Scottish Housing Regulator sees drop in the number of self-referrals

Some RSLs submitted more NEs. One submitted 29, most of which were connected to its large-scale disposal strategy, while 28 RSLs did not submit any. The SHR said no NEs being received from an RSL was a factor it may take into account as part of its governance risk assessment process.

Governance and organisational issues were the largest category of NEs the SHR received during the year (153), although this was a drop from 196 in the previous year.

The SHR said that staff/organisational structures, such as senior staff changes, employment tribunals and settlement agreements accounted for just over half of the issues notified to the regulator in this category.  This followed a similar pattern in 2022-23.

Within the category, the regulator also saw governing body issues, such as the resignation of a member for non-personal reasons.

According to the report, there was also a small number of breaches of charitable/legal/regulatory obligations in this category, and material changes to the RSL’s Annual Assurance Statement. Social landlords must submit this statement to the SHR each year to provide assurance that their organisation complies with the regulatory framework.

The number of performance and service delivery NEs fell from 103 in 2022-23 to 57 in 2023-24.

Over the same period, the number of NEs about the disposal of assets increased from 74 to 81, with disposals over £120,000 continuing to top the events reported to the SHR in this category.

The number of NEs on financial and funding issues rose from 30 to 38 over the year.

The SHR said changes of auditors and notifications of potential breaches of covenants were the most common events in this category. Fraud or the investigation of fraud, financial loss or cashflow issues and pension matters also made up NEs under this topic.

Nicola Harcus, assistant director of regulation at the SHR, said: “We’ve developed this report in response to feedback from social landlords when we reviewed our regulatory framework last year. 

“Landlords asked for more information about what notifiable events are, the types of events social landlords reported to us last year and how we dealt with them. We hope that the information and case studies in this report help landlords to know when they should contact us.”

The SHR closes NEs when it is assured that no further action is needed to resolve the matter. According to the report, in 2023-24 the regulator closed 96 per cent of the NEs it received within eight working days, and 44 per cent were actioned within 24 hours of receipt.

This compares with 89 per cent in eight working days and 37 per cent in 24 hours during 2022-23.

“We dealt with more NEs within our turnaround target period than in 2022-23 and both internal and external quality assurance checks showed continued improvement in the way we handled them,” the SHR said in its report.

“Good information provided by an RSL at the point it submits an NE is key to the quick and efficient management of the NE for both the RSL and for us.

“Most RSLs provided good supporting documentation along with the NEs when they first submitted them, such as copies of board reports and minutes. The quality of this supporting information is one reason we are able to close most NEs within eight working days.”

The SHR also found that the committees and boards of most RSLs submitting NEs were doing so having considered “the appropriate information and advice” in accordance with the regulator’s guidance.

The regulator added that, following feedback from RSLs, it made improvements to the landlord portal, so that landlords can provide additional documents to it after an NE has been submitted.