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A short history of housing league tables
Attempts to create league tables for housing associations are nothing new. Mervyn Jones looks at how they have worked in the past
As trailed in the media, the long-awaited Social Housing Green Paper has proposed introducing league tables to better allow residents to compare landlords’ performance.
There have been attempts to create league tables by ranking the performance of housing associations since the earliest days of regulation in 1975. What lessons do these previous experiences offer?
An obvious underlying question is what is the purpose of league tables?
If it is a consumerist approach, what can residents do with the information when, by definition, they are unable to exercise choice in the housing market?
If it is a measure of fitness to receive investment, then there is a risk that customer service may be ignored. So, from the start there have tended to be measures of both factors, ranked separately or together.
“There have been attempts to create league tables of housing associations since the earliest days of regulation in 1975.”
Early versions of regulation used measures of control (aka governance and financial viability) and conduct (probity and customer service).
Various key performance indicators were developed to help sort the sheep from the goats, but they were always controversial – there is always a reason (aka an excuse) if performance dips below the norm.
These found their ultimate expression in the key lines of enquiry (KLOE) developed 15 years ago by the Audit Commission’s Housing Inspectorate, which many thought too directive.
The KLOEs might have led to a standard quality of service but squeezed out resident choice and innovation.
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As a reaction the sector developed its own system of performance measurement through Housemark. This has proved useful although watching boards struggle to make sense of tens of KPIs is an unedifying experience.
More recently, more than 300 landlords have participated in the voluntary Sector Scorecard process, which has 15 performance measures, but anonymises the results.
“What matters most to residents is the repairs service and neighbourhood management.”
The focus of the Sector Scorecard and of the Social Housing Green Paper on a small, clearly defined set of performance measures is welcome progress.
Savills’ experience is that what matters most to residents is the repairs service and neighbourhood management, especially tackling anti-social behaviour. Safety is also always of concern and so should be included in any KPIs.
The next question is how to ensure the performance measures have teeth and help improve the housing sector for residents and professionals?
At present, social landlords have little stake in achieving value for money for service costs because they recharge 100%, so residents should have a right to involvement in the processes.
New regulations should require open publication of results in the lobbies of buildings, like the environmental health rating of restaurants in New York, which are publicly displayed.
The suggested “friends and family test” is unlikely to be effective because of the lack of choice and mobility in the social housing sector.
What more can sensibly be done to improve consumer regulation?
In 2010, the coalition government stripped the regulator of powers to intervene in cases of poor service, save if tenants suffer ‘serious detriment’ – interpreted as a risk of serious harm. The current regulatory gradings (governance and viability) ignore customer service unless it provides evidence of failings in governance. They are used as a crude league table of investment worthiness, in parallel with the gradings delivered by the credit ratings agencies.
“The suggested ‘friends and family test’ is unlikely to be effective because of the lack of choice and mobility in the social housing sector.”
The green paper refocuses on customers, which must be welcome.
As suggested by the government, strengthened measures of service delivery should certainly inform Affordable Homes Programme funding.
Savills already uses published performance measures to advise landlords and their tenants whether a landlord bidding to acquire tenanted stock can provide a service at least as good as the vendor.
However, with these exceptions, the impact of poor performance is limited.
The regulator will need the means to employ its existing powers to issue fines and order payment of compensation to those let down by their landlord, both of which are common in other sectors.
To survive challenge the measures will need to be robust, so HACT’s present work on data quality is a welcome contribution.
Finally, we see no reason why local authorities, arm’s-length management organisations (ALMOs) and tenant management organisations (TMOs) should be exempt from the regulatory framework. By applying the same performance measures across the sector we will be able to explore which forms of governance are most effective.
Mervyn Jones, director, Savills Housing Consultancy
Social Housing Green Paper: full coverage
All our Social Housing Green Paper coverage in one place:
Green paper measures are not enough to create May’s ‘new generation’ of council homes Green paper proposals are welcome but much more is needed to support councils to build, writes John Bibby
Green paper shows ministers now see associations as trusted partners Focusing on the failure of the green paper to address supply misses the point, writes Boris Worrall
Government should focus on building on what is already strong Philippa Jones considers the Social Housing Green Paper through a slightly different lens
We need more than a week of delayed announcements bundled together Jules Birch reflects on the government’s ‘Housing Week’ announcements
The regulator should monitor how associations assist homeless people Government announcements this week are positive, but any enhanced role for the English regulator should include looking at homelessness prevention work, argues David Bogle
The regulator’s role should be limited to dealing with systemic failures Julian Ashby suggests the Housing Ombudsman Service should deal with all complaints
The green paper shows ministers are in listening mode Despite some glaring omissions, the government appears to be in listening mode and it is important the sector takes advantage, argues Emma Maier
A short history of social housing league tables Attempts to create league tables for housing associations are nothing new. Mervyn Jones looks at how they have worked in the past
League tables could prove blunt and counter-productive, sector warns Housing figures criticise government proposals to measure social landlords against performance indicators
Government ‘must decide how proactive regulator should be’ on consumer standards Ministers now face a dilemma over the regulator’s focus, sector figures say
The Green Paper: a golden opportunity missed? Melanie Rees assesses the Social Housing Green Paper against recommendations drawn up by the Chartered Institute of Housing and finds the government comes up short
Longer strategic partnerships and guranteed debt to boost social housebuilding The Social Housing Green Paper outlines key ways of boosting supply
The green paper is remarkable progress but it is still not enough The green paper suggests the government appears to be re-writing much of its policy since 2010, but more needs to be done, writes Jules Birch
Green paper marks a ‘milestone’ on resident involvement The government’s recognition residents need clear information is to be welcomed, now it up to the sector to embrace tenant involvement, writes Paul Hackett
Ministers consider stock transfer programme to community-led associations The stock transfer programme could be revived under proposals in the housing green paper
Access to housing grant could be tied to new league tables Grant could be awarded according to how well landlords meet performance indicators, the paper suggests
Ofsted-style regulation of tenant services proposed The government is considering expanding the Regulator for Social Housing’s remit to intervene over tenant services and give it a more “proactive approach to enforcement”
Government proposes dropping one-for-one Right to Buy replacement commitment A consultation paper published alongside the green paper proposes a broader measurement to replace the one-for-one pledge
A list of recent housing policy U-turns The green paper confirms yet more housing policy U-turns from the government, which has spent the past two years dropping policy ideas developed under the David Cameron government. Here is a rundown of the major changes in policy direction
Sector welcomes green paper but calls for more ‘ambitious investment’ Reaction to the proposals, from the National Housing Federation, Chartered Institute of Housing and more
Morning Briefing: reaction to green paper announcements how the media reported the proposals trailed by the government overnight
Government drops plans to force councils to sell higher-value stock The government drops plans to force councils to sell higher value homes
League tables and ‘sharper teeth’ for regulator in social housing green paper Ministers reveal some of the things in the paper ahead of its publication
Grenfell survivors: green paper does not go far enough survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire have said the measures published in the Social Housing Green Paper do not do enough to rectify issues in the social housing sector
KEY PROPOSALS IN THE SOCIAL HOUSING GREEN PAPER
- New 'league tables' of housing providers based on key performance indicators, surrounding services such as repairs and neighbourhood management. This could be linked to housing grant.
- Consideration to scrapping of the current 'serious detriment' test, to allow 'Ofsted-style' tougher consumer regulation
- New home ownership options such as allowing tenants to buy as little as 1% of their property each year through shared ownership. This would only apply to new shared ownership purchases.
- Ditching of plans to force social landlords to offer fixed term tenancies rather than lifetime tenancies in social housing
- Ditching of plans to force councils to sell off their most valuable social housing when it becomes vacant
- The potential introduction a new stock transfer programme from councils to 'community-led' housing associations
- The return of guaranteed debt funding to help the development of affordable homes, and longer term 'strategic partnerships' for developing housing associations
