on fire and structural safety issues, and that they feel confident their voices are heard.

We also want to create a culture where landlords and building safety managers communicate effectively with their residents on safety issues.

8. To deliver this, through the Building Safety Bill we are introducing a requirement for the 'Accountable Person' for each higher- risk building to produce and implement a resident engagement strategy to promote the participation of tenants and leaseholders in decisions that are made about building safety risks in their building. This will ensure that:

9. We have learned a great deal from listening to residents and understanding what changes they want to see. We consulted a mixed-tenure Residents Reference Panel, whose members helped us to ensure that our reforms are informed by the experience of people living in higher-risk buildings.

10. Since March 2019 we have also been running a Social Sector (Building Safety) Engagement Best Practice Group bringing together social landlords and residents from across the country to test approaches to engagement on building safety and foster stronger partnerships between residents and landlords. This has taken forward work in three areas:

11. The pilots run by the group have explored ways to support residents and landlords to communicate effectively on fire safety issues.

This work has helped inform our approach to the provision of resident information and the setting of responsibilities in the Building Safety Bill published in July 2020 for pre-legislative scrutiny. We have really valued the voluntary effort that residents have made in this group to identifying practical ways to improve communication on building safety, and for the support and time that landlords have contributed to taking this forward. The group's final report and recommendations will be published shortly.

12. We are working with the shadow Building Safety Regulator (based in the Health and Safety Executive) to ensure that resident voice continues to shape the new regulatory regime as it evolves, building on the propositions in our Building Safety Bill that the regulator will establish a resident panel to assist it in determining its priorities and in informing any guidance that it publishes on resident engagement.

Setting standards on smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and electrical safety

13. Safety measures in the social sector should be in line with the legal protections afforded to private sector tenants. Responses to the social housing Green Paper showed overwhelming support for consistency in safety measures across social and private rented housing. Although many social landlords have already taken steps to keep tenants safe, it is unacceptable that around 200,000 social households are without a working smoke alarm and over 2.3 million are without a working carbon monoxide alarm. (See English Housing Survey headline report 2018-19).

14. We want to bring safety requirements for smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms in line with private rented sector requirements. That is why, alongside this White Paper, we have launched a consultation on extending requirements for smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, including introducing new requirements in social housing. We will also consult separately on ways to ensure that social housing tenants are protected from harm caused by poor electrical safety.

Chapter 2: To know how your landlord is performing
If tenants are to be able to hold their landlords to account, they need information on how their landlord is performing, what decisions it is making and who is responsible.
As housing associations began to expand from the mid-1970s, they were generally closely connected to the communities they were building homes for, but this has become strained with the more substantial growth in the scale of their operations from the mid-2000's. Some housing associations have been criticised for excessive administration costs and executive pay, with reported average Chief Executive pay of £181,000 in 2019/20 - more than the Prime Minister - and some, in excess of £400,000 per year. This White Paper seeks to redress that balance and recreate strong connections between landlords and tenants to ensure transparency and accountability and ensure all landlords consider their purpose and their tenants, at all times. We have heard clearly from tenants how important this is to them.
We will:
Tenant Satisfaction Measures

15. Although landlords are already required to give tenants timely and relevant performance information, including the publication of an annual report, the format and content of this information can vary significantly. Private registered providers and local authority landlords should be giving tenants access to a set of clear, comparable tenant satisfaction measures on the things they care about to ensure they can understand their landlord's performance. This information is also important in informing the Regulator of Social Housing's ("the regulator's") approach to regulating landlords.

16. The Regulator of Social Housing will develop a process for collecting and publishing a core set of tenant satisfaction measures for all social landlords. These should follow the themes set out in the social housing Green Paper, widely supported by tenants, around properties being in good repair, building safety, engagement and neighbourhood management, including measures on anti-social behaviour. They should include both objective quantitative measures and tenant perception measures.

17. These measures will provide tenants with greater transparency about their landlord's performance. They will also inform the regulator about how the landlord is complying with the consumer standards under a proactive consumer regulation regime. The regulator should consider the best way of publishing measures so that they are clear and accessible for all tenants, and how to ensure landlords publicise them, but we would expect an annual statement to be provided to every tenant as a minimum and, unless there are special reasons, for technology to be used (such as an app) to provide this more directly and accessibly.

18. We have worked with groups across the sector including tenant representatives, landlords, trade bodies and the regulator to develop the draft set of tenant satisfaction measures set out in Box A. We expect the regulator to do further work, engaging with tenants and landlords, to finalise these and embed them within the regulatory system. The importance of careful design of the tenant satisfaction measures was highlighted in responses to the Call for Evidence about the regulatory regime for social housing. Many respondents expressed concern about the comparability of different landlords and the regulator will need to consider this. The regulator will also work with the Building Safety Regulator as it develops performance standards and reporting requirements as part of the new building safety regime for higher-risk buildings.

Box A: Draft Tenant Satisfaction Measures

Theme:

Draft tenant satisfaction measures.

Keeping properties in good repair:

Decent Homes Standard compliance.
Responsive repairs completed right first time.
Tenant satisfaction with landlord's repairs and maintenance service.

Maintaining building safety:

Compliance with health and safety obligations:

Tenant satisfaction with the health and safety of their home.

Effective handling of complaints:

Number of complaints relative to the size of the landlord.
Percentage of complaints resolved within agreed timescale.
Tenant satisfaction with landlord's complaints handling.

Respectful and helpful engagement:

Number of complaints relating to fairness and/or respect, relative to the size of the landlord.

Tenant satisfaction that their landlord listens to their views and takes notice of them.
Tenant satisfaction with landlord's engagement with tenants.

Responsible neighbourhood management:

Percentage of communal areas meeting the required standard.
Number of complaints relating to communal areas, relative to the size of the landlord.
Tenant satisfaction with landlord actions to keep communal areas clean and safe.
Tenant satisfaction with landlord contribution to the neighbourhood associated with their home.
Number of complaints relating to anti-social behaviour, relative to the size of the landlord.
Tenant satisfaction with landlord's handling of anti-social behaviour.

Overall:

Tenant overall satisfaction with the service their landlord provides.

19. In addition, we will expect landlords to publish three financial measures alongside these tenant satisfaction measures, providing clear and accessible information on how much landlords are spending on administrative costs and executive remuneration (see Box B). These will not inform the regulator's consumer regulation activity but will be made available for tenants' information. The regulator separately considers the effectiveness and efficiency of private registered providers through its Value for Money standard, as part of its economic regulation regime.

Box B: Draft Financial Measures

Theme:
Draft Financial Measures.

Executive remuneration:

Chief Executive or equivalent salary, relative to the size of the landlord.
Executive remuneration, relative to the size of the landlord.

Efficiency and effectiveness:

Management costs, relative to the size of the landlord.

New access to information scheme

20. We want to ensure a culture change whereby landlords are more open with tenants, beyond the information provided through tenant satisfaction measures. Local authority tenants can already access information from their landlord through a request made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, but this is not available to tenants of housing associations and other private registered providers. Good landlords would want to share the information with tenants when asked, but there is a risk that others might choose to withhold information that they should share. To address this, we will introduce a new access to information scheme for social housing tenants of housing associations and other private registered providers through the social housing regulatory regime. This will ensure that all social housing tenants can access information from their landlord or be supported by others to do so such as councillors, MPs, solicitors, advocates or local journalists to support them in holding landlords to account.

21. This new access to information scheme will allow tenants or their representatives to access information related to the management of social housing held by their landlord, and also relevant information that may be held by sub-contractors. The scheme will include time limits for providing the information. It will also set out the circumstances in which a landlord may refuse to disclose information. This will be broadly aligned with the exemptions from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

22. It is important that if a tenant feels their landlord has unreasonably withheld information then they can challenge that decision. The first stage of this should be an internal review carried out by the landlord. We propose that the Housing Ombudsman will be engaged to decide on cases that have not been resolved at this first internal review stage. The Housing Ombudsman would also be able to refer suspected systemic breaches of the scheme to the regulator as it does on other matters. We will work with the Housing Ombudsman to develop this new role and agree its responsibilities.

More information on use of funds

23. To ensure openness and transparency we also want social landlords to provide clear information to show how they are making the best use of their resources. Housing associations and other private registered providers of social housing have a total annual turnover of more than £20 billion, so it is important that tenants know how this income is being used and that they are able to see whether they are getting value for money. Social landlords should welcome scrutiny of whether they are using resources in the most efficient and effective way, including in their approach to executive remuneration and employment costs.

24. We will work with the Regulator of Social Housing to ensure all social landlords provide a clear breakdown of how their income is being spent. This needs to be in an accessible format so tenants can see how funds are being spent and can challenge whether money is being spent on the things that matter to them. We will work with the sector to explore best practice on the use of apps to make this information more accessible to tenants.

Clear leadership in landlords to deliver a quality service

25. We want it to be clear to tenants who, in the leadership of their landlord, is responsible for ensuring good quality customer service. We therefore expect the Regulator of Social Housing to require that all landlords identify a 'responsible person' who will ensure that the organisation is complying with consumer standards (see paragraph 65). This person will be key to ensuring landlords deliver good quality customer service and drive culture change where it is needed. The regulator will introduce this measure as part of a broader requirement for landlords to provide greater clarity on the roles and responsibilities of senior level staff. We will expect the regulator to implement these requirements through changes to its consumer standards.

26. There should be such a 'responsible person' identified in every landlord, regardless of size or type. Given the diverse nature of the sector, it should be for landlords to decide who is best placed to fulfil this function. What is essential is that responsibility must rest with an individual person at a suitably senior level within the landlord's organisation to drive change and unite the organisation behind delivering good customer service; and that this person must be clearly identified to tenants, the regulator and the Housing Ombudsman. For example, this might be a senior executive within a local authority or large housing association, or the Chief Executive of a small housing association.

Chapter 3: To have your complaints dealt with promptly and fairly
Since it was created in 1996, the Housing Ombudsman has been delivering a vital service to ensure disputes are resolved and residents receive redress where appropriate. We are clear that residents should be able to raise concerns without fear and get swift and effective resolution when they do. We heard from some residents that making a complaint can be difficult and take too long - and that it can sometimes take months for the complaint to be resolved, or for the resident to be able to access the Housing Ombudsman. This chapter sets out how we will fix that. We have already: We will:

Support improved complaint handling by landlords and hold them to account through stronger action by the Housing Ombudsman.

Keep the Housing Ombudsman's powers, and compliance with them, under review and consider ways to strengthen them, including the option of legislation to put the Complaint Handling Code on a statutory footing.

Run an awareness campaign so social housing residents know their rights, are confident in navigating their routes to complain, and are aware of how to escalate to get redress where needed.

Ensure lessons are learned and maintain residents' confidence in the Housing Ombudsman Service through the appointment by the Ombudsman of an independent reviewer by March 2021 to examine any complaints made about the service that the Housing Ombudsman provides.

Formalise and strengthen the relationship between the Regulator of Social Housing and the Housing Ombudsman by introducing a statutory requirement for both bodies to co-operate with each other in undertaking their responsibilities in holding landlords to account.

Make the Housing Ombudsman a statutory consultee for any proposal concerning changes to the Regulator of Social Housing's economic and consumer standards.

Make the Regulator of Social Housing a statutory consultee for any changes to the Housing Ombudsman Scheme.

From March 2021, publish on the Housing Ombudsman's website, reports on the complaints the Housing Ombudsman has handled for individual landlords, as well as the determinations on individual cases.

Standards that ensure residents get effective resolution and redress

27. Landlords have a key role to play in ensuring their residents know how to make complaints and can do so confidently. They must do this as one of the conditions of membership of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. The Scheme sets out how residents' complaints about landlords are investigated by the Housing Ombudsman.

28. To ensure that complaints handling is taken as seriously as it should be, the Housing Ombudsman has published a new Complaint Handling Code. This promotes consistency across landlords' complaints procedures and learning from complaints to drive service improvements. The new Code sets out what residents can expect from their landlord when they complain, how to make a complaint and how to progress it through the landlord's complaints procedure. The Code emphasises the importance of resident involvement in complaint handling through the formation of resident panels. Landlords have been asked to self-assess against the Code by 31 December 2020 and publish the results. Non- compliance with the Code could result in the Housing Ombudsman issuing complaint handling failure orders which will outline the details of any failure, be notified to the landlord's governance body, the responsible person or the Regulator of Social Housing ("the regulator") and be published on the Ombudsman's website. The Housing Ombudsman has published guidance on these new orders that will be implemented from 1 January 2021.

29. To support this change, we have approved new powers for the Housing Ombudsman to identify best practice, outlined in the new Code, with which landlords will be expected to comply (see Box C: The Housing Ombudsman). In addition, the strengthened Housing Ombudsman Scheme includes new requirements on landlords to publish their complaints procedures on their websites and in correspondence to residents, and to deal with complaints in accordance with published procedures or within a reasonable timeframe.

Box C: The Housing Ombudsman

The Housing Ombudsman plays a key role in helping social housing residents access effective redress when things go wrong. The Housing Ombudsman resolves disputes involving residents and leaseholders with social landlords (The Housing Ombudsman's role is set out in the legislation (Housing Act 1996) and the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. As at 31 March 2020, 2,303 landlords were members of the Scheme). It supports residents and landlords to resolve issues within landlords' own complaints processes. The service is free for residents and is independent and impartial.

Social housing residents can seek early resolution, advice and support from the Housing Ombudsman Service at any time to help resolve an issue or complaint with their landlord. They can also formally refer to the Housing Ombudsman an unresolved complaint that has already been through a landlord's complaints process.

Resolving complaints more quickly

Accelerating resolution of complaints by landlords

30. We want to see landlords putting things right for residents as quickly as possible before the Housing Ombudsman has to be involved. Residents told us that some complaints took weeks, and even months, for landlords to resolve. We also heard the experiences of residents who had been delayed in accessing the Housing Ombudsman Service as landlords' complaints processes were slow and ineffective. To tackle this, landlords will be required to comply with the Housing Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code, ensuring that they have good processes in place to respond swiftly and effectively to complaints.

31. Resolving complaints within a landlord's own process can provide quicker outcomes for residents than a formal investigation by the Housing Ombudsman and can improve relationships between residents and landlords. The Housing Ombudsman can help to support the resolution of disputes before they reach the formal investigation stage. In 2019/20, 80% of complaints and enquiries were closed at this early stage by the Housing Ombudsman without needing to go onto further, formal investigation. We want the Housing Ombudsman to use its increased resources to support improved complaint handling by landlords and to resolve a greater proportion of formal complaints quickly using mediation. The Housing Ombudsman's new Complaint Handling Code will help support this culture change and will set clearer expectations for landlords on their complaints handling process.

32. New powers are also in place for the Housing Ombudsman to intervene when landlords are unreasonably slow in resolving complaints. Where landlords do not act, in addition to the Housing Ombudsman issuing complaint handling failure orders, the regulator will be able take firm action where necessary where there is evidence of systemic failings and a breach of the consumer standards. The Housing Ombudsman will be able to investigate potential systemic failings and refer the outcome to the landlord's board or elected members, to the 'responsible person' or to the regulator. The Housing Ombudsman will also identify and recommend best practice to landlords, helping to improve services and prevent residents experiencing similar issues. We will keep the Housing Ombudsman's powers, and compliance with them, under review and consider ways to strengthen them, including the option of legislation putting the Complaint Handling Code on a statutory footing.

Accelerating redress through the Housing Ombudsman

33. We also want to see the Housing Ombudsman deciding cases more quickly to ensure residents are not waiting months for resolution. The Housing Ombudsman aims to halve the average determination time for complaints formally referred over the next two years: first to 4-5 months by March 2021, then to 3-4 months by March 2022. We have agreed increased resourcing through the 2020/21 Business Plan which will result in a more efficient dispute resolution service. To make this work, it is critical that the Housing Ombudsman has prompt access to the evidence it needs to make fair and timely decisions. Delays in landlords providing the necessary information can slow residents' access to redress.

34. That is why we have ensured that a strengthened Housing Ombudsman Scheme and a new Code on complaint handling gives the Housing Ombudsman stronger powers to require landlords to provide the information it needs within a reasonable timeframe. This will deliver quicker decisions and reduce determination times. From 2021 the Housing Ombudsman will use new powers to issue a complaint handling failure order to take appropriate action to progress a complaint if a landlord fails to provide the information as expected.

35. There is high compliance with the orders made by the Housing Ombudsman, with the majority requiring landlords to comply with inside 3 months. Where there is non-compliance, the Housing Ombudsman has the power to refer this to the regulator. From 2021, the Housing Ombudsman will also be able to issue complaint handling failure orders where handling failures by landlords are identified. These will be published on a quarterly basis, highlighting the names of the landlords and reasons for the orders. This information will also be shared with the regulator, will form part of the Housing Ombudsman's annual landlord performance reports and will be available on the Housing Ombudsman's website.

36. To ensure residents' confidence in the Housing Ombudsman Service is maintained, the Housing Ombudsman will appoint an independent reviewer by March 2021, to examine a sample of complaints made about the service the Housing Ombudsman provides. The Housing Ombudsman Service will publish the independent reviewer's findings, including where the Housing Ombudsman needs to improve performance and learn from outcomes.

Awareness campaign

37. These changes will speed up complaints handling for residents and ensure action when needed. But in too many cases we have heard that landlords' complaints processes are complex and that it is not always clear how to make a complaint. Many residents do not know how to approach the Housing Ombudsman Service and are unfamiliar with the role played by the regulator.

38. We want to make sure residents are aware of all routes open to them to raise concerns and feel confident using them. We will run an awareness campaign so social housing residents know their rights, are confident in navigating their routes to complain, and are aware of how to escalate to get redress where needed. We will work with residents, landlords, the Housing Ombudsman Service, and other organisations to ensure that the campaign is as far reaching as possible. We also expect the Housing Ombudsman Service and the regulator to do more to ensure people living in social housing know about the services they provide.

39. The Housing Ombudsman's new Complaint Handling Code states that landlord's complaints policy should be widely publicised through as many routes as possible - for example through social media channels, in leaflets, newsletters, online and as part of regular correspondence with residents. This will be extended in future updates of the Code to require social landlords to prominently display other information including posters, for residents in their offices or shared residential areas.

Removing barriers to accessing redress for social housing

40. Currently, social housing residents who want to formally escalate unresolved complaints to the Housing Ombudsman face additional hurdles compared to consumers accessing other redress schemes. Residents have to raise their issue with a Member of Parliament, a local councillor or a designated tenant panel who will, if appropriate, refer it to the Housing Ombudsman (a step known as the 'democratic filter'), or wait eight weeks from the landlord's complaint process ending.

41. It is clear that the 'democratic filter' delays formal resolution of complaints and may put people off seeking redress altogether - particularly those who are vulnerable or feel less confident in navigating the process. We heard about the problems this creates for people living in social housing. During 2019/20, only 6.9% of the cases entering the Housing Ombudsman's formal remit were referred to them by a designated person. We want people living in social housing to be able to access swift and effective resolution and not face unnecessary barriers. We have set out in the Building Safety Bill our proposal to remove the requirement for complaints to pass through the 'democratic filter'.

The previous social housing complaints process

1. Resident has an issue with their home.

2. Resident complains to the landlord. (Landlords have independent complaints systems - no code issued by Ombudsman.)

3. Landlord decides outcome (Finish: Complaint resolved by landlord).

4. Resident still unhappy and contacts MP, Councillor or Tenants Panel for support (Finish: Complaint resolved by local MP, Councillor or Designated Person).

5. Designated Person sends the unresolved housing complaint onto the Ombudsman.

6. Housing Ombudsman resolves through mediation or starts investigation. (Increasing caseloads means the Housing Ombudsman needs 50% budget increase to increase its capacity.)

7. Housing Ombudsman formally investigates. (Some landlords can be slow to respond to requests for information.)

8. Finish: Housing Ombudsman decision on complaint and remedy.

Alternatively, after step 3:

Resident still unhappy but chooses not to refer to MP, Councillor or Tenants Panel.

Resident waits 8 weeks before they can formally submit their complaint to the Housing Ombudsman.

Process follows step 6 above.

The new social housing complaints process

1. Resident unhappy and raises complaint. (Better information available for residents to know how to complain.)

2. Resident complains to the landlord. (Housing Ombudsman's new Complaint Handling Code means improved complaint handling.)

3. Landlord keeps tenants informed on progress.

4. Landlord decides outcome (Finish: Complaint resolved by landlord).

5. Resident unhappy and goes directly to the Ombudsman.

6. Housing Ombudsman considers mediation or investigation. (Housing Ombudsman's new powers and resources help investigation and requires timely evidence.)

7. Housing Ombudsman formally investigates. (Housing Ombudsman stronger powers means quicker decisions.)

8. Finish: Housing Ombudsman decision on complaint and remedy.

Co-operation and transparency will ensure landlords are accountable for their performance on resolving complaints

42. The Housing Ombudsman has set higher standards for landlord effectiveness and speed to improve complaints handling for residents by raising the conditions of membership of its scheme. All social landlords must by law be a member of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. The Scheme sets the standards that landlords must meet in terms of publishing complaints procedures, managing complaints in accordance with procedure or within a reasonable timescale, and providing copies of any information requested by the Housing Ombudsman which it believes is relevant to the complaint.

43. From March 2021 the Housing Ombudsman will publish the details of cases it has determined on its website, and data on individual landlords' complaint volumes, categories and outcomes. This will support the new tenant satisfaction measures the regulator is developing on complaints handling. It will ensure social housing residents can better hold their landlords to account on the way they handle complaints. This information will be used, alongside other data provided by the Housing Ombudsman, to help inform the regulator's assurance of landlords' compliance with its consumer standards, and any actions that may result from a failure to meet these.

44. Effective co-operation and joint working between the Housing Ombudsman and the regulator is vital to hold landlords to account for their performance on resolving complaints. In September 2020 the Memorandum of Understanding between the two organisations was broadened, setting out how this co-operation and joint working takes place.

45. We will formalise and further strengthen the relationship between the Regulator of Social Housing and the Housing Ombudsman by introducing a statutory requirement for both bodies to co-operate with each other in undertaking their responsibilities. This will complement proposals to ensure effective co-operation between the regulator and the Building Safety Regulator on matters of building safety. We will also bring forward legislation to require the Regulator of Social Housing and Housing Ombudsman to prepare and regularly review their Memorandum of Understanding.

Stronger co-operation between the regulator and Housing Ombudsman.

1. Residents experiencing similar problems with same landlord. (Greater oversight helps drive better landlord services.)

2. Housing Ombudsman investigates and refers to the Regulator of Social Housing if appropriate. (A stronger relationship between Housing Ombudsman and Regulator of Social Housing.)

3. Regulator of Social Housing investigates if there has been a breach of consumer standards. (Legislative changes enables Regulator to investigate more cases.)

4. Finish: Regulator of Social Housing takes regulatory action if breach of standards found.

46. To make best use of the experience and expertise of the Housing Ombudsman and the regulator we will make the Housing Ombudsman a statutory consultee for any proposal concerning changes to the Regulator of Social Housing's economic and consumer standards. This will ensure the Housing Ombudsman has the opportunity to understand and shape future regulatory changes to support joint working. Likewise, we will make the Regulator of Social Housing a statutory consultee for any changes to the Housing Ombudsman Scheme.

47. The Building Safety Bill sets out that both the regulator and the Housing Ombudsman will have a power for reciprocal information sharing and a reciprocal duty of cooperation with the Building Safety Regulator covering higher-risk residential buildings. This will enable both of these organisations to work together with the Building Safety Regulator on areas of common interest to support each other in the delivery of their relevant functions or in issuing joint guidance to help explain their different but linked roles and responsibilities.

The Housing Ombudsman will engage with residents directly

48. It is important that residents can be confident in using the Housing Ombudsman Service when they need to, including those who might be isolated or vulnerable. We welcome the Housing Ombudsman Service's engagement activity, which includes a feedback group for residents to share their experiences of the Service face to face with the Housing Ombudsman. The Housing Ombudsman Service hosted weekly webinars open to residents and landlords over the summer of 2020 on the new Housing Ombudsman Scheme and Complaint Handling Code. It will organise virtual 'Meet the Ombudsman' events to coincide with the publication of quarterly insight reports, providing information on complaints data, learning points and case studies. A new Resident Panel to seek views and obtain feedback is planned from February 2021.

Chapter 4: To be treated with respect, backed by a strong consumer regulator for tenants
Regulation has supported the expansion of housing associations since the 1970s, ensuring that they are financially robust. It has been key to the success story of housing associations becoming the main deliverers of new social homes, with the sector currently able to access £100 billion in private finance to support new affordable homes[footnote 3]. But it is clear that, unlike the successful economic regulation regime, the current regime of consumer regulation is not strong enough to ensure that social landlords (both local authorities and private registered providers) deliver to the expectations set out in our new Charter. This chapter sets out how we will establish a new consumer regulation function, within the Regulator of Social Housing, that is proactive and holds all landlords to account for the services they deliver. Alongside this, we will maintain the current robust approach to economic regulation that is so important to maintaining a strong and sustainable sector. We have already:

Created a new standalone regulator, separate from the Homes and Communities Agency (now Homes England), with its own Board and Chief Executive.

Through this White Paper and working with the Regulator of Social Housing ("the regulator"), we will introduce a proactive, proportionate, outcome-focused and risk-based approach to consumer regulation.
We will:

Transform the Regulator of Social Housing so it proactively monitors and drives landlords' compliance with its consumer standards.

Remove the 'serious detriment test' and introduce routine inspections for the largest landlords (with over 1,000 homes) every 4 years.

Change the Regulator of Social Housing's objectives to explicitly cover safety and transparency, and work with it to review its consumer standards to ensure they are up to date and deliver its revised objectives.

Give the Regulator of Social Housing the power to publish a Code of Practice on the consumer standards to be clearer on what landlords are required to deliver.

Strengthen the Regulator of Social Housing's enforcement powers to tackle failing landlords and to respond to new challenges facing the sector, by removing the cap on the level of fines it can issue, introducing Performance Improvement Plans for landlords failing to comply, reducing the notice period for surveys on the condition of properties, and introducing a new power to arrange emergency repairs if needed where a survey uncovers evidence of systemic landlord failures.

Make it explicit that provisions in contracts between local authorities and Arms Length Management Organisations or Tenant Management Organisations would be deemed void if they hindered the Regulator of Social Housing in its exercise of its powers.

Review the statutory Right to Manage guidance.

Set out an expectation for all landlords to self-refer breaches with the regulatory standards.

Strengthen the Regulator of Social Housing's powers to provide robust economic regulation of private registered providers.

Require the Regulator of Social Housing to set up an Advisory Committee to provide independent and unbiased advice on discharging its functions.

49. These changes will ensure that the needs of tenants are embedded in the culture of all landlords. These reforms are informed by the review of social housing regulation and the Call for Evidence that we published alongside the social housing Green Paper. The findings of the review are set out in Annex A: Key findings and measures for changing the regulatory regime for social housing.

50. It is vital to ensure that the new consumer regulation regime is carefully designed, to make sure that it can help deliver the culture change set out in this White Paper. Some of the measures set out in this chapter will require primary legislation before they can be implemented, and we will legislate as soon as parliamentary time allows. We know that delivering the scale of reform set out in this White Paper will involve extensive engagement with the sector to make sure we are getting this right, and we will expect the regulator to consult with landlords and tenants as they design the reformed consumer regime to make sure it delivers the outcomes set out in this chapter.

Retaining co-regulation

51. The existing regulatory regime works on the basis of co-regulation. This means that it is the responsibility of the boards of housing associations and other private providers of social housing, or of councillors in local authority landlords, to be assured that they comply with the outcome focused standards set by the the regulator. The regulator will seek assurance that boards and councillors have sufficient oversight of compliance with those standards, and any regulatory intervention must be justified and proportionate. Economic regulation is working well, and our review has shown that landlords and investors share that view. We recommend that the Regulator of Social Housing retains the principle of co-regulation, as it ensures that the focus is on driving good outcomes for existing and future tenants and that the fundamental responsibility for effective service delivery lies with local authorities, housing associations and other private registered providers.

There will be a new regime for regulating social housing

52. An earlier review of regulation, in 2010, led to the adoption of a reactive approach to consumer regulation for housing associations, local authorities and other private registered providers. This means that currently the regulator does not proactively scrutinise landlord compliance or routinely monitor performance - it only acts when issues are bought to its attention. This risks serious systemic failures against consumer standards being uncovered at a late stage.

53. At present the regulator can only use its powers to tackle a breach of a consumer standard when it has reasonable grounds to suspect that:

the failure has resulted in a serious detriment to the landlord's tenants (or potential tenants);

there is a significant risk that, if no action is taken by the regulator, the failure will result in a serious detriment to the landlord's tenants (or potential tenants);

if a failure occurs, the failure will result in a serious detriment to the landlord's tenants (or potential tenants); or

if a failure occurs, there will be a significant risk that, if no action is taken by the regulator, the failure will result in a serious detriment to the landlord's tenants (or potential tenants).

This is referred to as the 'serious detriment test'. The regulator interprets serious detriment as being where there is a risk of, or actual, serious harm to tenants.

54. In contrast, for economic regulation the regulator takes a proactive, proportionate and risk-based approach to regulating its economic standards. It actively monitors all landlords by regularly collecting financial data and it carries out periodic in-depth assessments based on the relative risk profile of landlords.

55. Through consultation following the social housing Green Paper and the Call for Evidence we heard strong support for a more proactive approach to consumer regulation to achieve parity with economic regulation. We agree that the social housing sector would benefit from a more balanced approach which ensures that there is a similar level of regulatory oversight of both the consumer and economic standards. Introducing routine inspections of landlords can and will play an important role in delivering this more balanced approach. This will give tenants confidence that their landlord is being properly scrutinised, and will ensure that tenants know that protecting their interests is at the heart of the regulatory system.

56. We will work with the Regulator of Social Housing to introduce a proactive, proportionate, outcome focused and risk-based approach to consumer regulation. To achieve this, we will:

Legislate to remove the 'serious detriment test' as soon as parliamentary time allows, to eliminate barriers to the Regulator of Social Housing adopting a proactive approach to monitoring and oversight of landlord performance on consumer issues.

Work with the Regulator of Social Housing to strengthen its oversight by introducing a system of routine inspections to obtain assurance from landlords that they are complying with the consumer standards. This will be based on a risk profile to ensure that those landlords at greatest risk of failing, or where failure might have the greatest impact on tenants, are subject to greater oversight. As part of this we expect the Regulator of Social Housing, subject to meeting any wider priorities, to aim to inspect those landlords with over 1,000 homes every 4 years. It may carry out inspections at more frequent intervals where a routine inspection finds a breach or significant risk of a breach of its standards.

Expect the Regulator of Social Housing to undertake specific, reactive investigations and/or inspections where appropriate. This could be when a serious potential compliance breach has been brought to its attention by tenants (such as systemic failure to act on fire risk assessment recommendations); by the Housing Ombudsman through its new powers to investigate potential systemic issues; or if the regulator wants to carry out bespoke inspections.

Expect the Regulator of Social Housing to be transparent where a landlord is found non-compliant with its standards, by publishing its findings from its inspections and investigations and the details of any enforcement action it will take. We will also expect the regulator to be clear where, following routine inspections, it is assured that a landlord is compliant with the standards.

57. It is for the regulator to decide the most appropriate approach to delivering these requirements, but we will expect it to engage with tenants and landlords in designing the new approach as well as:

Being clear on how it will determine which landlords to inspect, and how it will meet the aim to routinely inspect those with over 1,000 homes every 4 years.

Setting out the different approaches to inspections and likely notice periods involved.

Box D: Proactive and reactive inspections

Inspections will be an important source of assurance that social landlords (local authorities and private registered providers) are complying with the consumer standards. Subject to consultation with tenants, landlords and other stakeholders, these are likely to involve three key stages:

1. A desk-top review to analyse information that the regulator obtains from a number of sources to identify landlords that are at risk of potential systemic non-compliance with the consumer standards. The review will be carried out once a year for all registered landlords. Information may come from a number of sources, including tenant satisfaction measures (about which further detail is set out above in Chapter 2), evidence of systemic issues raised by tenants or others, and information from other regulators and the Housing Ombudsman.

2. A new risk-based programme of routine inspections. This will prioritise those providers that the desk top review has identified as high risk and will seek assurance about those landlords' compliance with the consumer standards. The regulator may inspect landlords at any time and could take account of a number of factors in deciding which landlord it will investigate. This might include:

Concerns highlighted in the desk-top study, or other information which comes to the regulator's attention.

Any concerns about potential non-compliance with consumer standards arising from the regulator's economic regulation of providers.

The size of the organisation (given the scale of impacts in the largest providers).

Providers that house the most vulnerable tenants e.g. registered providers of specialised supported housing.

We expect the regulator to aim to routinely inspect those landlords with over 1,000 homes every four years and make it clear when it is reassured of a landlord's compliance with its standards.

3. Reactive investigations and/or inspections.

Such activities could take two forms:

Where specific issues arise that need to be dealt with at a faster pace and outside the planned programme of inspections.

Focused inspections to examine assurance of one or more landlord's compliance in delivering a specific service to tenants.

Where there is a clear case of non-compliance following a routine or reactive inspection, the regulator will publish the outcome of its inspection and take appropriate enforcement action. In the case of breaches by housing associations and other private registered providers, the regulator may go further and seek assurance about the adequacy of the governance arrangements.

58. We also heard from both tenants and landlords that they would like the regulator to be clearer in its expectations of landlords. To deliver this, we will legislate to give the Regulator of Social Housing a power to publish a Code of Practice on the consumer standards alongside its existing ability to prepare Codes of Practice for economic standards. The Regulator of Social Housing will review all its consumer standards to ensure they remain up-to-date and deliver its statutory objectives. As part of its review we will expect the Regulator of Social Housing to make it clear that landlords should have a policy setting out how they should tackle issues surrounding domestic abuse, working with other agencies as appropriate; and to require landlords to show how they have sought out and considered ways to improve tenant engagement.

Putting safety at the heart of social housing regulation

59. As we have made clear throughout this White Paper, the safety of tenants is paramount and should be the primary concern of all landlords. Specialist health and safety bodies, such as the Fire and Rescue Services and the Health and Safety Executive, are the main bodies in dealing with any incident and enforcement of an incident caused by a breach of safety legislation. In addition, local authorities have a duty under the Housing Act 2004 to take action if they identify a serious 'category 1' hazard in homes owned by housing associations and other private registered providers. However, the regulator also plays a role in holding landlords to account for meeting health and safety legislation through compliance with its regulatory standards. We will reinforce this role by strengthening the Regulator of Social Housing's consumer regulation objective to explicitly include safety.

60. Driving and embedding culture change throughout organisations is the collective responsibility of Boards and, in the case of local authorities, councillors. However, these arrangements are not always visible to tenants. It can be difficult to find out who in a large organisation tenants can hold to account for the safety of their homes. Experience in other sectors demonstrates that regulation is important in building a culture of transparency and accountability within organisations.

For example, in financial services, the introduction of a Senior Managers & Certification Regime has driven a culture change in risk management across the sector.

61. We will require all landlords to have a person within the organisation responsible for compliance with their statutory health and safety responsibilities. This person should be visible and accessible to tenants. As such, we will legislate to require landlords to identify and make public a nominated person responsible for compliance with their health and safety requirements. The health and safety responsible person should be sufficiently senior to drive a culture of safety throughout the landlord organisation, and would have specific responsibility for issues such as:

62. These reforms will drive a whole culture change and system transformation, strengthening the relationship between the regulator and the Housing Ombudsman and ensuring effective working between them and the Building Safety Regulator. Through the Building Safety Bill, we are introducing a legal requirement for the regulator and Building Safety Regulator to co-operate with each other on matters of fire and building safety, to help embed a culture of working together. We will go further by expecting the Regulator of Social Housing to prepare a Memorandum of Understanding with the Health and Safety Executive, once the Building Safety Regulator is created, to underpin provisions in the Building Safety Bill as necessary to ensure that they can share information effectively.

Making social landlords more transparent and accountable

63. We have been clear how greater transparency is essential so that tenants are able to hold their landlord to account. The regulatory regime plays a key role in making this happen.

64. Landlords are already required to provide their tenants with certain information. We want to see a culture change that ensures landlords are more open with their tenants. This will enable tenants to hold their landlords to account, and also to monitor and compare their landlord's performance. The failure of some landlords to share information in a clear, consistent way not only deprives tenants of the ability to assess how their landlord is performing. It can also undermine the tenant's trust in what their landlord is saying.

65. To deliver this outcome, we will make a number of changes through the regulatory regime:

We will legislate to add transparency to the Regulator of Social Housing's consumer regulation objective.

Landlords will be required to report on a number of tenant satisfaction measures on things that matter to tenants (see paragraphs 15-18 above, and Box A: Draft Tenant Satisfaction Measures). We will expect the regulator to develop a process for collecting and publishing these tenant satisfaction measures in a consistent way that is comparable across landlords. The tenant satisfaction measures will give people living in social housing information about how their landlord is performing and support the regulator's monitoring of landlords' performance.

We expect the Regulator of Social Housing to require all landlords to identify a 'responsible person' who will ensure that the organisation is complying with consumer standards so that tenants know who is responsible for ensuring compliance with the regulator's consumer standards (see paragraphs 25).

We will ensure the new access to information scheme for social housing tenants of housing associations and other private registered providers is placed on a regulatory footing (see paragraphs 20-22). This will ensure that tenants can access key information on issues that matter to them in a timely manner, unless there is good reason for this information not to be provided.

Strengthening the regulator's powers to enforce

66. The regulator currently has a range of powers on enforcement and has published guidance on how it will regulate to ensure landlords comply with its regulatory standards. To date the regulator has used its formal enforcement powers infrequently for breaches of the consumer standards. Often the threat of taking action is sufficient to drive change without needing to take formal action.

67. Removal of the 'serious detriment test', combined with a more proactive approach to consumer regulation, will remove barriers to the regulator making full use of its monitoring, investigation and enforcement powers. We will go further and also legislate to:

Enable the Regulator of Social Housing to require a Performance Improvement Plan for landlords who fail to comply with a consumer standard. This approach will enable tenants to be aware of what action their landlords will carry out and when, and challenge the landlord if it fails to meet these requirements.

Reduce the notice period that the Regulator of Social Housing must give a landlord to survey the condition of properties from 28 days to 2 days. The regulator is most likely to use this power in emergency situations when investigating whether tenants are living in unacceptable or unsafe conditions. Reducing the period of notice aligns with the emphasis on protecting tenants, and will enable the regulator to assess properties more quickly and take decisive action if required.

Enable the Regulator of Social Housing, following completion of a survey, to arrange repairs of dwellings in an emergency where there is clear systemic failure by the landlord. We will also legislate so the regulator can recoup the costs from the landlord. This will allow swift action, where other regulatory interventions have not addressed the problem, in the unacceptable situation where tenants are forced to live with the consequences of significant and unwarranted delays to emergency repairs.

Remove the requirement for the Regulator of Social Housing to seek approval from the Secretary of State before employing its own staff to carry out inspections for breaches of the consumer standards. This is unnecessarily bureaucratic and should be removed in light of changes to consumer regulation set out in this White Paper.

Remove the cap on the level of fines the Regulator of Social Housing is able to issue. This will give greater flexibility to determine the appropriate sanction depending on the circumstances, and bring the regulator's power more into line with other regulatory bodies (such as those in the finance or environment sectors).

Local Authorities, Arms Length Management Organisations and Tenant Management Organisations will also be held to account

68. Social tenants should receive the same level of service, regardless of who their landlord is. The regulator currently has limited interaction with local authorities as they are not subject to the governance and viability standard or the value for money standard. The changes set out to deliver proactive oversight of consumer standards will provide the regulator with greater oversight of the performance of local authorities' landlord function.

69. Local authorities sometimes contract out the management of some or all of their homes to Arms Length Management Organisations. Council tenants can also create Tenant Management Organisations to manage the housing themselves. Local authorities remain the landlord for housing managed by such organisations and are responsible for ensuring these homes meet the regulator's consumer standards.

70. Contractual arrangements between local authority landlords and Arms Length Management Organisations should not create barriers to the regulator using its powers. Local authorities that contract out management services to Arms Length Management Organisations should ensure their agreements with arm's length bodies do not prevent the regulator from acting in the event of non- compliance with the consumer standards. We will legislate to make it explicit that provisions in contracts between local authorities and Arms Length Management Organisations or Tenant Management Organisations would be deemed void if they hindered the Regulator of Social Housing in its exercise of its powers. Ahead of this, we will ask all local authorities that contract out social housing management services to review their contracts to ensure they do not hinder the Regulator of Social Housing in its exercise of its powers.

71. Tenant Management Organisations are formed when council tenants exercise their Right to Manage. The Right to Manage Regulations set the statutory framework to establish a Tenant Management Organisation. The regulations are supported by statutory guidance including the Modular Management Agreement which sets out the arrangements governing the relationship between local authorities and Tenant Management Organisations.

72. We heard of good work that some Tenant Management Organisations do in delivering services and additional benefits to their communities. We also heard that the guidance could be clearer on the responsibilities of Tenant Management Organisations and local authorities. In order to ensure good management across the whole sector and to ensure oversight of Tenant Management Organisations is effective and transparent, we will review the statutory Right to Manage guidance. We will work with an expert steering group of those with knowledge of the sector to support this work.

73. There is a requirement in the regulator's governance standard for housing associations and other private providers of social housing to self-refer non-compliance with all the regulatory standards. This does not currently apply to local authorities as they are not subject to the regulator's governance standard. We will work with the Regulator of Social Housing to set out an expectation for local authorities to self-refer breaches of the consumer standards to ensure that issues of concern to tenants are dealt with as quickly as possible.

The regulator will have the right leadership for its new role

74. We have heard that many tenants' trust in the regulatory regime has been shaken, particularly following the tragedy at Grenfell Tower. The way the regulator was set up meant that it is currently not empowered to proactively monitor compliance with consumer standards, and therefore it has not been easily visible to tenants.

75. We want to see a transformed consumer regulatory regime which holds landlords to account in maintaining good quality homes and services, prioritising safety, treating tenants respectfully and being transparent with information. It will build the links between economic and consumer regulation - giving the regulator a full, rather than partial view of the landlord.

76. We believe that creating a new consumer regulation function within the existing regulator is the best approach to deliver this change for tenants. Creating a separate regulator would not be as effective, preventing failures on the consumer standards feeding into wider governance standards and creating a more complex system. This complexity could mean that tenants would not know where to raise evidence of organisational failure and breaches of the consumer standards, and would increase the risk that issues would fall through the cracks between regulators.

77. In order to deliver transformative change in consumer regulation the regulator not only has to have the right powers, but also needs people with the right skills to deliver it, while retaining wider capability to deliver across all its activities. A strong team will still be needed to deliver the economic regulation regime. We will enable an entirely new function within the Regulator of Social Housing to be set up, with senior leadership and staff with the right expertise in consumer regulation, customer service and tenant engagement to effectively deliver the new proactive consumer regulation regime.

78. Rebuilding trust will take time and we have already taken steps. On 1 October 2018 the Government created a new standalone regulator, separate from the Homes and Communities Agency (now Homes England) with its own Board and Chief Executive. The regulator now presents its own annual report to Parliament. The regulator's Chief Executive, as the accounting officer, is required, when called, to give evidence before the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee and the relevant Select Committee. As a standalone regulator it has greater transparency and clearer accountability.

79. The changes being proposed will transform the way in which consumer regulation is conducted and we will expect the Regulator of Social Housing to develop a strategy for appropriate and ongoing publicity to make tenants aware of what it does and how to get in touch. We will also expect the regulator to be more transparent in how it works and to have greater engagement with tenants.

80. It is important that the regulator has the right level of oversight to embed the enhanced consumer regulation role in its organisation. It is also important that the people providing this oversight bring a diversity of thought, background and experience, to better reflect the diverse needs and views of social tenants. To facilitate this, we will:

Broaden the skills mix and diversity of Board Members, ensuring that more Board Members have consumer regulation experience.

Work with the Regulator of Social Housing to make sure it is resourced and able to recruit the right new staff with diverse backgrounds and skills, including at senior levels.

Legislate to require the Regulator of Social Housing to set up an Advisory Committee to provide independent and unbiased advice to the regulator on discharging its functions. This committee will not be a decision-making body, but the regulator will be expected to seek its views on specific regulatory matters - such as on any changes to its consumer or economic standards or making the regulator a more transparent organisation. These changes will support the transformative change needed and build trust with tenants and social landlords across England.

Robust economic regulation will be maintained

81. With an increasing consumer regulatory focus, it is important that we retain the current robust focus on economic regulation. Economic regulation ensures landlords are well-run and financially sound, to be sure that tenants' homes are secure for the long term and that landlords can fund repairs and deliver effective services. Robust economic regulation has also reassured investors and given them confidence to invest considerable sums to help build new homes.

82. Through the Call for Evidence we heard that the economic regulatory framework is working effectively. Some respondents (particularly landlords) expressed concern about how changes to consumer regulation could dilute the strong economic focus. They were concerned that the skills and resources of the regulator would be stretched to deliver an expanded regulatory remit, weakening the economic regime and undermining the new consumer regime. By ensuring the resources the regulator needs to deliver proactive consumer regulation are additional and that the people doing it have the appropriate skills, we will ensure that robust economic regulation is maintained.

Adapting to new challenges

83. The Call for Evidence specifically asked about areas of economic regulation that might not be working or may face future challenges. Most respondents did not specify areas in which regulation should change. Rather, they identified potential risks to its effectiveness. These aligned with the regulator's own assessment of sector risk and where the greatest challenges were likely to be going forward. These are:

Sector diversity and development risk;

New business models (for example lease- based providers of supported housing);

The impact of for-profit providers on the sector and tenants;

The potential impact on economic regulation of changes to consumer regulation.

84. The social housing sector has changed significantly over recent years. The regulator has adapted its approach to keep ahead of these changes. Its annual Sector Risk Profile which sets out the range of strategic and financial challenges facing the social housing sector is valued by providers.

85. In terms of sector diversity and development risk, the regulator actively highlights areas where it believes risks are increasing. The regulator is using its oversight and regulatory powers to assess the risks associated with lease-based models. It has set out the challenges commonly associated with this business model in its addendum to its Sector Risk Profile and signalled clearly that it will continue to do all it can to protect tenants' homes and, where possible, keep them in the social rented sector.

86. For-profit providers have existed in the social housing sector for some time, and their presence has increased significantly in the last two years. There are clearly opportunities brought by new and increased sources of investment to fund social housing. These providers can bring with them new ideas and ways of working that could present opportunities for specialisation, operating or financial efficiencies, and improved quality for tenants. In response to the Call for Evidence we heard some concerns that profit maximisation could result in a poor service to tenants. As the for-profit sector continues to grow, we will continue work to ensure we understand its impact properly. However, the reforms to consumer regulation set out above will address the risk of poor service delivery for all providers, with new tenant satisfaction measures and a new inspection regime driving landlords to deliver high quality services to tenants.

87. We have concluded it is not necessary to make significant changes to the economic regulation regime at this time. However, we will continue to consider whether there are any further refinements to the existing regulatory framework that are necessary to retain robust economic regulation.

88. There are some changes that can be made to the legislation to improve the ability of the Regulator of Social Housing to monitor all housing associations and other private registered providers. We will:

Tighten the definition of 'non-profit' in relation to the registration of private registered providers to ensure landlords are properly classified and treated - for example, to ensure that the regulator properly designates providers, and that bodies really operating for profit do not attract the more favourable housing benefit status for supported housing.

Require landlords to notify the Regulator of Social Housing when there is a change in control of a housing association.

Introduce a 'look-through' power that would enable the regulator to follow money paid to bodies outside of the regulated sector and who are therefore not directly regulated. The power would, for example, enable the regulator to investigate potential fraud by examining the financial accounts of organisations thought to be financially benefiting from a registered provider. We will consider further the checks and safeguards needed so that there is no misuse of the power on organisations or individuals that are not part of the regulated sector.

Chapter 5: To have your voice heard by your landlord
The best landlords engage well with their residents and listen to them with respect. We have recently seen many examples of effective engagement with residents on how their homes are managed and run. This includes the Right to Manage initiative and important work done by tenant led organisations such as the Tenant Participation Advisory Service and the See the Person campaign. It also includes work many landlords did during COVID-19. But performance across the sector is not consistent. We heard from residents how important it was their landlords really listened to them. And we heard examples of residents feeling patronised, ignored or treated with disrespect. We want to change this. This chapter explains how we will ensure residents are heard. We will:
Improving landlord engagement

89. Engagement can take many forms, but the crucial factor is that it is tailored appropriately. There will be tenants who want to proactively engage with the policies of their landlord, and others who simply want to know that their landlord is thinking of them in the way it implements change and is keeping them informed. We expect all landlords to tailor their engagement in the future.

90. We want to see landlords inform and engage tenants in an effective way. Many landlords do this well already, but this is not the case for all landlords. Engagement opportunities can range from involvement in surveys, focus groups and local events to membership of the organisation's Board or scrutiny panel. Important sector-led initiatives, such as the National Housing Federation's 'Together with Tenants' campaign, are also playing a key role in making organisations more transparent and accessible. We want to build on this and embed a culture of continuous improvement in landlords' approach to tenant engagement. We want to ensure that they do more to draw on and learn from best practice on engagement, including from other sectors. We will expect the Regulator of Social Housing to require landlords to show how they have sought out and considered ways to improve tenant engagement.

Resident Empowerment

91. The conversations we have had with residents in creating this White Paper have been fundamental to our understanding of what is important to people living in social housing. We will commit to ongoing ministerial engagement to continue to listen to residents and enable them to have their voices heard. This will ensure residents are kept at the heart of future policymaking and can continue to shape social housing.

92. To support residents to engage effectively, we will deliver a new opportunities and empowerment programme open to all social housing residents, to support their effective engagement with landlords. The programme will deliver a range of learning and support activities, as well as providing information for residents on ways to get involved, including their opportunities and rights to do this. Through this work, residents will be given the tools to better influence and hold landlords to account and drive delivery of higher quality services that are focused on their needs. We will work with tenant led national bodies to set out a plan for how best we can support residents to take part in scrutiny activities which are so important in holding their landlord to account.

Tackling Loneliness

93. Engagement is more than just resident involvement with landlords. It is also about engaging with your neighbours and community. Tackling loneliness and supporting people to have meaningful social relationships is crucial to people's physical and mental health. Social housing residents have a similar age profile to all households but are more likely to be living alone, or to be lone parents, than those in other tenures. They may face more challenges in combating loneliness.

94. In response to COVID-19, the Government launched a major effort to ensure that no one feels lonely. This included the latest #LetsTalkLoneliness public campaign, including new public guidance offering useful tips and advice, and a £5 million fund for national loneliness organisations. A 'Tackling Loneliness Network' of over 65 high-profile private, public and voluntary sector organisations was formed to bring together expertise and develop innovative actions.

95. Many landlords also responded quickly to COVID-19 by setting up teams focused on communicating with and supporting their most vulnerable residents. Although the impact of COVID-19 has paused some services as landlords have focused on the immediate challenges of the pandemic, many landlords have found ways to continue engagement through a mix of virtual meetings and telephone calls. Residents too have played an important role by being open to new ways of communication to enable them to engage with their landlord and other residents. We have seen resident led initiatives spring up, offering support to other residents and helping to tackle the loneliness that some were feeling as a result of COVID-19.

Strengthening professional development

96. Alongside giving residents the right tools and opportunities, landlords themselves will need to have the right skills and approach for engagement to really work. For most people living in social housing, their experience of dealing with landlords is with frontline staff - whether through a phone call to a customer service centre, visiting their local housing office, or engaging with contractors making repairs. When residents interact with landlords they should expect and receive a professional service from competent and empathetic staff.

97. We have heard positive experiences of landlord staff who treated residents with care and respect. But we also heard that this is not always the case, and there were incidences where people felt talked down to or ignored by staff and contractors. We want all landlord staff to act professionally, listen to their residents and, at all times, treat them with courtesy and respect.

98. To support this, we will establish a review of professional training and development to consider the appropriate qualifications and standards for social housing staff in different roles, including senior staff. Senior leaders must be able to manage their organisations effectively and drive forward cultural changes to ensure that all residents are treated with courtesy and respect. The review will be informed by a Working Group made up of residents, landlords, professional bodies and academics, which will explore the relevance and value of professional qualifications. As well as assessing professional requirements more broadly, including any specific customer service focused requirements, the review will consider best practice for delivering support on mental health to ensure staff maintain their skills and knowledge and, if required, set out proposals for new qualifications.

Chapter 6: To have a good quality home and neighbourhood to live in
Creating well designed, decent homes and good neighbourhoods has been at the heart of developing social housing from the outset. Early local authority home building prioritised space and facilities, and today landlords are expected to provide decent, well-maintained homes and do their bit in keeping neighbourhoods safe and clean. We heard from our discussions with residents and the responses to the social housing Green Paper how important it was that the areas where they lived were decent and well maintained. People talked to us of their pride in their community, but how sometimes this was let down by poor neighbourhood management, upkeep of buildings and the quality of shared spaces. Some of these issues have been magnified by COVID-19; some residents have struggled to find green spaces to exercise and others have experienced isolation, loneliness and the challenge of dealing with anti-social behaviour. We want to change this and ensure that all social housing residents can enjoy good neighbourhoods and access to green space. This chapter sets out how we will ensure good quality, decent homes and neighbourhoods, including access to green space and support for wellbeing. We have already:

Announced the Green Homes Grant for 2020/21, which social landlords are eligible to bid for, which will fund up to two thirds of the cost of hiring tradespeople to upgrade the energy performance of homes.

Announced a £50 million demonstrator project to support the decarbonisation of social housing over 2020/21.

Published our 25 Year Environment Plan committing to connect people with the environment to improve health and wellbeing.

Encouraged developments that promote health and wellbeing through the National Planning Policy Framework and National Design Guide.

Announced a consultation through the Planning for the Future White Paper on proposals to enable more and better green space in development.

Committed to expanding access to mental health services through the NHS Long Term Plan. Our investment of a further £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 will ensure that the NHS provides high quality, evidence-based mental health services to an additional 2 million people.

Acted to tackle segregation and stigmatisation through the planning system.

We will:
The Decent Homes Standard

99. Since 2001 the Decent Homes Standard has played a key role in setting the minimum quality that social homes should be. The Decent Homes Standard sets out four criteria for evaluating decency - it requires that homes are free of serious hazards, are in a reasonable state of repair, have reasonably modern facilities and services such as kitchens and bathrooms, and have efficient heating and effective insulation.

100. In line with those areas directed by government, the Regulator of Social Housing ("the regulator") requires that social rented homes are maintained by landlords to at least the quality set out by the Government's Decent Homes Standard. Good progress has been made on ensuring homes meet the Standard. The number of social homes classified as non-decent [reduced from 20% in 2010 to 12% in 2018. The social sector has a lower proportion of homes that do not meet the Standard than the private rented and owner- occupied sectors.

101. During our consultation events, we heard that the Decent Homes Standard is no longer fully effective and does not reflect present day concerns, including on energy efficiency or safety. Some respondents told us they would like to see more investment in the locality and green spaces surrounding their home, including measures to combat crime and anti-social behaviour. The design of buildings and their surroundings can help provide safe places to live and work. We are mindful that the design of a neighbourhood or estate, and the homes within them, can also be a factor in local levels of crime and anti-social behaviour.

102. Landlords are expected to keep homes secure and protected from entry by intruders. But we recognise that we can go further. Physical measures such as CCTV, alley-gating and good quality lighting can all be effective in keeping neighbourhoods safe and secure. We want to explore how we can go further in using the Decent Homes Standard to keep residents secure and help tackle anti-social behaviour.

103. We will review the Decent Homes Standard and consider whether it needs to be updated to ensure it is delivering what is needed for safety and decency now. As a first step the review will consider the case for change. We aim to complete this part of the Review by Autumn 2021. If the evidence demonstrates that we need to revise the Standard, we will consider the strategic, economic and management case for new criteria as a second stage of the review. It is important that any changes to the Standard are affordable and deliverable. We will convene a sounding board of residents, experts, landlords and sector representatives that will review the evidence and support this work.

Box E: Review of the Decent Homes Standard

The aim of the first stage of the Decent Homes Review is to understand whether the current Decent Homes Standard is the right ask of the social housing sector today.

The review will:

Consider the fit with wider government objectives such as ensuring buildings and neighbourhoods are safe; and responding and being resilient to climate change.

Consider whether the Standard reflects present- day expectations and concerns.

Assess how far aspects of the Standard have overall had a positive impact.

Identify any unintended and undesirable consequences precipitated by the Standard.

Consider whether the Standard is practical for the sector to deliver.

Energy efficiency

104. We are committed to decarbonising our homes. Climate change is a critical global issue, and homes contribute 14% of all UK greenhouse emissions. Working to address the impact of social homes will contribute to the United Kingdom's commitment to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and help to reduce residents' energy bills. It will also contribute to our legally binding fuel poverty target and the Energy Performance Certificate Band C aspiration set out in the Clean Growth Strategy.

105. We will ensure that the Decent Homes review considers how it can work to support better energy efficiency and the decarbonisation of social homes. We recently announced the Green Homes Grant for 2020/2127 which social landlords are eligible to bid for, which will fund up to two thirds of the cost of hiring tradespeople to upgrade the energy performance of homes - up to a maximum contribution of £5,000. At the Chancellor's summer economic update, the government announced a £50m demonstrator project to start the decarbonisation of social housing over 2020/21. This will encourage innovation and help inform the design of the future Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.

Provision of green spaces

106. In addition to the responses to the social housing Green Paper's question on decent homes, COVID-19 is also showing the importance of access to safe, open and green spaces for people's wellbeing. The importance of access to green spaces for exercise and mental wellbeing is especially important for those without private gardens. In our manifesto, we set an ambition for all new streets to be lined with trees. Street trees can bring a wide range of benefits that can lead to long-term improvements in people's health, including environmental improvements related to biodiversity and climate change, and social benefits, such as encouraging increased levels of walking, improved mental health and decreased incidences of crime.

107. The government's 25 Year Environment Plan, published in January 2018, makes commitments to connect people with the environment to improve health and wellbeing. It includes a commitment to develop a National Framework of Green Infrastructure Standards, recognising the vital role that good green infrastructure can play in health and wellbeing, as well as wider benefits such as helping in nature's recovery, supporting local economies and adapting to climate change. We are bringing forward a new Framework of Green Infrastructure Standards to show what good green infrastructure looks like and to help local authorities, developers and communities to improve green infrastructure, including greenspace provision in their area.

This includes providing adequate access to high quality green space for their local communities.

108. The 25 Year Environment Plan also sets out that spending time in the natural environment can improve our mental health and feelings of wellbeing. It can reduce stress, fatigue, anxiety and depression. In support of these commitments, we will begin a project to explore how to scale up green social prescribing services in England in order to improve mental health outcomes, reduce health inequalities and reduce demand on the health and social care system.

109. We will invest over £4 million to bring together multiple partners to co-design and co-deliver this work, including the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Natural England, NHS England, Public Health England and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. We will develop four local pilots across England, which will establish what is required to scale up green social prescribing at a local level and take steps to increase patient referrals to nature-based activities. We will conduct experimental work at the national level to understand where and why there is potential for rapid growth and what interventions can support and enable scaling up.

110. The Decent Homes Standard review will also consider how improvements to communal space around social homes could make places more liveable, safe and comfortable. This will build on the regulator's existing Neighbourhood and Community consumer standard requiring landlords, working with other agencies, to keep the neighbourhood and communal areas associated with the homes they own clean and safe, and to promote social and environmental wellbeing.

111. It is crucial for all communities, including those in social housing, and for all age groups to have access to a range of open and green spaces for leisure, recreation and play. These spaces should be well defined, easily accessible and safe with high quality landscaping including trees where appropriate, to support the physical health and wellbeing for all.

112. The importance of including open space in development is clear from our planning policy and guidance. The National Planning Policy Framework encourages housing developments that promote health and wellbeing, with a high standard of amenity for existing and future users. It states that planning policies should assess the need for different types of open space in each area, and then seek to accommodate it. In their report the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission made nature one of their priority themes and noted that green spaces should be integral to the urban fabric. We welcome their recommendations and look forward to responding to their report in due course.

113. The supporting National Design Guide shows how access to high quality and attractive green infrastructure, including open spaces, can be integral to new development, to encourage physical activity and to promote health, wellbeing and social inclusion. We are working to reflect the principles of the forthcoming Framework of Green Infrastructure Standards in national planning guidance, and the Government's forthcoming guidance on producing local design codes will set out more detailed parameters for development in different types of location including the arrangement and proportions of streets and urban blocks, positioning and hierarchy of public and green spaces, placement of street trees, private amenity space such as gardens and balconies, and high quality cycling and walking provision. This guidance will apply to new development, including social housing. Guidance on producing local design codes will form part of the Government's planning practice guidance on design quality to support the National Planning Policy Framework and can be used to guide decisions for planning applications.

114. The Planning for the Future White Paper also includes a proposal by government to enable more and better green space in development. The consultation closed on 29 October. Following consideration of the consultation responses, the Government will publish a response in due course.

Supporting positive mental and physical health

115. We know that around 24% of working age disabled people live in social housing. It is therefore vital that these people get the support they need. In 2020/21 we have provided a total of £505 million for the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG). This capital grant, administered by local authorities in England, can contribute to the cost of adapting an eligible disabled person's home. Eligible applicants can include older people, mentally or physically disabled people, as well as those with autism and learning difficulties. The DFG supports the installation of adaptations such as stair-lifts, level access showers and ramps; all things which can help enable people to live safely and independently at home. People of all ages can apply to their local authority for a DFG. In 2016/17 over 33% of recipients of the funding were housing association tenants, which equates to over 15,000 homes being improved. Local authorities are under a statutory duty to provide home adaptations to those who qualify for the grant, which the individual local authority funds.

116. Approximately one in four people report living with a mental health issue.[footnote 10] This is why, in addition to boosting green spaces, we are committed to expanding provision on mental health. This government is committed to expanding access to mental health services through the NHS Long Term Plan. Investment of at least a further £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 will ensure that the NHS provides high quality, evidence-based mental health services to an additional 2 million people. Alongside this expansion, we also want to make sure that wider public services support people to stay mentally well, recover from mental ill-health and live well with mental illness. Secure, safe and decent housing can support positive mental health.

117. We recognise that domestic pets also bring joy, happiness and comfort to people's lives, helping their owners through difficult times and improving their mental and physical wellbeing. We know many social landlords normally give permission for tenants to keep pets depending on the location, provided they are well looked after and do not adversely affect the lives of neighbours and those living nearby. We encourage all social landlords to adopt similar policies.

118. We have heard how, in social housing, people's experience, including stigma, can be shaped by their interactions with frontline staff. Going forward, we want to ensure that frontline social housing staff have the right knowledge and skills to work sensitively with people who have or are at risk of developing mental health problems, building on examples of good practice in the sector. Our review of professionalisation will consider how well housing staff are equipped to work with people with mental health needs and we will encourage best practice for landlords working with those with mental health needs.

119. We are aware of emerging evidence about the relationship between housing and health, including about housing's role in the transmission of COVID-19. We will continue to engage with the latest evidence on the impact of housing conditions on health, including COVID-19 transmission, and are actively considering options to mitigate these impacts.

Supporting tenants facing anti-social behaviour and crime

120. Tenants in social housing are more likely to be victims of crime and experience anti-social behaviour (ASB). These are corrosive behaviours, and this government has been clear that they are unacceptable in all forms. Tenants have a right to feel safe in their homes, without the stress, fear and tensions that anti-social behaviour and crime can cause. The government is committed to keeping our streets safe and cutting crime, including through ensuring that homes and communities are secure. We passed the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act in 2014 to give landlords a wide range of tools to tackle ASB. We also published statutory guidance in 2019 to support local areas to make effective use of these powers, which sets out the importance of focusing on the impact of anti-social behaviour on victims and on their needs. The guidance gives police, local authorities and others greater clarity on how best to use the powers appropriately and proportionately. However, we heard that in some cases social housing tenants feel their landlord is not taking their concerns seriously or seeking to tackle the issues they face. Our new social housing tenant satisfaction measures (see Box A: Draft Tenant Satisfaction Measures) will include measures on responsible neighbourhood management, including tackling anti-social behaviour, so landlords will have to be transparent and report on how they are performing in this area. Tenants and the regulator will then be able to use this information to hold landlords to account and drive better performance. We will work with the Home Office and other partners to develop our understanding on how crime, and tenants' perception of crime, can be measured and reported on, and what scope there may be to include them in tenant satisfaction measures.

121. We also heard that it is not always clear to tenants who is responsible for responding to anti-social behaviour when they raise concerns. People do not know who to turn to, and what help and support to expect when they do. This has led to tenants feeling frustrated and voicing understandable concerns that some landlords fail to help or simply try to 'pass the buck'. To help tenants and landlords we will clarify the different responsibilities that police, local authorities and their landlords have in tackling anti-social behaviour. We will make it clear to tenants who can give them the most appropriate support and assistance. This will include information on the Community Trigger arrangements (also known as the ASB Case Review). This gives victims of persistent anti- social behaviour reported to any of the main responsible agencies (such as local authorities, police or a landlord) the right to request a multi- agency case review of their case where a local threshold is met. Information about this process is published on GOV.UK. We will work with the National Housing Federation and Local Government Association to encourage social landlords to inform residents of their right to make a community trigger application, and where appropriate, that they act as an advocate in supporting tenants to take an application forward with the relevant authority.

122. We recognise from discussions with agencies involved in tackling anti-social behaviour and from recent research studies that, in some cases, the perpetrators of anti-social suffer from mental health problems or have issues involving alcohol and drug use. In those cases, providing the right support and interventions can have a positive outcome in terms of preventing further offending behaviour. We will bring together a working group to shape our approaches to tackling this issue. For social landlords, linked to our proposals to review professional development, we will be looking at the training given to housing staff to increase their awareness and understanding of mental health issues.

123. We also know we need to do more to prevent acquisitive crime in social housing, such as burglary and theft. The £25m Safer Streets Fund aims to prevent such crimes from happening in the first place. The fund is investing in crime prevention plans in 52 communities across England and Wales many of which include social housing, and also include activity to tackle anti-social behaviour.

124. In addition, our National Design Guide, published in 2019, refers to the importance of designing out crime when developing new homes, and government's forthcoming guidance on producing local design codes will set out how homes and neighbourhoods must be designed with safety and security in mind by applying the principles of Secured by Design. This includes using passive design measures, such as 'eyes on the street' and appropriate layouts for homes.

125. Finally, we know there are other serious issues affecting some vulnerable tenants and we want to stamp these out. One such example is "county lines" which, in some areas, has resulted in gangs using young people and vulnerable adults to spread drugs across the country. Gangs will use a vulnerable person's home to sell the drugs from. This "cuckooing" is a key part of the gangs' strategy. We want to see all housing associations and local authority landlords using their knowledge of vulnerable tenants to monitor and support those tenants who may be at risk. We know that there have been examples where landlord intervention with other agencies has resulted in preventing vulnerable people from being exploited by these gangs. It is vital that they work together with bodies, such as the police, to maximise this impact.

126. We will continue to identify opportunities to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour including encouraging landlords to develop practical solutions to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour in their areas.

Integrating social housing in communities

127. Social homes are a vital part of diverse communities across the country. Yet residents told us they often felt stigmatised, and that a shift was needed in the way residents are perceived and treated. Some said that they were made to feel like 'second class citizens'. We heard examples of social housing residents being denied access to certain shared facilities or spaces, leading to segregation from their neighbours and wider communities.

128. It is vital that social housing is treated as an integral and valued part of our housing system, rather than being separated or segregated from other forms of housing. That aspiration is reflected in the National Planning Policy Framework which states that planning policies and decisions should aim to achieve healthy, inclusive and safe places. It also emphasises the need for planning policies and decisions to promote social interaction and provide shared spaces and facilities. It is supported by our planning practice guidance on Design: Process and Tools, published in October 2019, which includes guidance on the effective engagement of communities in shaping the design of their neighbourhoods.

129. One significant way in which the planning system supports the creation of mixed communities is through developer contributions (via planning obligations - also known as Section 106 agreements). Developer contributions currently deliver around half of all new affordable housing, most of which is delivered on-site. This has played an important role in securing affordable housing as part of mixed-tenure development.

130. Under the government's proposals to reform the planning system, set out in the Planning for the Future White Paper, the current system of developer contributions would be replaced with a new Infrastructure Levy which would be charged as a fixed proportion of the development value. These reforms aim to provide greater certainty and transparency. The White Paper includes a clear commitment to ensure that, under the Infrastructure Levy, affordable housing provision supported through developer contributions is kept at least at current levels - and that it is still delivered on-site to ensure that new development continues to support mixed communities. We will continue to work with the social housing sector to ensure that our planning reforms achieve these objectives.

131. It is unacceptable that social tenants should be denied access to shared spaces and facilities and we want to see housing designed in a way that prevents this. We have published the National Design Guide which promotes social interaction through encouraging well-integrated housing and other facilities that are designed to be tenure neutral and socially inclusive, with spaces that can be shared by all residents. Local planning authorities will be expected to develop their own design codes or guides, taking into consideration the government's forthcoming guidance on producing local design codes. These will set out clear parameters for what good quality design looks like in their area, following appropriate local consultation.

132. In 2018, we published an Integrated Communities Strategy Action Plan setting out cross-government measures to build integrated communities and challenge segregation. Integration Areas were announced in the Integrated Communities Strategy Green Paper with the aim that government would work with local authorities and other partners to co-design integration strategies to take tailored actions to address the challenges specific to their place. We have worked with three of our five existing integration areas to consider how to maximise the use of levers in housing and planning policy locally to tackle social and residential segregation. We would aim to build on the results of their work to embed innovative approaches to housing.

Considering how to ensure social housing is allocated fairly

133. Local authorities' allocation schemes are the primary system through which people access social housing. These schemes must be set in line with legislation, regulations and statutory guidance. In the social housing Green Paper, we announced an evidence collection exercise to help us understand how the system is playing out in local areas.

134. The exercise has brought together evidence from a survey of a number of local housing authorities, case studies, interviews and focus groups with representatives from across the sector. The results will be published shortly and we will consider the findings to ensure that housing is allocated in the fairest way possible and achieves the best outcomes for local places and communities. This will include considering:

135. While the allocation legislation ensures that people with disabilities are prioritised for social housing, we heard that that allocation systems sometimes fail to match adapted (or adaptable) homes to the people who need them, often because of a lack of data about the accessible social housing stock in the area. Accordingly, we will also look at how we can improve access to suitable homes for disabled people.

Supporting tenants facing domestic abuse

136. Landlords have a role to play in supporting the victims of domestic abuse. They are well-placed to identify early signs of abuse and through allocations policies can offer an escape to safe housing. Many are already committed to taking action in support of this through sector-led initiatives such as the 'Making a Stand' pledge.

137. The Domestic Abuse Bill will place a statutory duty on county and unitary councils in England (excluding London Boroughs), as well as the Greater London Authority and the Isles of Scilly Council, to work with other bodies to develop a strategy for, and commission services to provide support for victims of domestic abuse and their children within safe accommodation. Landlords must work with local authorities to deliver this requirement, and it is important that this expectation is reflected in the regulatory standards. We will expect the Regulator of Social Housing to review and amend its regulatory standards to make it clear that landlords should have a policy setting out how they should tackle issues surrounding domestic abuse, working with other agencies as appropriate.

Supporting the Armed Forces community

138. We are committed to ensuring that those who have put their life on the line for their country, and those who give up so much to support them to do so, get the priority for social housing they deserve.

139. Delivering on the Armed Forces Covenant the government changed the law in 2012 so that seriously injured, ill or disabled Service personnel, and former members of the Armed Forces, with urgent housing needs are always given high priority for social housing. We also introduced regulations to ensure that serving personnel and those who are recently discharged do not lose their qualification rights because of the necessity to move from base to base. Both of these changes apply also to bereaved spouses or civil partners who have to leave Ministry of Defence provided accommodation, and to serving and former members of the Reserve Armed Forces who have been seriously injured or disabled in service.

140. In June this year, delivering on a commitment in the Government's response to the Veterans Strategy consultation, we published statutory guidance for local authorities to improve access to social housing for members of the Armed Forces, veterans, and their families. The guidance will ensure that service personnel and veterans suffering from mental health are prioritised for social housing; that those who separate from their partners in the Armed Forces are exempted from any local connection test; and that local authorities can identify applications from members of the Armed Forces community to ensure they are considered appropriately.

Chapter 7: To be supported to take your first step to ownership
We are determined to increase the supply of new and beautiful social homes - and to ensure that as many social tenants as possible have the opportunity to buy a home of their own. To increase the supply of social homes, we have:

Built over 486,600 new affordable homes since 2010, including 142,400 for social rent.

Announced our new £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme - the largest single investment in social housing for a decade - that will deliver up to 180,000 new homes.

Announced a new £3 billion Affordable Homes Guarantee Scheme which aims to provide long- term, low cost and fixed rate debt finance to registered providers.

Removed the cap on local authority borrowing to fund housebuilding.

Consulted on whether greater flexibilities can be offered around how local authorities can use receipts from Right to Buy sales.

Supported community-led housebuilding through the community housing fund.

Announced we will consult on further guidance to provide clarity on rural exception sites policy, to ensure they are used to their full potential.

To ensure that more social tenants have the opportunity to buy a home, we have:
We are firmly committed to ensuring that new social housing supply is well-designed and beautiful. Local councils and housing associations have long delivered some beautiful and innovative affordable homes, epitomised by the award of the country's top architecture and design award - the Stirling Prize - to the Goldsmith Street development by Norwich Council last year. We heard from residents of the importance of building more affordable homes, and the importance of good design in preventing poor perceptions and stigma. So we want to encourage more Goldsmith Street developments and support better design everywhere, building on the long tradition created by the Victorian housing philanthropists that have given us model designs such as the Rowntree village at New Earswick, which is now pioneering new energy efficient homes. We have:

Amended the National Planning Policy Framework and published a new national design guide to emphasise the importance of beauty and good design.

Emphasised through our new National Design Guide the importance of building beautiful and well-designed social homes.

Building more affordable homes

141/. Since 2010, over 486,600 new affordable homes have been built, including 346,100 for rent, of which 142,400 have been for social rent.[footnote 11] But we know that we must do more. In September 2020 we announced the details of our new £11.5bn Affordable Homes Programme, which represents the highest single funding commitment to affordable housing in a decade. The new Affordable Homes Programme will deliver up to 180,000 homes, with half the homes available for Social and Affordable Rent, and the remainder for affordable home ownership through our new shared ownership model. To support our ambition to level up the country, affordable housing providers will be able to develop homes for Social Rent anywhere in England.

142. The social housing Green Paper explored what difference providing long-term certainty on funding for new affordable housing would make to the ambitions of housing associations and other private registered providers. The new Affordable Homes Programme includes £2bn for long-term partnerships delivering homes up to 2028/29, giving housing associations the long-term certainty they have asked for in order to build more homes. This new investment builds on the existing £9bn Affordable Homes Programme which will deliver around 250,000 new affordable homes by 2023.

143. The social housing Green Paper also trailed the role of guarantees in supporting housing associations to build more homes. At Spring Statement 2019 a new £3bn Affordable Homes Guarantee Scheme was announced, building on the success of the previous £3.24bn scheme. This aims to provide long-term, low cost and fixed rate debt finance to registered providers to increase the supply of additional new build affordable homes. We estimate that the new scheme will support the delivery of around 17,000 affordable homes and that the scheme will be open for business by the end of the year.

144. Around half of all new affordable homes are delivered through developer contributions, which are negotiated as part of the planning system (in the form of Section 106 planning obligations). Under our proposals to reform the planning system, set out in the Planning for the Future White Paper, the current system of developer contributions would be replaced with a new Infrastructure Levy, which would be charged as a fixed proportion of the development value. These reforms aim to provide greater certainty and transparency. We would ensure that, under the Infrastructure Levy, affordable housing provision supported through developer contributions is kept at least at current levels, and that it is still delivered on-site to ensure that new development continues to support mixed communities.

145. Rural Exception Sites are small rural sites not normally used for housing but allowed to be used for Affordable Housing to accommodate households who are either current residents in the local area or have an existing family or employment connection. We also recognise that Rural Exception Sites are important for the delivery of Affordable Homes in rural areas and will consult on further guidance to provide clarity on this policy, with the aim of ensuring that they are used to their full potential.

Building more council homes

146. Between April 2010 and March 2019, local authorities built over 26,100 new affordable homes but have the potential to build many more. We want to see a step change in local authority delivery. In October 2018 the cap on local authority borrowing to fund housebuilding was removed.

147. We want to see local authorities make the most of borrowing flexibilities and innovate to deliver homes for the future. We are keen for local authorities to take advantage of funding available through the Affordable Homes Programme. We want to see local authorities share experiences and good practice in housebuilding so they are well placed to build the next generation of council homes.

148. To further support local authority house building, we are looking at whether greater flexibilities can be offered around how local authorities can use receipts from Right to Buy sales. A consultation exploring the possibility of this was published alongside the social housing Green Paper and we are considering the policy response.

Community Led Housing

149. Housing built by community-led groups, including community land trusts and housing co-operatives, can deliver high quality affordable housing that cannot be delivered by the mainstream market. Particularly in urban areas, community-led housing can be delivered through the conversion and refurbishment of existing buildings. Because the management bodies of community-led housing are typically drawn from the local and residential community, they are uniquely well placed to respond to the needs and aspirations of residents.

150. An important feature of community-led housing developments is the strong sense of pride and belonging that they engender among their residents, and the associated benefits in terms of health and wellbeing. We have supported community-led housebuilding through the Community Housing Fund and we will consider how best to maintain that support going forward.

Building beautiful

151. We are committed to developing more beautiful homes and communities. It should be an aspiration for all new developments. It helps to create a sense of place and foster a sense of community. The 'Building Better, Building Beautiful' Commission was established in November 2018, to advise the Government on how to promote high quality design for new build homes and neighbourhoods, making them more likely to be welcomed by existing communities. The recommendations apply to all new homes, regardless of tenure. The final report of the 'Building Better, Building Beautiful' Commission was published on 30 January 2020. We welcome the report and will provide a formal response in due course.

152. In the meantime, in 2019, we amended the National Planning Policy Framework and published a new National Design Guide to emphasise the importance of beauty and good design.

Helping people into home ownership

153. We are committed to supporting people that want to own a home to do so. We are delivering more new homes of all types, delivering 241,000 in the last year alone, the highest in over 30 years; and we have committed to delivering at least a million more over this parliament. Approximately 50% of the homes delivered through the new Affordable Homes Programme will be for affordable home ownership, supporting aspiring homeowners to take their first step on to the housing ladder. Over 649,000 households[footnote 12] have been helped to purchase a home since spring 2010 through government backed schemes including 'Help to Buy' and 'Right to Buy', and we have cut stamp-duty for the majority of first-time buyers, helping over 540,000 people. ( Quarterly Stamp Duty Land Tax Statistics). These schemes are working and in 2018/19 the number of first-time buyers reached a 12-year annual high, and increased by over 87% since 2010/11[footnote 13]. However, we need to do more to support people to realise their dreams of home ownership.

154. Shared Ownership has a vital role to play in offering a route into homeownership to those who would otherwise struggle to buy a home. We know that there is more we can do to make Shared Ownership work better for those who need it most. This is why in September 2020 we introduced a new Shared Ownership model that will be more consumer-friendly and more accessible. The new Shared Ownership model will reduce the minimum initial ownership stake from 25% to 10% and will enable purchasers to then buy further shares in smaller instalments of as little as 1%.

155. Shared owners, like other homeowners, are currently responsible for the full cost of any repairs from day one. This means that those starting off with a small stake can be left with large bills. This is why we have also introduced a 10-year "repair-free" period during which the landlord will cover the costs of major repairs for new homes. For most people entering into Shared Ownership, the scheme serves as a first step on their journey as homeowners. The new repairs model will help make the transition from renting to homeownership almost frictionless. The changes will prevent new shared owners being hit with repairs and maintenance bills and better support them to put money aside towards buying more of their home.

156. Together these measures will ensure Shared Ownership supports those who need it most by making it easier for hard working people and families to access and progress to full ownership. We are committed to continued investment in the delivery of Shared Ownership homes and will fund the new model through the new Affordable Homes Programme.

Supporting residents' Right to Buy

157. Over 60% of social tenants have said they would prefer to be owner-occupiers if they had a free choice,[footnote 14] yet only a quarter currently believe they will ever be able to do so.[footnote 15] This gap between ambition and expectation is not right.

158. We remain committed to the Right to Buy, which has helped nearly two million residents to become homeowners since 1980[footnote 16]. In August 2018 a pilot of the Voluntary Right to Buy was launched in the Midlands. This pilot has given thousands of housing association residents in the East and West Midlands the opportunity to own their own home.

159. The pilot is assessing how the Voluntary Right to Buy works in practice for residents and for housing associations. It is also testing that housing associations are able to replace the homes sold under the pilot and the portable discount, which enables a resident to use their discount to buy another housing association property where their home is not for sale. We will publish the full evaluation of the Midlands pilot.

160. We are reinvigorating the home ownership offer for housing association tenants by introducing a new Right to Shared Ownership. The Right to Shared Ownership will be attached to the vast majority of new grant funded homes for rent grant funded through the new £11.5bn Affordable Homes Programme. It will give many housing association residents the opportunity to purchase a stake in their home of 10% or more and to purchase further shares in future when they can afford to do so. Tenants taking up this offer will benefit from the new Shared Ownership model that is more consumer-friendly and makes it more manageable for shared owners to increase the stake in their homes.

Supporting leaseholders in social housing

161. The government is committed to promoting fairness and transparency for all leaseholders, both in the social and private sectors, and ensuring that consumers are protected from abuse and poor service. That is why we are reforming the leasehold market by restricting ground rents on future leases to zero, banning new leasehold houses, strengthening redress, making it easier, quicker and cheaper to extend a lease or buy a freehold and reinvigorating commonhold and Right to Manage. Our white paper reforms will also benefit leaseholders with social landlords, for example by increasing transparency on overall spend and performance by landlords, a stronger focus on managing neighbourhoods and communal spaces, and better engagement so that the concerns of leaseholders can be heard. Many leaseholders have told us that service charges can often be unclear, and it is hard to tell whether costs are reasonable. We are clear that service charges should be transparent and communicated effectively, and that there should be a route to challenge or redress if things go wrong. An independent working group, chaired by Lord Best, examined how to raise standards across the housing sector, which considered how fees such as service charges should be presented to consumers. The group also considered issues such as the consultation process for major works, how to mitigate the risk of large and unexpected bills, as well as the reasonableness of other fees and charges faced by leaseholders. The working group has published its final report to government; we are considering the report's recommendations and will announce next steps through our leasehold reform programme.

Glossary

Affordable housing: housing for sale or rent, including social housing, for those whose needs are not met by the market.

Affordable Rent: social housing provided as part of an agreement with Homes England, the Greater London Authority or the Secretary of State where the rent is set up to 80% of market rent.

Aluminium Composite Materials: Aluminium composite material (ACM) is a flat panel made from two thin aluminium sheets bonded to a non- aluminium core, between three and seven mm thick. ACM becomes 'unsafe ACM' when it has a polyethylene (PE) filler, which is highly combustible.

Anti-social behaviour: conduct that has caused, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress to a person, or conduct capable of causing housing-related nuisance or annoyance to any person.

Arms Length Management Organisation: an organisation that provides and/or manages housing on behalf of a local authority on a not-for-profit basis.

Borrowing Cap: the limit set by government that local authorities can borrow up to.

Decent Homes Standard: the government's definition of what is a decent home and is set out in the publication

A Decent Home: Definition and Guidance for Implementation It sets out that a decent home meets four criteria (a) it meets the current statutory minimum standard for housing (b) it is in a reasonable state of repair (c) it has reasonably modern facilities and services and (d) it provides a reasonable degree of thermal comfort.

English Housing Survey: a continuous national survey commissioned by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). It collects information about people's housing circumstances and the condition and energy efficiency of housing in England.

Green Paper: a consultation document produced by the government. The aim of this document is to allow people both inside and outside Parliament to give the department feedback on its policy or legislative proposals.

Homes England: the national housing delivery agency.

Housing association: a non-profit organisation set up to provide affordable homes for those in need.

Housing Revenue Account: a local authority account in which all income and spending arising from its social housing stock is managed.

Leasehold: Leasehold is a form of ownership normally used for flats (but occasionally for houses) that is a long tenancy, providing the right to occupation and use of the property for a long period - the 'term' of the lease. The lease can be assigned during this term by the owner of the long lease.

Leaseholder: A person who buys a leasehold property on a long lease.

Memorandum of Understanding: a framework that sets out how two parties will work together on a particular issue.

National Planning Policy Framework: a framework that sets out the Government's planning policies for England and how these are expected to be applied.

Private Registered Provider: a registered provider of social housing that is not a local authority. Most are housing associations.

Private Rented Sector: homes for rent that are owned and managed by private landlords.

Registered provider of social housing: a social housing landlord that is registered with the Regulator of Social Housing. This includes local authority landlords and private registered providers (such as housing associations and housing co-operatives).

Right to Buy: this scheme allows tenants of local authorities and some housing associations, with a secure tenancy, to purchase their home, with a discount.

Right to Buy Receipts: money arising from the sale of local authority homes sold either under the Right to Buy legislation or sold voluntarily to secure tenants at less than market value.

Right to Shared Ownership: is a new right introduced in 2020, which will give the vast majority of social tenants, living in new rented homes delivered by the Affordable Homes Programme 2021/26, the opportunity to purchase a stake in their home and then purchase further shares when they can afford to do so.

Shared ownership: an affordable home ownership scheme that allows residents to purchase 25%-75% of a home and then pay a subsidised rent on the remaining share. Residents are able to buy further shares in their homes in minimum 10% instalments, and in most circumstances, up to full ownership.

Social Housing: housing to rent below the market rent or to buy through shared ownership or equity percentage arrangements, that is made available to people whose needs are not adequately served by the housing market.

Social Rent: low cost rent set in accordance with a government formula.

Social Rented Sector: homes for rent that are owned and managed by local authorities and private registered providers.

Tenant Management Organisation: local authority tenant led (by volunteers) groups who take responsibility for managing the homes they live in.

Tenant Satisfaction Measures: a measurable value that demonstrates how effectively main objectives are achieved

The Housing Ombudsman: Appointed by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government in accordance with the Code of Practice published by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The Housing Ombudsman Service is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

The Housing Ombudsman Scheme: Approved by the Secretary of State under Section 51 of, and Schedule 2 to, the Housing Act 1996. Membership of the Scheme is compulsory for social landlords (other than local housing authorities). A number of managing agents and private landlords are voluntary members.

The Regulator of Social Housing ("the regulator"): an independent regulator which regulates providers of social housing (including local authorities, housing associations and other registered providers). Its principal role is to promote a viable, efficient and well- governed social housing sector able to deliver homes that meet a range of needs.

Voluntary Right to Buy: In October 2015, the National Housing Federation, on behalf of the housing association sector, made an agreement with government to extend Right to Buy level discounts to eligible housing association tenants through a voluntary rather than statutory approach. An initial pilot ran during 2016/17 with five housing associations, and a larger scale Midlands pilot of the scheme was launched in summer 2018.

White paper: policy document produced by the government that sets out proposals for future legislation.

Annex A: Key measures for changing the regulatory regime for social housing

Changes to the regulatory regime

The White Paper sets out wide-ranging proposals to transform and strengthen the regulatory regime to ensure it holds all landlords to account for the services they deliver, drives good service for tenants and protects economic regulation. A list of all the changes to the regulatory regime we intend to make is set out below. Many of these changes will require legislation. Government will:

Work with the regulator to establish a proactive consumer regulation regime with active oversight of landlord performance, whilst maintaining the principle of co-regulation. This will include:

Introducing routine inspections for the largest landlords (with over 1,000 homes) with the aim of doing so every four years, to obtain assurance from landlords that they are complying with the consumer standards;

Specific, reactive inspections and/or investigations where systemic issues of concern are brought to the regulator by tenants or their representatives, the Housing Ombudsman or others;

Published findings from these investigations and inspections where a landlord is found non-compliant with the regulator's standards.

Legislate to remove the 'serious detriment test' as soon as Parliamentary time allows, to eliminate barriers to the regulator adopting a proactive approach to monitoring and oversight of landlord performance on consumer issues.

Change the regulator's objectives to explicitly cover safety and transparency, and expect the regulator to review its consumer standards to ensure they are up to date and deliver its revised objectives.

Legislate to give the regulator a power to publish a code of practice on the consumer standards to be clearer on what landlords are required to deliver.

Expect the regulator to bring in a set of tenant satisfaction measures for all landlords on the things that matter to tenants, and expect landlords to report to every tenant on such matters at least once a year, if not continuously using technology.

Legislate to place an obligation on landlords to identify and publicise a senior named person in their organisation who is responsible for ensuring compliance with their health and safety obligations.

Expect the regulator to require landlords to identify a 'responsible person' for consumer standards compliance, as part of a wider requirement to provide greater clarity on the roles and responsibilities of senior staff.

Introduce a new access to information scheme for social housing tenants of housing associations and other private registered providers of social housing so that information relating to landlords is easily accessible to tenants.

Expect the regulator to require landlords to evidence how they have sought out and considered ways to improve engagement with tenants.

Legislate to strengthen the regulator's enforcement powers to tackle failing landlords and to respond to new challenges, including:

Giving the regulator the power to require a Performance Improvement Plan;

Reducing the notice period to survey homes;

Giving the regulator the power to arrange emergency repair work and recoup costs from the landlord where, following a survey, there is evidence of systemic landlord failure and other regulatory measures have not worked;

Removing the requirement to ask the Secretary of State's approval to use its own staff to carry out inspections; and

Removing the cap on the level of fines the regulator may charge.

Ensure that local authorities are held to account for the performance of service provided by an Arms Length Management Organisation or Tenant Management Organisation, by:

Asking stockholding local authorities that contract out management services to Arms Length Management Organisations to review their contracts to ensure they do not prevent the regulator from taking action in the event of non-compliance with its standards;

Making it explicit that provisions in contracts between ALMOs or TMOs would be deemed void if they hindered the regulation in its exercise of its powers; and

Working with the regulator to set out an expectation for local authorities to self-refer to ensure that issues of concern to tenants are dealt with as quickly as possible.

Expect the regulator to review and amend its regulatory standards to make it clear that landlords should have a policy setting out how they should tackle issues surrounding domestic abuse, working with other agencies as appropriate.

Legislate to strengthen the relationship between the Housing Ombudsman and the regulator, building on the current Memorandum of Understanding to ensure that they can exchange information quickly and effectively to provide better protection for tenants.

Maintain the robust economic regulation regime that is already working well and make sure the whole system is cohesive and balanced. This will include ensuring that changes to consumer regulation do not undermine economic regulation.

Refine the regulator's powers to ensure it has the right tools to deliver its economic regulation function effectively with an evolving sector. This includes:

Requiring landlords to notify the regulator of any change in control and refining the definition of 'non-profit' providers; and

Introducing a 'look-through' power so the regulator can follow money paid outside of the regulated sector to ensure probity.

Delivering these changes is essential to ensuring that the needs of tenants are embedded in the culture of all landlords, and will require significant change to the structure and expertise of the regulator, from senior leadership level downwards. To ensure that the regulator is equipped to deliver a proactive regulatory regime effectively, we will:

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The charter for social housing residents: social housing white paper

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As a cub reporter in the 1980s, I was once despatched to a Wolverhampton council estate to call on a young family who had written in about the damp in their flat.

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Taken from Women’s Aid, Nowhere To Turn: Findings from the Second Year of the No Woman Turned Away Project. Women’s Aid, 2018

Report found in 2018 of 97 women fleeing domestic abuse who approached their local housing authority for support, 78 were prevented from making a valid homeless application on the grounds of domestic abuse - for reasons including

that they had no ‘local connection’ to the area,

that there was ‘no duty’ to the woman and her children,

and outright refusal with no rationale given.

In 11 of these cases the housing authority did not consider the domestic abuse to be a significant risk factor to merit a homeless application, with 8 women “being told to return to the perpetrator” and 3 women told to “come back when the situation got worse.”

The report highlights

inadequate responses from housing authorities present barriers to survivor’s access to safety

women reporting victim blaming attitudes and poor responses from statutory services

do not have a comprehensive understanding of domestic abuse.

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Survivors of domestic abuse are facing multiple barriers to accessing refuge. Women's Aid has been working with these women and their children to make sure no woman is turned away.

Our report from the second year of the No Woman Turned Away (NWTA) project shows repeated failings from statutory services to those in priority need who are vulnerable due to fleeing domestic abuse. This is set against the backdrop of cuts to local authority budgets and a social housing sector which is in crisis.

Key findings

11.7% were forced to sleep rough during their search for a refuge, of which three women were pregnant and five women had their children with them.

Almost half of women (46%) were forced to sofa-surf, of which 65 women sofa-surfed with their children.

Nearly one in ten women (8%) gave up their search and stayed put with the perpetrator.

One in five women (21%) were accommodated in a suitable refuge space through the support of the specialist caseworkers.

This report is compiled from data collected between 12th January 2017 and 11th January 2018 by specialist caseworkers employed by Women's Aid to support women for whom the National Domestic Violence Helpline were not able to find a refuge vacancy. During this time, 264 women were supported by the NWTA specialist caseworkers.

In its second year the project revealed a widespread systemic failure from statutory agencies such as housing, social care and the police. Of the women supported by the project, 97 women approached their local housing team for support. Over half of these women (53.6%) were prevented from making a valid homeless application. This meant, they were refused assistance with emergency accommodation.

Help us ensure no woman is turned away

Donate today and help us support more women and children living with domestic abuse.

Click to see full resolution.

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Survivors of domestic abuse are facing multiple barriers to accessing refuge. Women's Aid has been working with these women and their children to make sure no woman is turned away. Read our report, Nowhere To Turn 2018: Findings from the second year of the No Woman Tuned Away project.

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This toolkit is for housing providers and services, domestic abuse services and local commissioners. It provides an overview of the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance’s (DAHA) accreditation process and offers guidance and resources for housing professionals to plan and implement DAHA accreditation across the organisation as part of the Whole Housing Approach (WHA).

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If you are delivering or planning to implement a WHA or any of its components in your local area, we'd love to hear about it. Please get in touch with us via our contact page

1. Introduction

The introduction to the WHA Toolkit provides the background to the pilot project, which the Toolkit was produced as part of, and outlines each area of the project. Read the Introduction to develop an understanding of the Whole Housing Approach as a whole before exploring areas of the Approach in depth in the individual toolkits.

Click the images below to read the stories of Isla, Rashida and Rosa - three survivors who received support from a WHA project - and find out the impact this made on each on each of their lives:

Thanks to Scriberia for the the infographics!

2. Cost Benefit Analysis

This toolkit provides more information about the case studies that were included in the Introduction and the methodology that was used to carry out the cost benefit analysis. It provides templates for anyone interested in carrying out cost benefit analysis of their own domestic abuse interventions.
Economic abuse resources
3. Economic Abuse

This toolkit explores economic abuse in depth. Economic abuse is often a cause of housing instability for victim/survivors of domestic abuse, so it's important that anyone considering implementing the Whole Housing Approach has a solid grasp of economic abuse and how it can affect victim/survivors living in different housing tenures.
Refuge resources
4. Refuge Services

Refuge services are a lifesaving service for women and children fleeing domestic abuse. This toolkit is a reference guide for local authorities, commissioners and partnerships. It offers practical guidance for commissioning and funding quality, safe and specialist refuge services and aims to support the delivery of the new duties proposed by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on funding support for victims and their children in accommodation based domestic abuse services, which includes refuge.

5. Social Housing

This toolkit is a reference guide for professionals working in the social housing sector including local authority housing solutions services, housing management, registered providers (housing associations), domestic abuse services and for victim/survivors to describe what they can expect from their local authority's housing service.

See the DAHA accreditation chapter below for a framework created especially for social housing providers and services to develop and embed good practice for an effective organisational and coordinated community response to domestic abuse.

6. Private Rented Sector

This toolkit highlights the challenges that victim/survivors experience in private tenancies and considers initiatives and offers guidance for engaging landlords and professionals working in the private rented sector (PRS) at a national and local level.

It is a reference guide for professionals working in the PRS including landlord professional bodies, local authorities (community safety teams, environmental health, private housing teams), private landlords and letting agents.

It is also a guide for specialist domestic abuse services who are ideally placed to be the lead service for delivering the initiatives set out this guide.

Private Rented Sector resources

7. Privately Owned Housing

This toolkit highlights the challenges faced by victim/survivors living in privately owned housing (POH) and offers guidance for working with professionals in the POH sector at a national and local level. It may also be of interest to other stakeholders who are key to meeting the needs of homeowners experiencing domestic abuse, including estate agents, sales teams, family and property lawyers, family courts, mortgage advisers, mortgage lenders such as banks and building societies, regulatory bodies and policy makers.

8. Supported Housing - Homelessness Services

This toolkit sets out the role of supported and sheltered housing in providing accommodation for victim/survivors of domestic abuse. It particularly focuses on homelessness accommodation settings including shelters or hostels and supported housing. It offers guidance for housing providers and commissioners who are working to improve their response to domestic abuse in these settings and in line with Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) standards.

9. Mobile Advocacy
Mobile advocacy resources
Mobile advocacy is a form of community-based domestic abuse advocacy support that has a focus on getting survivors into stable housing as quickly as possible. This role is like other types of community-based, specialist domestic abuse provision such as resettlement, outreach or floating support.

This toolkit is a guide for commissioners, operational managers, domestic abuse practitioners and/or coordinators and any other stakeholders involved in funding local domestic service provision. It offers practical guidance and resources to set up a mobile advocacy service and assess the quality of existing services.

This component of the Whole Housing Approach is inspired by the work of Professor Cris Sullivan and her colleagues at the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence (WSCADV). The following resources have been developed by the WSCADV and are part of their Domestic Violence Housing First approach and toolkit,

10. Co-located Housing Advocacy

Co-located housing advocates are employed by a specialist domestic abuse services and are usually based within local authority homelessness support services. They support victim/survivors who approach the local authority as homeless, and upskill local authority staff.

This toolkit is a guide for commissioners, operational managers, domestic abuse practitioners and/or coordinators and any other stakeholders involved in funding local domestic service provision. It offers practical guidance and resources to set up a co-located advocacy service in a local authority housing service and for assessing the quality of existing services. This toolkit can also be used as a reference for co-locating in another housing service such as a housing association or supported accommodation setting.

11. Flexible Funding

Flexible funding is a designated funding pot that domestic abuse support workers can access quickly and easily to enable victim/survivors to achieve safe and stable housing.

The purpose of this toolkit is to provide guidance and materials to help organisations set up flexible funding in their area. It is intended for commissioners and service providers, including domestic abuse services, housing providers, and local authorities.

Flexible Funding resources

This component of the Whole Housing Approach is inspired by the work of Professor Cris Sullivan and her colleagues at the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence (WSCADV). Flexible funding gives domestic abuse advocates / mobile advocates a tool to help survivors into stable housing as quickly as possible.

12. Housing First For Women

This toolkit is a reference guide for local authorities, housing providers and specialist domestic abuse services who are interested in setting up a Housing First project for women experiencing homelessness and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). It includes key considerations and practical resources for planning, implementation and monitoring quality and effectiveness of a Housing First project.

Housing First For Women resources
If you'd like to find out more or are interested in signing up for accreditation, please contact daha_team@standingtogether.org.uk
13. Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance

This toolkit is for housing providers and services, domestic abuse services and local commissioners. It provides an overview of the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance's (DAHA) accreditation process and offers guidance and resources for housing professionals to plan and implement DAHA accreditation across the organisation as part of the Whole Housing Approach (WHA). Obtaining accreditation not only enhances how housing providers interact with victim/survivors, it also strengthens the local area's coordinated community response to domestic abuse.

14. Managed Reciprocals

A managed housing reciprocal scheme enables individuals and families who are at risk of domestic abuse or violence and who have a social tenancy, to move to a safe area whilst retaining their tenancy. It is a formal collaboration between social housing providers that is coordinated by an independent agency.

This toolkit is a reference guide for local authorities, housing providers and specialist domestic abuse services who are interested in setting up a managed housing reciprocal scheme to support social tenants who need to relocate due to domestic abuse. It includes key considerations and practical resources for planning and implementation, as well as guidance on how to monitor the quality and effectiveness of a managed housing reciprocal scheme.

Managed reciprocals resources

15. Sanctuary Scheme

This toolkit is a guide for commissioners, operational managers, domestic abuse practitioners and/or coordinators, security installers and any other stakeholders involved in funding and delivering a local Sanctuary Scheme. It offers practical guidance and resources to assist local areas and service providers to assess the quality of an existing scheme or establish a new scheme where none currently exist.
Perpetrator management resources
16. Perpetrator Management

The purpose of this toolkit is to outline the options available to housing providers in engaging with perpetrators and holding them to account. The safety of victim/survivors is central to working with perpetrators. The aim of working with perpetrators is to keep victim/survivors including children safe. Housing providers therefore need to check how their intervention is impacting on safety. If the victim/survivor is not involved, it is not possible to do this.

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Whole Housing Toolkit - daha - Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance

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If you are delivering or planning to implement a WHA or any of its components in your local area, we'd love to hear about it. Please get in touch with us via our contact page The introduction to the WHA Toolkit provides the background to the pilot project, which the Toolkit was produced as part of, and outlines each area of the project.

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WHA Interim Evaluation Report, University of York, November 2020

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WHA Interim Evaluation Report, University of York, November 2020

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“The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.”
Maya Angelou

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Women's Aid website

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What is coercive control?

Domestic abuse isn’t always physical. Coercive control is an act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish, or frighten their victim.

This controlling behaviour is designed to make a person dependent by isolating them from support, exploiting them, depriving them of independence and regulating their everyday behaviour.

We campaigned and succeeded in making coercive control a criminal offence. This has marked a huge step forward in tackling domestic abuse. But now we want to make sure that everyone understands what it is.

Coercive control creates invisible chains and a sense of fear that pervades all elements of a victim’s life. It works to limit their human rights by depriving them of their liberty and reducing their ability for action. Experts like Evan Stark liken coercive control to being taken hostage. As he says: “the victim becomes captive in an unreal world created by the abuser, entrapped in a world of confusion, contradiction and fear.”

How do you know if this is happening to you?

Some common examples of coercive behaviour are:

Isolating you from friends and family

Depriving you of basic needs, such as food

Monitoring your time

Monitoring you via online communication tools or spyware

Taking control over aspects of your everyday life, such as where you can go, who you can see, what you can wear and when you can sleep

Depriving you access to support services, such as medical services

Repeatedly putting you down, such as saying you’re worthless

Humiliating, degrading or dehumanising you

Controlling your finances

Making threats or intimidating you

You can read more in this article we wrote for The Telegraph

Statistics on coercive control

There were 17,616 offences of coercive control recorded by the police in the year ending March 2019, compared with 9,053 in the year ending March 2018. (ONS, 2019).

The CPS Case Information System recorded 1,177 offences of coercive and controlling behaviour in an intimate or family relationship where a prosecution commenced at magistrates’ cour ts in the year ending March 2019. 97% of defendants prosecuted for coercive and controlling behaviour in the year ending December 2018 were male. (ONS, 2019).

Analysis of Merseyside Police domestic abuse data found that 95% of coercive control victims were women and 74% of perpetrators were men. 76% of coercive control cases happened within an intimate partner context.  The study found that common abusive behaviours used in coercive control included “…use of technology (such as phone trackers, controlling social media usage, barrage of text messages or monitoring phone usage), sexual coercion, monitoring behaviours, isolation, threats, financial abuse, deprivation (depriving access to support) and physical violence (63% of coercive control cases featured reports of physical violence).” (Barlow et al, 2018)

One study of data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales found that women are far more likely than men to be victims of abuse that involves ongoing degradation and frightening threats – two key elements of coercive control. (Myhill, 2015)

Read our blogs on coercive control

Sentences for coercive control must reflect the severity of the crime

10th August 2017

Hilary Fisher, Women’s Aid Director of Research, Policy and Campaigns comments on the recent case of Harley Smith who was convicted of coercive control. “Women’s Aid urgently calls for sentences for coercive control to reflect the severity of the crime and to hold perpetrators accountable, not only to ensure that justice is done but to also improving survivors’ confidence in the criminal justice system and to send a clear message that coercive control is unacceptable and that this crime is taken seriously.”  Read more

Coercive Control: One Year On

Thursday 29th December 2016

Polly Neate, Chief Executive of Women’s Aid, said: “The number of convictions is worryingly low – especially as we know that the vast majority of women experiencing domestic abuse are victims of coercive control. If we can increase the convictions for coercive control, and recognise patterns of perpetrator behaviour – such as those revealed by the Femicide Census – it will have an enormous impact on the reduction of domestic abuse.” Read more

Women’s Aid welcomes coercive control law

29th December 2015

Polly Neate, Chief Executive of Women’s Aid, said: “Women’s Aid and other organisations campaigned to have this recognised in law, and we are thrilled that this has now happened. It is a landmark moment in the UK’s approach to domestic abuse, and must be accompanied by awareness-raising among the public, and comprehensive professional training for all agencies that deal with domestic abuse.” Read more

Watch videos on coercive control

Getting help and advice

If you’re in a controlling relationship and need help, call us for free on the National Domestic Abuse Helpline.

Find out more

If you think your teenage daughter is in a coercive relationship, we’ve created a toolkit to help.

Download toolkit

Find out more about domestic abuse, how to spot the signs of abuse and how to get help and support.

Read more

References

Barlow, C., Walklate, S., Johnson, K., Humphreys, L. and Kirby, S. (2018) Police responses to coercive control. Published online: N8 Policing Research Partnership (156 of the cases studies were listed as S.76 coercive control offences, the data studied were from January 2016-June 2017.)

Myhill, A. (2015) ‘Measuring coercive control: what can we learn from national population surveys?’ Violence Against Women. 21(3), pp. 355-375

Office for National Statistics (ONS). (2019) Domestic abuse in England and Wales: year ending March 2019. Published online: ONS

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Coercive Control: s.76 Serious Crimes Act 2015

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Coercive Control: s.76 Serious Crimes Act 2015

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76 Controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationshipE+W

(1) A person (A) commits an offence if-

(a) A repeatedly or continuously engages in behaviour towards another person (B) that is controlling or coercive,

(b) at the time of the behaviour, A and B are personally connected,

(c) the behaviour has a serious effect on B, and

(d) A knows or ought to know that the behaviour will have a serious effect on B.

(2) A and B are "personally connected" if-

(a) A is in an intimate personal relationship with B, or

(b) A and B live together and-

(i) they are members of the same family, or

(ii) they have previously been in an intimate personal relationship with each other.

(3) But A does not commit an offence under this section if at the time of the behaviour in question-

(a) A has responsibility for B, for the purposes of Part 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 (see section 17 of that Act), and

(4) A's behaviour has a "serious effect" on B if-

(a) it causes B to fear, on at least two occasions, that violence will be used against B, or

(b) it causes B serious alarm or distress which has a substantial adverse effect on B's usual day-to-day activities.

(5) For the purposes of subsection (1)(d) A "ought to know" that which a reasonable person in possession of the same information would know.

(6) For the purposes of subsection (2)(b)(i) A and B are members of the same family if-

(a) they are, or have been, married to each other;

(b) they are, or have been, civil partners of each other;

(d) they have agreed to marry one another (whether or not the agreement has been terminated);

(e) they have entered into a civil partnership agreement (whether or not the agreement has been terminated);

(f) they are both parents of the same child;

(g) they have, or have had, parental responsibility for the same child.

"civil partnership agreement" has the meaning given by section 73 of the Civil Partnership Act 2004;

"child" means a person under the age of 18 years;

"parental responsibility" has the same meaning as in the Children Act 1989;

"relative" has the meaning given by section 63(1) of the Family Law Act 1996.

(8) In proceedings for an offence under this section it is a defence for A to show that-

(a) in engaging in the behaviour in question, A believed that he or she was acting in B's best interests, and

(b) the behaviour was in all the circumstances reasonable.

(9) A is to be taken to have shown the facts mentioned in subsection (8) if-

(a) sufficient evidence of the facts is adduced to raise an issue with respect to them, and

(b) the contrary is not proved beyond reasonable doubt.

(10) The defence in subsection (8) is not available to A in relation to behaviour that causes B to fear that violence will be used against B.

(11) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable-

(a) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, or a fine, or both;

(b) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or a fine, or both.

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An Act to amend the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, the Computer Misuse Act 1990, Part 4 of the Policing and Crime Act 2009, section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, the Sexual Offences Act 2003, the Street Offences Act 1959, the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003,

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The evolution of the Power & Control Wheel

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The evolution of the Power & Control Wheel

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Ellen Pence, Battered Women's Movement Leader

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Power and Control Wheel - Understanding the Power and Control Wheel

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The Criminalisation of Coercive Control - article

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The Criminalisation of Coercive Control - article

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Sandra Walklate + Kate Fitz-Gibbon

Abstract

Making sense of intimate partner violence has long been seen through the lens of coercive control. However, despite the longstanding presence of this concept, it is only in recent years that efforts have been made to recognise coercive control within the legal context. This article examines the extent to which the law per se has the power, or indeed the capacity, to respond to what is known about coercive control. To do so, it charts the varied ways in which coercive control has entered legal discourse in different jurisdictions and maps these efforts onto what is evidenced about the nature and extent of coercive control in everyday life. This article then places the legal and the everyday side by side and considers the unintended consequences of ‘coercive control creep’. In conclusion, it is suggested that the criminalisation of coercive control only serves to fail those it is intended to protect.

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International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy

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Anna Sergi holds a PhD in Sociology (2014), with specialisation in Criminology, from the Department of Sociology at the University of Essex, where she works since 2015 as Senior Lecturer. Her research specialism is in organised crime studies and comparative criminal justice.

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What are regional groups?
These virtual groups have been set up by Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) with the support of the National Housing Federation (NHF) to bring together housing providers, local authority housing teams and specialist domestic abuse services from across the country for the purpose of supporting each other to develop and embed good practice for an effective organisational and coordinated community response to domestic abuse.

These Groups will feed into National Policy and Practice Groups and to the Domestic Abuse Commissioner’s Office.

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What are regional groups?

These virtual groups have been set up by Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) with the support of the National Housing Federation (NHF) to bring together housing providers, local authority housing teams and specialist domestic abuse services from across the country for the purpose of supporting each other to develop and embed good practice for an effective organisational and coordinated community response to domestic abuse.

These Groups will feed into National Policy and Practice Groups and to the Domestic Abuse Commissioner's Office.
We request that only one senior representative from an organisation attends to ensure that there is space in the meeting for all to contribute, thank you. Please note that these meeting are organised on either Teams or Zoom according to the preference of each regional group.
Book onto a regional group

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Regional groups - daha - Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance

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These virtual groups have been set up by Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) with the support of the National Housing Federation (NHF) to bring together housing providers, local authority housing teams and specialist domestic abuse services from across the country for the purpose of supporting each other to develop and embed good practice for an effective organisational and coordinated community response to domestic abuse.

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What is the National Policy & Practice Group?
The National Housing and Domestic Abuse Policy and Practice Group is led by DAHA and aims to find consensus, share best practice and influence policy and practice on domestic abuse and housing in England.

The group recognises that those who have experienced domestic abuse from an intimate partner or family member have insight and knowledge that service providers can learn from to improve their own organisation’s response and work collaboratively to deliver an effective coordinated community response.

It is for this reason that the experiences and perspectives of survivors are at the core of the National Group’s work. This includes taking into account how the different identities and social positions of survivors influence how they understand and experience domestic abuse and how services in turn respond to diversity and associated needs.

The group works together on a national level to ensure that:

The experiences of survivors of domestic abuse are heard across the housing sector in order to improve and enhance service delivery

All survivors can access secure housing and good quality services when experiencing domestic abuse

Coordination exists between the housing and Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) sectors with regards to domestic abuse.

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What is the National Policy & Practice Group? - daha - Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance

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It is for this reason that the experiences and perspectives of survivors are at the core of the National Group's work. This includes taking into account how the different identities and social positions of survivors influence how they understand and experience domestic abuse and how services in turn respond to diversity and associated needs.

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Improving the move-on pathway for survivors in refuge services: a recommendations report 

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Improving the move-on pathway for survivors in refuge services: a recommendations report 

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This 2020 joint report from the Women's Aid Federation of England (WAFE) and DAHA draws together the findings from workshops held to consider current arrangements for re-housing survivors, and to explore solutions to remedy the barriers and challenges to doing this. The reports presents national data on refuge provision and move-on, and makes conclusions and recommendations on how best to improve move-on from refuges.

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Improving the move-on pathway for survivors in refuge services - a recommendations report

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Advance and Standing Together Founders talk about the beginnings of the CCR

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Advance and Standing Together Founders talk about the beginnings of the CCR

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Beryl Foster OBE and Bear Montique in conversation.

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A CCR brings services together to ensure local systems truly keep survivors safe, hold abusers to account and prevent domestic abuse.

Standing Together have pioneered the CCR in the UK for over 20 years. Our roots are in the CCR and we know that true change in the response to violence against women and domestic abuse can only be achieved when all the relevant agencies work effectively together. Our aim is to stop survivors falling through gaps by  improving responses within and between voluntary and statutory organisations, and ultimately to eradicate domestic abuse.

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Standing Together have pioneered the CCR in the UK for over 20 years. Our roots are in the CCR and we know that true change in the response to violence against women and domestic abuse can only be achieved when all the relevant agencies work effectively together.

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Bear Montique and Beryl Foster OBE set up Advance, to provide a new service delivery response to survivors in the community in 1998.

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Domestic Abuse Bill: overarching factsheet

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Domestic Abuse Bill: overarching factsheet

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Policy Paper: August 2020
Even though this refers to the Bill before it was enacted it is still a useful document.

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What are we going to do?

Raise awareness and understanding about the devastating impact of domestic abuse on victims and their families.

Further improve the effectiveness of the justice system in providing protection for victims of domestic abuse and bringing perpetrators to justice.

Strengthen the support for victims of abuse by statutory agencies.

Domestic abuse is an abhorrent crime perpetrated on victims and their families by those who should love and care for them. This landmark Bill will help transform the response to domestic abuse, helping to prevent offending, protect victims and ensure they have the support they need.

Victoria Atkins MP, Minister for Safeguarding

How are we going to do it?

The act will:

create a statutory definition of domestic abuse, emphasising that domestic abuse is not just physical violence, but can also be emotional, controlling or coercive, and economic abuse

establish in law the office of Domestic Abuse Commissioner and set out the Commissioner's functions and powers

provide for a new Domestic Abuse Protection Notice and Domestic Abuse Protection Order

place a duty on local authorities in England to provide accommodation based support to victims of domestic abuse and their children in refuges and other safe accommodation

prohibit perpetrators of abuse from cross-examining their victims in person in the civil and family courts in England and Wales

create a statutory presumption that victims of domestic abuse are eligible for special measures in the criminal, civil and family courts

clarify the circumstances in which a court may make a barring order under section 91(14) of the Children Act 1989 to prevent family proceedings that can further traumatise victims

extend the controlling or coercive behaviour offence to cover post-separation abuse.

extend the offence of disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress (known as the "revenge porn" offence) to cover threats to disclose such material

create a new offence of non-fatal strangulation or suffocation of another person.

clarify by restating in statute law the general proposition that a person may not consent to the infliction of serious harm and, by extension, is unable to consent to their own death

extend the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the criminal courts in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to further violent and sexual offences

provide for a statutory domestic abuse perpetrator strategy

enable domestic abuse offenders to be subject to polygraph testing as a condition of their licence following their release from custody

place the guidance supporting the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme ("Clare's law") on a statutory footing.

Provide that all eligible homeless victims of domestic abuse automatically have 'priority need' for homelessness assistance

ensure that where a local authority, for reasons connected with domestic abuse, grants a new secure tenancy to a social tenant who had or has a secure lifetime or assured tenancy (other than an assured shorthold tenancy) this must be a secure lifetime tenancy

prohibit GPs and other health professionals in general practice from charging a victim of domestic abuse for a letter to support an application for legal aid

provide for a statutory code of practice relating to the processing of domestic abuse data for immigration purposes

Background

There are some 2.3 million victims of domestic abuse a year aged 16 to 74 (two-thirds of whom are women) and more than one in ten of all offences recorded by the police are domestic abuse related.

In December 2019 the Government was elected with a manifesto commitment to "support all victims of domestic abuse and pass the Domestic Abuse Bill" originally introduced in the last Parliament. The act aims to ensure that victims have the confidence to come forward and report their experiences, safe in the knowledge that the state will do everything it can, both to support them and their children and pursue the abuser.

In spring 2018, the Government conducted a public consultation on Transforming the Response to Domestic Abuse which attracted over 3,200 responses.

The Government response to the consultation and a draft Domestic Abuse Bill were published in January 2019. The Government response set out 123 commitments, both legislative and non-legislative, designed to promote awareness of domestic abuse; protect and support victims and their families; transform the justice process to prioritise victim safety and provide an effective response to perpetrators; and to drive consistency and better performance in the response to domestic abuse across all local areas, agencies and sectors.

Will these measures apply across the United Kingdom?

The majority of the provisions in the act apply to England and Wales, or England, only.

The provisions in the act relate to devolved matters in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

At the request of the Scottish Government and the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland, the act includes analogous provisions for Scotland and Northern Ireland extending the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the criminal courts.

When will the measures in the act come into force?

The majority of the provisions in the act will be brought into force by commencement regulations, once the necessary preparatory work has been completed, for example, the making of court rules or the issue of guidance.

It is expected that most of the provisions in the act will come into force during 2021/22.

The new Domestic Abuse Protection Notice and Domestic Abuse Protection Order will be piloted before being implemented throughout England and Wales.

How much will these measures cost?

The Impact Assessment published alongside the act indicates that the current estimated cost of the measures in the act applying to England and Wales (or England only) is between £247 to £300 million per year once fully implemented.

The impact assessment shows that only a small reduction (0.3%) in the prevalence of domestic abuse as a result of the measures in the act would be required for the benefits of the act to outweigh the costs.

Key facts

In the year ending March 2020, an estimated 2.3 million adults aged 16 to 74 years experienced domestic abuse in the last year (1.6 million women and 757,000 men).

The cumulative effect of small year-on-year reductions, including a significant decrease in the year ending March 2009, has resulted in a significantly lower prevalence of domestic abuse experienced by adults aged 16 to 59 years in the year ending March 2020 (6.3%), compared with the year ending March 2005 (8.9%).

The cost of domestic abuse is estimated to be approximately £66bn for victims of domestic abuse in England and Wales for the year ending March 2017.

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Domestic Abuse Act 2021: overarching factsheet

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Raise awareness and understanding about the devastating impact of domestic abuse on victims and their families. Further improve the effectiveness of the justice system in providing protection for victims of domestic abuse and bringing perpetrators to justice. Strengthen the support for victims of abuse by statutory agencies.

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Article - "Women could die in unregulated refuges"

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Article - "Women could die in unregulated refuges"

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Domestic abuse support groups have warned that women will be unsafe if unregulated refuges are allowed to continue offering accommodation.

One organisation said "women could die" if the practice does not stop.

They fear the government's Domestic Abuse Bill could see private landlords offering rooms for vulnerable women fleeing violence.

The government said it was introducing a new legal duty for councils to provide safe accommodation...[go to rest of article at link below]

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By Victoria Derbyshire & Frankie Tobi
BBC News

Domestic abuse support groups have warned that women will be unsafe if unregulated refuges are allowed to continue offering accommodation.

One organisation said "women could die" if the practice does not stop.

They fear the government's Domestic Abuse Bill could see private landlords offering rooms for vulnerable women fleeing violence.

The government said it was introducing a new legal duty for councils to provide safe accommodation.

Those working in the domestic abuse support sector say the bill - which is going through Parliament - could allow people with no expertise in such cases to compete for funding to provide accommodation.

This could lead to more victims being placed in unsafe housing, the groups said.

The word refuge isn't mentioned in the Domestic Abuse Bill, only "relevant accommodation". Charities want a definition included for what a specialist refuge service should be, or a set of standards by which providers have to abide.

'Risk of harm'

Lucy Hadley from domestic abuse charity Women's Aid said: "You cannot just set these services up on the cheap, and without the experience and expertise and quality that a specialist woman's refuge, like a Women's Aid member service would have.

"We're really worried that in those circumstances the actual place, the housing, is unsafe for women and children to be in - but also that they will not see that as a suitable option for them and they may well return to the perpetrator that puts them at further risk of harm."

Examples of this include hostels being opened in places with high rates of anti-social behaviour and criminal activity, which the charities say leave women vulnerable to exploitation.

For information and support on domestic abuse, contact:

Northern Ireland Domestic Abuse 24-hour helpline: 0808 802 1414

Men's Advice Line 0808 801 0327

Online web chats and text services are also available.

Fiona Dwyer, chief executive of women's organisation Solace, said: "We've already seen in one case in Birmingham where a woman was murdered by her perpetrator when they were both living in the same so-called refuge."

She warned unregulated spaces provided by groups with no expertise could be dangerous and that "more women could die".

It comes amid a massive increase in appeals for help over the past year from people suffering domestic abuse, which campaigners have said exposes the scale of the problem.

For the past few months Zara (not her real name) has been living in a refuge run by Solace in the south of England. She left her violent partner in 2020 after experiencing more than a decade of abuse.

"He tried to control everything and completely broke me - what I wore, who I spoke to, where I went. He would pull my hair, strangle me and there was sexual violence too: he'd pin me down and rape me."

Now she says she finally feels safe - but the refuge does not only provide her with a secure and secret place to live.

Staff there are trained to help women find permanent accommodation as well as how to help with family court issues and applying for benefits. They can provide solicitors and offer counselling too.

Refuges are partly funded by the housing benefit received by the women living there.

Campaigners call the trend of outside organisations offering properties for victims "rent-farming". Once they are set up as "exempt" accommodation providers, a category of supported housing in which landlords have to provide care or support, they are eligible for higher housing benefit rates.

"Many of the rent farmers are doing it because they get huge profits... so they're essentially profiting out of really vulnerable people," said Ms Dwyer.

'Wild West'

Jess Phillips, shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding, said: "I call it the Wild West because there is literally no regulation to stop any landlord buying up a property today and... whacking that house full of a random selection of vulnerable people... and charging the taxpayer five times more."

She said she tried to get a definition of "safe accommodation" included in the bill but the government rejected it.

The Domestic Abuse Bill covers England and Wales, but the duty on local authorities to provide support and funding for victims of domestic abuse only applies in England. The issues it focuses on are devolved matters for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

When it becomes law, the bill will place a legal duty on councils to fund what it calls "relevant accommodation" for victims of domestic abuse and their children.

And while Women's Aid welcome this, they say it does not go far enough.

"The new duty on local authorities to fund support for survivors could be a real step forward in tackling the funding crisis that specialist women's refuges are currently facing," said Lucy Hadley.

"But it doesn't have any expectation about the types of organisation that can deliver this support.

"It doesn't make clear that they should be women's organisations that have expertise and knowledge and experience in supporting survivors of domestic abuse."

'Unprecedented support'

In a statement, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said it had provided "unprecedented support" throughout the pandemic "to help the most vulnerable in society".

"We are introducing a new legal duty on councils to provide support for domestic abuse victims and their children within safe accommodation, including refuges, and backed by £125m to ensure services are available to all," they said.

In the meantime, Zara said there is no way she could have got her life back on track without the full wrap-around support and services from Solace.

"I wouldn't have been able to do it," she said. "I had no-one, literally no-one to support me or help me. You can't do it on your own - it's impossible."

Listen to more on this issue on Newscast on BBC Sounds

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Domestic abuse: Women 'could die in unregulated refuges'

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By Victoria Derbyshire & Frankie Tobi BBC News Domestic abuse support groups have warned that women will be unsafe if unregulated refuges are allowed to continue offering accommodation. One organisation said "women could die" if the practice does not stop. They fear the government's Domestic Abuse Bill could see private landlords offering rooms for vulnerable women fleeing violence.

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Sophie guides us though the DA BIll/Act's - Part 4 and the importance of relationships between housing and DA services.
There are some useful links throughout the slides and at the end which you should be able to click on if not in 'presenter' view.

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Sophie Francis Cansfield - Part 4 DA Bill

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Improving Access to Social Housing for Victims of Domestic Abuse in Refuges or Other Types of Temporary Accommodation

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Improving Access to Social Housing for Victims of Domestic Abuse in Refuges or Other Types of Temporary Accommodation

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Statutory guidance on social housing allocations for local
authorities in England

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Perpetrator Management Toolkit - Dr Kelly Henderson

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Perpetrator Management Toolkit - Dr Kelly Henderson

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Our legal guides and handbooks provide vital legal information to help women through the law.
It is important that you understand the law and your legal rights.
Through our free legal guides and handbooks we can help you through the law.

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"All of your publications are excellent resources clearly laid out, succinct and empowering for women who face difficult situations and those who support them."
Our legal guides and handbooks provide vital legal information to help women through the law.

It is important that you understand the law and your legal rights.

Through our free legal guides and handbooks we can help you through the law.
Marriage, divorce and finances Immigration and asylum Children and the law guides for women prisoners Have you used our legal information? Tell us what you think here

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"All of your publications are excellent resources clearly laid out, succinct and empowering for women who face difficult situations and those who support them." Our legal guides and handbooks provide vital legal information to help women through the law. It is important that you understand the law and your legal rights.

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Application process

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Apply for destitution domestic violence (DDV) concession

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Form for people on a UK partner visa to claim public funds (benefits) while applying to settle in the UK because of domestic violence.

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No Recourse Fund - Southall Black Sisters (SBS)

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No Recourse Fund - Southall Black Sisters (SBS)

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Women facing gender-based violence with immigration and no recourse to public funds problems can obtain help with their housing and living costs from the Southall Black Sisters last resort No Recourse Fund (SBS NRF).

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Women facing gender-based violence with immigration and no recourse to public funds problems can obtain help with their housing and living costs from the Southall Black Sisters last resort No Recourse Fund (SBS NRF).

SBS is campaigning for all women with no recourse to public funds to have access to public funds. This includes extending the Destitution Domestic Violence Concessions [DDVC], currently only available to those experiencing domestic violence on spousal visas so that the period for which public funds are available is extended from 3 to 6 months while they apply to remain in the UK indefinitely under the Domestic Violence Rule (DVR) and to extend the DDVC and DVR to all women facing gender-based violence and to those on non-spousal visas.

Until we achieve this campaign aim, the SBS NRF continues to provide a vital safety net for those not entitled to public funds. Any donations to SBS for this service are welcome.

The SBS NRF aims to enable women and their children in the UK to enter a refuge or safe accommodation to escape domestic and sexual violence, including prostitution and trafficking and harmful practices such as forced marriage and so called 'honour' based violence.

The SBS NRF is subject to the following conditions (also see the more detailed guidance notes):

The NRF is open to women facing gender-based violence with no recourse to public funds in the UK, but is subject to sufficient funds being available.

It contributes to rent and subsistence for a limited time and may pay only part of your rental and living costs. Women without dependent children can be paid for a maximum of 16 weeks and those with children or other vulnerabilities up to 2 weeks while they apply for help from social services. The maximum rent payable is £240 per week and subsistence is £50 per week for women and £10 per week for each child.

It is a 'last resort' fund which means that all other entitlements to cover rent and subsistence must be pursued, including where relevant, the DDVC and social services support.

Only non-statutory organisations can apply and payments will be made in arrears. These organisations need to pay the rent and subsistence costs for or to the applicant, which is then refunded by the SBS NRF.

All organisations must return proof of expenditure and monitoring outcome surveys before refunds are released.

Applicants and organisations may be requested to participate in a follow up interview.

The SBS NRF is part of the holistic services we provide which is funded from a range of sources.

You can apply to the SBS NRF through two routes:

Route 1 is through the SBS general NRF for non-government organisations who want to support a woman in England, including London, to escape gender-based violence

Route 2 is through an SBS partnership for organisations who want to refer women facing gender-based violence and in need of advocacy support and help with NRPF issues in London

If you are unsure which route to take, please go through Route 1.

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No Recourse Fund - Southall Black Sisters

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Women facing gender-based violence with immigration and no recourse to public funds problems can obtain help with their housing and living costs from the Southall Black Sisters last resort No Recourse Fund (SBS NRF). SBS is campaigning for all women with no recourse to public funds to have access to public funds.

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Domestic Violence, Housing & Homelessness - guide for survivors by Rights of Women (ROW)

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Domestic Violence, Housing & Homelessness - guide for survivors by Rights of Women (ROW)

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Domestic violence accounts for around a quarter of all recorded crime and is one of the leading causes of homelessness for women. This guide sets out your housing rights if you are experiencing domestic violence and are currently living with your abuser. It also looks at
the legal options which are available if you can no longer stay in your home and need to find somewhere else to live.

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Rights of Women is a charity that provides free confidential legal advice and information to women on the law in England and Wales with a specific focus on Violence Against Women and Girls. We also campaign for access to justice and safety for all women.

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Policy Evidence Summary 4: Justice, housing and domestic abuse, the experiences of home owners and private renters

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Policy Evidence Summary 4: Justice, housing and domestic abuse, the experiences of home owners and private renters

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July 2019. Prepared by Sarah-Jane Walker and Marianne Hester (University of Bristol) for the Peabody Trust.

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Freephone 24 hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline - 0808 2000 247

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Freephone 24 hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline - 0808 2000 247

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Video title: Refuge's 24-hour, Freephone National Domestic Abuse Helpline
Video duration: 1 minute 20 seconds
Description: Information video on what it is like to call the National Domestic Abuse Helpline and who can call it.

Refuge's 24-hour, Freephone National Domestic Abuse Helpline 'Transcript'

[Background music plays]

Soft down beat music

[Animated sequence]

Animation in hand-drawn style showing a woman in a house standing behind a man on a sofa. The woman looks worried and the man appears angry, a speech bubble comes out of the man's mouth.

[Text displays]

!*!!*!!

[Female voice over]

I was walking on eggshells around my partner didn't know where to turn.

[Animated sequence]

The door in the background slams shut. We zoom in on it and it turns into a smart mobile phone in the women's hand. The phone displays the details of the National Domestic Abuse Helpline Number and a green phone icon. Her finger hovers over the phone icon.

[Text displays]

Refuge National Domestic Abuse Helpline 0808 2000 247

[Female voice over]

I'd read about refuges National Domestic Abuse Helpline, but I was hesitant to call.

[Animated sequence]

The scene transitions to the woman sitting on a couch to the left of the screen, and another woman, the Helpline adviser, sitting on the right on a computer. They are facing each other. The screen is split into two different backgrounds with a window in the background that crosses over both.

[Female voice over]

The woman I spoke to really understood my situation though, it was such a relief just to talk.

[Animated sequence]

The woman begins to smile. The blinds in the window open up to show a sun and both rooms become brighter.

[Animated sequence]

Scene transitions to a top down view of the Helpline worker writing on lined paper.

[Female voice over]

I was reassured that it was a confidential and non-judgmental service run by a charity.

[Text displays]

Confidential

Non-judgemental

[Female voice over]

She said I could ring at any time, even if I just wanted to talk about what I was going through

[Text displays]

Any time

Just talk

[Female voice over]

It's free and open 24 hours a day.

[Text displays]

Free

24 hours

[Animated sequence]

Scene zooms out to show a group of five women of mixed races and ages including the Helpline adviser from the earlier scene.

[Female voice over]

It was comforting to know that the helpline is staffed by an all female team of experts,

[Animated sequence]

Scene zooms out to show smart mobile phone showing an animation of the live chat page on nationaldahelpline.org.uk. The women's finger begins to type.

[Female voice over]

and that I can also contact them using live chat.

[Sound effect]

Keys tapping

[Animated sequence]

The phone fades away and four framed picture swing into view. They show four women of various ages and races, one of who is pictured with a child, including the women from the first scene.

[Female voice over]

I was told that the helpline is open to any woman who is afraid of her partner,

[Sound effect]

Glass cracking

[Animated sequence]

The glass in one of the picture frames cracks

[Text displays]

[Female voice over]

whether you're being physically abused or not

[Animated sequence]

The picture of the woman from the first scene is zoomed in on. She picks up her mobile phone as the frame turns into a circle. Another circular frame, showing the Helpline adviser, comes into view and begins to merge with the woman's frame. The woman and the Helpline worker turn to face each other and hold hands.

[Female voice over]

The Helpline advisor helped me realise I'm not alone and reassured me it wasn't my fault.

[Text displays]

I'm not alone

[Animated sequence]

Scene scrolls across to show the woman looking in a mirror and hugging herself. She begins to smile.

[Female voice over]

That was really empowering and I began to believe in myself again.

She made me feel like I had choices.

[Background music plays]

Music becomes more upbeat

[Animated sequence]

Scene zooms in on mirror until the frame is not visible. The background transitions to show a countryside scene with rolling hills, trees and butterflies. The woman lifts a hot drink to take a sip and closes her eyes.

[Female voice over]

From that moment on, I could see a life free from violence and fear.

That phone call was the beginning of the rest of my life.

[Animated sequence]

The woman opens her eyes and looks up.

[Animated sequence]

Scene fades to show black text on a white background below the Refuge pink and black logo.

[Text displays]

Refuge's Freephone, 24 hour, National Domestic Abuse Helpline.
Call us on 0808 2000 247
Or visit wwww.nationaldahelpline.org.uk for information and support, including our live chat and secure online contact form.

We know our lines are often busy but we really want to hear from you.

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Video title: Refuge's 24-hour, Freephone National Domestic Abuse Helpline Video duration: 1 minute 20 seconds Description: Information video on what it is like to call the National Domestic Abuse Helpline and who can call it.

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Developed by Hestia

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If you are concerned about domestic abuse, we know it can be hard to find support. That's why Bright Sky was developed.

Download Bright Sky today because you never know when you might need it to save someone's life.

Bright Sky is a safe, easy to use app and website that provides practical support and information on how to respond to domestic abuse. It is for anyone experiencing domestic abuse, or who is worried about someone else.

Bright Sky helps you to spot the signs of abuse, know how to respond, and help someone find a safe route to support.
The app can be downloaded for free via the app stores. Please only download the app if it is safe for you to do so and if you are sure that your phone isn't being monitored.
Launched in partnership with Vodafone Foundation and Thames Valley Partnership, the app hosts a UK-wide directory of specialist support service and offers users assessment tools to help you spot the signs for someone experiencing domestic abuse. It has had over 80,000 downloads since its launch in 2018. The website is focused on how to spot the signs of domestic abuse, advice on how to support someone you have concerns for, and ways to find help.
Features

The app is available in 5 languages: English, Urdu, Punjabi, Polish and Welsh.

A unique UK-wide directory of specialist domestic abuse support services with contact details.

Content to help you understand if you or someone else is at risk .

Links to further resources and information on domestic abuse.

Information to help you to stay safe online.

Please only download the Bright Sky app if it is safe to do so. If you are in immediate danger, always call the police on 999. Visit Bright Sky Online
Contact

To add or amend the details of a specialist service on the Bright Sky app, please complete the form below.
Update service details on Bright Sky
If you have any other enquiries about Bright Sky, you can email [email protected] .

For media enquiries, please contact: [email protected]

Download Bright Sky posters, social media graphics and other marketing materials to help promote the app:
Download Bright Sky asset pack Read the Bright Sky Privacy Policy

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The Bright Sky app provides support for those experiencing domestic abuse as well as those concerned about friends and family members

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Guide to local services

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If you want to find help in your area, donate goods to a local service, or start volunteering, our online Domestic Abuse Directory is the best place to start.

Search by region or local authority

If you are on a slower connection then this search can take slightly longer to return results.

Donating goods

Unfortunately the Women's Aid national office is unable to accept donated items as all refuges are run by our member services. To donate clothes, toys or other items please contact your local services directly by searching for your region or local authority below.

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If you want to find help in your area, donate goods to a local service, or start volunteering, our online Domestic Abuse Directory is the best place to start. Search by region or local authority If you are on a slower connection then this search can take slightly longer to return results.

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Refuge Against Domestic Violence - Help for women & children.

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Refuge supports women,children & men experiencing domestic violence with a range of services. For support, call our Helpline on 0808 2000 247.

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Examples of how to respond to disclosures and using empathy

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"Like the cracks in broken pots which are sealed with gold, Southall Black Sisters poured gold into me and made me whole again."
SBS Service User

The pot, Remembering Atefeh, was made by Claudia Clare, ceramicist, in 2011 to be smashed in front of the Iranian Embassy as a protest against the death penalty for 'crimes against chastity.' Atefeh was only 16 years old when she was hanged. Gif by Sneha Paradeshi

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Originally set up in 1979, Southall Black Sisters (SBS) has established itself as an iconic organisation based in West London, but with a national reach and reputation for its landmark legal interventions, its contributions to changes in policy for the benefit of Black and minoritised women, and its unique approach to casework and advocacy.

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Galop works with and for LGBT+ victims and survivors of abuse and violence in the UK

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1.  to be aware of all legislative and policy considerations related to DA and housing

2. to develop and utilise leadership skills in interpreting and applying relevant legislation and policy in their HP

3. to relate DA and Housing legislation and policy to their role as DA Lead

4.  to expand their knowledge of partnership working with DA services to enhance survivor safety and housing security

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These learning outcomes have been established as part of the formal accreditation process for this course. All assessment tasks are against these outcomes.

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Domestic abuse, human rights and the Family Court

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Domestic abuse, human rights and the Family Court

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Women's Aid report

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Domestic abuse, human rights and the family courts - Womens Aid

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Domestic abuse, human rights and the family courts This report, created in partnership with Queen Mary University of London, looks at domestic abuse and child contact proceedings in the family courts through the lens of human rights. It is based on the testimonies of 72 women survivors living in England.

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Homelessness Code of Guidance DRAFT - updated in light of DA Act

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Homelessness Code of Guidance DRAFT - updated in light of DA Act

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Rebuilding Shattered Lives: the final report

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Rebuilding Shattered Lives: the final report

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Report from St Mungo's

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Policy Evidence Summary 4: Justice, housing and domestic abuse, the experiences of homeowners and private renters

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Policy Evidence Summary 4: Justice, housing and domestic abuse, the experiences of homeowners and private renters

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Walker, S-J. and Hester, M. for the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance. (2019)

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Report finds that two-thirds of victim-survivors interviewed were either living in private rented property (38%) or owned their own home (33%) yet the needs of those in privately rented/owned homes are invisible.

More needs to be done to support victims-survivors of domestic abuse who are homeowners or private renters, according to a new analysis carried out by the University of Bristol for the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) and Surviving Economic Abuse (SEA).

The analysis was funded by social landlord Peabody as part of a pilot project called the 'Whole Housing Approach'. The project seeks to increase safety and choice for victims and their children, to reduce the use of costly emergency and/or refuge accommodation and ensure that, so far as is practicable and safe, victims can remain in their own homes.

The analysis drew on the Justice, Inequality and Gender Based Violence research (conducted by the Universities of Bristol, West of England and Cardiff between 2015 and 2018, ESRC grant ES/M010090/1), which included in-depth interviews with 251 victim-survivors of gender-based violence and abuse (GBV), of which over two-thirds were either living in private rented property (38%) or owned their own home (33%).

Key findings highlight a need for awareness raising across both privately owned and privately rented sectors and systemic changes to the legal and procedural frameworks that underpin them.
Key findings include:

Financial penalties for victim-survivors

Loss of the family home and the emotional impact of having to leave

Barriers to safety

Importance of affordable, adequate legal advice and ineligibility for legal aid

Experiences of help-seeking amongst victims-survivors with a range of agencies

Debt, created by the perpetrator or accrued through legal fees

Continued abuse post-separation

Court orders are crucial but obtaining one can be slow and expensive

Private rented sector tenants received inconsistent advice about their legal rights when trying to remain in the home, relied on permission from the landlord to implement safety measures and were unable to change the locks. Many found that the only way to remove the perpetrator from the tenancy was to leave the home and end the tenancy completely. Financial penalties included the cost of starting over in new accommodation and being liable for all of the rent, bills and any damage caused by the perpetrator.

Homeowners also incurred financial penalties for leaving, reaching hundreds of thousands of pounds for one victim-survivor. They were more likely to end up with huge legal bills as a consequence of having to fight for what is rightfully theirs and many, approximately 1 in 5 (18%), applied for an occupation order. Many homeowners lacked the financial means to protect access to their own property and lost their financial investment.

In May 2019, the UK Government unveiled a new package of support for victims-survivors of domestic violence and abuse (DVA). It sees a legal duty placed on local authorities to deliver support in accommodation-based services, backed by funding to place services on a sustainable footing. The intention is that this new requirement will end the variation in support for those fleeing domestic abuse across the UK.

DAHA and SEA have both to the UK Government consultation which closed on the 22 nd August, recommending that all local authorities adopt a 'Whole Housing Approach' to accommodation for victim-survivors of domestic abuse.

Victoria Watts, DAHA Development Manager PRS, said: "The private rented sector (PRS) needs to be better informed and aware of what constitutes domestic abuse to improve its response and adhere to safeguarding responsibilities. The package of support from Government is a welcome step forward and will hopefully help many victims-survivors of DVA living in social housing, it may not address the specific needs of those victims-survivors who are either homeowners or privately renting."

Stephanie Orr, Privately Owned Housing Advocate, Surviving Economic Abuse, said: "'Non-traditional' stakeholders such as banks, building societies, property agents and lawyers need to have a better understanding of domestic abuse, including how economic abuse may be linked to the purchase, sale and re-mortgaging of properties."

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New report demonstrates need for 'Whole Housing Approach' for victim-survivors of domestic abuse - Surviving Economic Abuse

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Report finds that two-thirds of victim-survivors interviewed were either living in private rented property (38%) or owned their own home (33%) yet the needs of those in privately rented/owned homes are invisible. More needs to be done to support victims-survivors of domestic abuse who are homeowners or private renters, according to a new analysis carried [...]

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Link to DAHA website

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Solace Women's Aid

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The Safe as Houses report reaffirms our long-term commitment to putting housing at the top of the agenda for women fleeing VAWG and builds on our report published in 2016, 'The Price of Safety'.It evidences the need for radical change but also offers solutions to improve the situation for women fleeing abuse in London.

In the summer of 2019, Solace carried out research into current homelessness practice across London, including the impact of the Homelessness Reduction Act (HRA) one year after its implementation. We surveyed both survivors fleeing VAWG and frontline workers on their experiences of London's housing and
homelessness systems.

The results of both surveys were comprehensively damning, indicating that:

The current system is failing to protect women and children when they need it most; and

Except for isolated pockets of good practice, the implementation of the HRA (2017) has so far failed to deliver the hoped-for improvements for women seeking safety in London.

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Safe as Houses Report: How the system is failing women and children fleeing abuse in London

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The Safe as Houses report reaffirms our long-term commitment to putting housing at the top of the agenda for women fleeing VAWG and builds on our report published in 2016, 'The Price of Safety'.It evidences the need for radical change but also offers solutions to improve the situation for women fleeing abuse in London.

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Please fill out

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DAHA Accreditation Leads: Post-module survey

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Web survey powered by SurveyMonkey.com. Create your own online survey now with SurveyMonkey's expert certified FREE templates.

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The Move On Fund aims to free up hostel and refuge spaces by increasing the availability of affordable move-on, or second stage housing, for rough sleepers and those in hostel accommodation, and victims of domestic abuse currently living in refuges who are ready to leave this type of provision but might otherwise not be in a position to access the next stage of housing.

The fund will provide capital grants contributing towards the costs of developing move-on accommodation for the target cohort. Revenue funding will also be made available to be accessed by successful bidders for the on-going tenancy support and facilitation costs to ensure that those accessing the accommodation are able to sustain their housing.

Funding outside of London is being allocated by Homes England through a Continuous Market Engagement (CME) process. There is no fixed bidding window for CME and the programme will remain open to receive new applications throughout the funding period. This is in addition to £50million that has already been made available for schemes in London through the Greater London Authority (GLA). Full details of the fund and how to bid can be found in the prospectus. Online bidding via Homes England's Investment Management System (IMS) is now open.

If you have any questions regarding the Move On Fund please email MoveOnFund@HomesEngland.gov.uk.

Organisations interested in applying for funding are invited to contact the Homes England area investment teams to discuss their proposals.

Bidding documents:

Move On Fund prospectus - This prospectus gives information and guidance for organisations interested in making bids to the Move On Fund.

The Move On Fund prospectus can be downloaded at the top of this page.

Move On Fund Bidding Guidance is available via Investment Management System: guidance documents and training

Move On Funding Agreements:

Move On Fund agreements - For organisations considering submitting a bid to the Move On Fund, the suite of Move On funding capital and revenue funding terms and conditions are available to download via the Move On Fund Terms and Conditions & Revenue Funding page.

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The Move On Fund aims to free up hostel and refuge spaces by increasing the availability of affordable move-on, or second stage housing, for rough sleepers and those in hostel accommodation, and victims of domestic abuse currently living in refuges who are ready to leave this type of provision but might otherwise not be in a position to access the next stage of housing.

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Resources for professionals

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Information & resources for professionals - Surviving Economic Abuse

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This series of resources called Tools to Support is for professionals working with victim-survivors of economic abuse.

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Powerpoint slides from today's module (PDF)

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Powerpoint slides from today's module (PDF)

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Please do not circulate these slides.

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Some great takeaways from today's session! Thank you :-)