We have today received notification from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) that, following the close of the recent consultation, they have issued an instruction to the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) to set a new Standard in relation to Competence and Conduct for Social Housing.

This will require registered providers to:

• Adopt or develop an appropriate code of conduct, and have written policies setting out their approach to learning and development, appraising staff, and managing poor performance. These must be made accessible to tenants, and tenants must be given meaningful opportunities to influence and scrutinise the development of the policy, and decisions relating to the code of conduct.   

• Take steps to secure that their services providers’ staff also have the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to deliver a good quality service to tenants.    

• Ensure senior housing managers and senior housing executives of registered providers and relevant services providers hold a housing management qualification. This must:  

• be a level 4 for senior housing managers, and a level 5 or a foundation degree for senior housing executives (or an equivalent or higher level qualification).   
• cover certain course content, which are outlined in the Competence and Conduct Policy Statement.   

This means that in practice the RSH will now undertake its own consultation on the shape of the new Standard which will be implemented from October 2026. There will then be a 3 year transition period for registered providers (and their service providers) which will be extended to 4 years for those with less than 1,000 homes.

We do not believe that any TMO should be required to achieve the level 5 standard although we remain in dialogue with MHCLG and RSH on this. However, we fully support the general drive to increase the skills and knowledge of TMO staff and believe that TMOs should seek to ensure their staff undertake the appropriate level of training for their roles.

This years recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award is Andy Slater from Dovecotes TMO in Wolverhampton. In addition to the nomination from the TMO below, Andy is a former Director of the NFTMO so we are all too aware of his dedication to tenant management and achieving real and lasting change in his community.

“Andrew has been a board member since the creation of Dovecotes TMO which is in its 29^th year.

Andrew provides a wealth of knowledge that helps the current board works to achieve its vision and values advocating the tenant voice in all we plan and deliver whilst adhering to the Managing agreement in place.

Andrews passion for tenants to be listened to and included in the conversation is inspiring. This selfless act has proven successful over the years which has resulted in him becoming this huge asset to the all the members of TMO.

Even though Andrews health has deteriorated over the past couple of years, Andrew still comes into the office every Tuesday and Friday so tenants have the opportunity to drop in and speak to a member of the board regarding their concerns or suggestions to be considered at the board meetings.

Every year Andrew puts himself forward to ensure Santa is available for the children of Dovecotes to come and see ensuring every child experiences the magic of meeting Santa. This selfless act has seen Andrew ensure over 5000 children have this experience within the Dovecote community of whom we serve.”