Social housing charter - review: consultation

Review Of The Scottish Social Housing Charter 2021

Introduction And Background

This consultation seeks your views on the Scottish Social Housing Charter. Following this consultation we will develop an updated version of the Charter and ask the Scottish Parliament to consider the changes and approve a revised Charter from 1^st April 2022.

The Charter was introduced by the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010, which requires Ministers to set standards and outcomes that social landlords should be achieving for tenants and other customers through their housing activities. It also requires Ministers to review the Charter standards and outcomes from time to time with the last review being undertaken in 2016.

The Charter sets the outcomes and standards that all social landlords should be achieving for their tenants and other customers through their housing activities.

Its purpose is to:

• give tenants, homeless people and other customers a clear understanding of what they should expect from a social landlord
• give landlords a clear understanding of what they should be delivering through their housing activities
• provide the basis for the Scottish Housing Regulator to monitor, assess and report on the performance of social landlords, and if necessary to require compliance with the Charter, and, through the Regulator's reports:
• give landlords the information they need to achieve continuous improvements in their performance and in the value for money they provide
• give tenants and other customers information on how their landlord is performing in relation to other landlords, so that they can actively engage with their landlord in discussions about performance.

The Charter applies to Scottish social landlords and does not cover private-sector landlords.

The standards and outcomes do not add any new duties on social landlords; rather they describe what a good social landlord should be achieving for its tenants and other customers.

Since the Charter was last reviewed in 2016 we have already identified some changes that are required to reflect new legislation, standards and new business ways of working developed during the pandemic. These include the Domestic Abuse Protection (Scotland) Act 2021, virtual engagement and digital connectivity and the new milestone for improving energy efficiency of social housing EESSH 2.

We also want to ensure the Charter aligns to the ambitions for social housing as set out in the vision for housing in Scotland to 2040 and the route map to get there published in March 2021 Housing to 2040 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Responding To This Consultation Paper

We are inviting written responses to this consultation paper by 9^th September 2021.

We would be grateful if you would use the consultation questionnaire provided and it would be helpful if you could respond to the consultation online using the Scottish Government's consultation hub, citizen space by going to http://consult.gov.scot/

You can access and respond to this consultation directly at https://consult.gov.scot/social-housing-services/scottish-social-housing-charter-review You can save and return to your response while the consultation is still open. Please ensure that consultation responses are submitted before the closing date of 9 September 2021.

Or you can send your response with the completed Respondent Information Form (see "Handling your Response" below) to: TPadminsupport@gov.scot

If you want a paper questionnaire you can phone 07385 461397 or email TPadminsupport@gov.scot and we will send one out to you. The questionnaire should be returned to the address below.

Annabel Hoatson
Scottish Government
Tenant Participation Team
150 Broomielaw
5 Atlantic Quay
Glasgow
G2 8LU

If you have any queries please contact 07385 461397.

Handling your response

If you respond using the consultation hub, citizen space you will be directed to the "About You" page before submitting your response. Please indicate how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are content for your response to published. If you ask for your response not to be published, we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly.

All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

To find out how we handle your personal data, please see our privacy policy:

https://www.gov.scot/privacy/

Next steps in the process

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public, and after we have checked that they contain no potentially defamatory material, responses will be made available to the public at http://consult.gov.scot

If you use the consultation hub, citizen space to respond, you will receive a copy of your response via email.

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us produce a revised Charter. We aim to issue a report on this consultation process before the end of 2021. Responses will be published where we have been given permission to do so. An analysis report will also be made available.

Comments and complaints

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to the contact address above or at TPadminsupport@gov.scot

Scottish Government consultation process

Consultation is an essential part of the policymaking process. It gives us the opportunity to consider your opinion and expertise on a proposed area of work.

Each consultation details the issues under consideration, as well as a way for you to give us your views, either online, by email or by post.

Responses will be analysed and used as part of the decision making process, along with a range of other available information and evidence. We will publish a report of this analysis for every consultation.

Depending on the nature of the consultation exercise the responses received may:

• indicate the need for policy development or review
• inform the development of a particular policy
• help decisions to be made between alternative policy proposals
• be used to finalise legislation before it is implemented

While details of particular circumstances described in a response to a consultation exercise may usefully inform the policy process, consultation exercises cannot address individual concerns and comments, which should be directed to the relevant public body.