(This blog refers to regulation in England only)
Five years since Grenfell, compliance is rightly of paramount importance in the asset management and building safety space. At the same time, notwithstanding a slight reversal in the early stages of the pandemic, satisfaction rates amongst social housing regulation tenants continue to decline. Set in the context of increasingly stretched budgets for those who live and work in the social housing sector we then witnessed the arrival of the Social Housing Regulation Bill for England and its requirements for landlords to evidence their performance and outcomes – both of which requires good data. In this article, we look at the importance of data governance to ensure all landlords in England are ‘regulation ready’.
Within the new powers awarded to the Regulator for Social Housing (RSH), which put the rights of tenants to information from their landlords front and centre, there are two standards set out in the Bill that those in the sector who work with data should take notice of:
What this means for landlords in practice has still to be confirmed but, given the information involved, we know that governance of data assets will be critical to ensuring accurate, complete, and valid data is publicly reported to build trust with tenants and ensure compliance with the regulator. At Housemark we know data governance is one of the core data capabilities required for housing organisations to manage their data competently, and now is the time to be assessing if you have the data governance capability required to handle the regulatory challenges ahead.
Good data governance gives you control and oversight of your data so that you can use it intentionally, manage risk, and provide assurance, giving you a foundation for intelligence-led decision making.
So where to start? It is essential landlords know how well their current data governance capability is performing to ensure they are regulation ready.
To do this, best practice is to use a data maturity framework that includes data governance within its model. A good data maturity framework will provide you with an independent view and standard to assess yourself against, and allow you to assess other data capabilities that are linked to data governance, including data quality and data leadership.
Once you have established your baseline position, you can then identify your data governance strengths and areas for improvement, develop a data strategy and associated roadmaps to address those issues and begin your data maturity journey.
As the leading data and insight company for the UK housing sector, Housemark is well-placed to help you on your road to data maturity and regulatory compliance. Our data experts can help you in everything from building your data strategy to supporting your organisation to become more data-driven, evidencing your performance and showing how you are both meeting requirements and providing the best possible service to your tenants.
Understanding and managing your data will help you to improve and stay in control of your performance – and that ultimately benefits your organisation, your customers and your future.