Closing the compliance gap: Supporting a Local Authority through housing regulation reform
31 March 2026
The housing sector has faced intense scrutiny in recent years, following tragic events such as the Grenfell Tower fire and the death of Awaab Ishak in Rochdale. These incidents have exposed systemic failings in housing safety and accountability, prompting a wave of regulatory reform and a cultural shift toward tenant-focused approaches.
In response, the Social Housing Regulation Act 2023 introduced proactive consumer regulation and gave the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) enhanced enforcement powers. In April 2024, new Consumer Standards and an ongoing inspection regime came into force, accompanied by consumer gradings (C1–C4) to assess landlords’ performance against these standards.
The challenge for local authorities
Adapting to this new landscape has been difficult for many local authorities. As of August 2024, 40% of local authorities had self-referred to the regulator within the previous two years.
Of the 81 local authorities graded by the Regulator so far, 37 received a C3 and seven received a C4. This means that more than half (54%, or 44 out of 81) were assessed as not delivering the required outcomes.
Several factors contributed to these difficulties, including:
- Resource and financial pressures
- Skills gaps within compliance teams
- Complexity of the new standards
- Legacy stock issues
- Poor data quality and limitations in technology, including reliance on legacy systems
- Cultural shift from landlord-centric to tenant-centric models
- Ongoing inspection regime rather than one-off reviews
Many local authorities have entered voluntary undertakings with the RSH following self-referral, as part of their efforts to improve their compliance positions.
Case study
In 2023, one Local Authority self-referred to the RSH after identifying potential breaches of the Home Standard. The RSH later confirmed that the Local Authority was in breach and issued a Regulatory Notice.
The Local Authority faced significant challenges: Nearly 5,000 homes were reported as not meeting the Decent Homes Standard, and a number of Category 1 hazards (posing serious health and safety risks) were identified across the stock. Fire safety was another concern, with thousands of remedial actions outstanding, including 4,000 high-risk actions from Fire Risk Assessments (FRAs). In addition, there were properties without up-to-date Electrical Installation Condition Reports (EICRs).
With growing scrutiny and fragmented data, the Local Authority sought support from Forvis Mazars to help evidence progress against its voluntary undertaking and improve the reliability of its compliance reporting. Already providing internal audit services across housing and other corporate risk areas, Forvis Mazars was asked, as a trusted partner, to apply its experience in landlord health and safety to support the Local Authority in strengthening its compliance position.
Led by Hannah Parker-Jones, the internal audit team reviewed progress against the voluntary undertaking commitments agreed with the RSH and assessed the accuracy of monthly KPI reporting, by sample testing the underlying certificates and remedial actions and evaluating the integrity of supporting datasets.
‘Although we were familiar with the Local Authority’s challenges, we approached this engagement as we do every piece of work: by listening first. Building an open and honest partnership allowed us to share insight, offer constructive challenge and help the Local Authority establish stronger, more reliable compliance processes.’ Hannah Parker-Jones
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We applied a detailed, improvement-focused approach
- Programme review - Assessing housing and asset management improvement plans and benchmarking them against sector best practice.
- Enhanced sampling - Expanding sample testing of FRAs and EICRs remedial actions to provide a more informed view of progress.
- Data reconciliation - Cross-checking housing, asset management, and contractor systems to identify any inconsistencies.
- Independent KPI recalculation - Recalculating KPIs from raw datasets to check reliability of compliance reporting.
- System walkthroughs - Reviewing new compliance systems and reporting processes to confirm they were operating as intended.
The outcome
Through this engagement, the local authority moved from fragmented, manual reporting to a more structured, system‑driven approach to compliance. This strengthened confidence in KPI reporting and supported constructive conversations with the regulator. Client feedback was highly positive, and the value of the work was reflected in their request for us to repeat the KPI validation exercise for a second year.
‘It’s always encouraging to receive such positive client feedback, and it’s a real testament to the value of our work that we were asked to complete the KPI validation exercise for a second year. We are strong advocates for the social housing sector and are proud to support local authorities in strengthening compliance and improving outcomes for tenants.’ Hannah Parker-Jones
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Speak to our local authority experts about statutory compliance today
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Mark Chalkley Associate Director - Risk Consulting - London
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