George Walker

The update to the corporate plan, which covers the period to March 2022, details how the Regulator will support the recovery in social housing from the impact of coronavirus.

The Regulator will align its regulatory approach to the pandemic and the national response to it by postponing the publication of updated engagement plans planned for 31 March 2020 for all landlords other than for the most critical cases and postponing all but the most critical regulatory engagements to allow landlords and the Regulator to focus on the most serious existing risks or those that emerge from the current pandemic.

The timescales for all landlords to submit the Annual Return on the Charter and for RSLs to submit the Five Year Financial Projections, Audited Financial Statement and Loan Portfolio Returns will be extended.

The Regulator will also provide coronavirus-related advice and updates to social landlords, and keep its regulatory approach under review as the situation develops and adjusting it as necessary.

Highlights of the Regulator’s work plans 2020/21 include:

• taking part in the Scottish Social Housing Resilience Group to support landlords and the Scottish Government plan and manage the impact of the pandemic
• publishing monthly data to help the Scottish Government and social landlords understand the continuing impact of the COVID-19
• implementing temporary adjustments to our approach to regulation in response to COVID-19
• publishing our National charter analysis and landlord reports in October
• publishing refreshed engagement plans and providing a regulatory status indicating compliance with standards for all RSLs from March 2021
• supporting its people to be able to work effectively within the pandemic-related restrictions.

George Walker, chair of the Scottish Housing Regulator, said: “We’ve restated our corporate plan to reflect the changes to our regulatory approach to enable us to continue to support the COVID-19 response.

“We know social landlords are facing new and emerging challenges stemming from COVID-19 and they are working hard to rise effectively to these ongoing challenges. We will continue to monitor and report on how the sector is responding. We will keep our work plans under review so that we can continue to respond to the challenges of COVID-19.

“We will keep a clear focus on our statutory objective, our regulatory priorities and our vision of well-run social landlords providing safe homes for people who need them at rents tenants can afford.

“We will continue to work closely with all of our stakeholders as we work to deliver these shared goals and tackle the challenges of COVID-19.”