Sustainability Reporting Standard updated to support evolving sector needs

The updated SRS v2.1 reflects the changing needs of housing providers, strengthens the sector’s ability to communicate its environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance, and ensures the SRS remains practical, usable, and aligned with emerging regulatory expectations.

Although the updates will involve relatively minor changes to the reporting process, they are designed to have a meaningful impact and enhance the framework’s effectiveness for adopters.

The improvements include:

• Strategic consolidation of SRS themes and restructuring of select criteria, making the Standard easier to navigate and reducing unnecessary overlap.
• Improved alignment with sector regulatory requirements and wider sustainability reporting expectations, ensuring the SRS remains relevant and useful.
• A revised guidance document with worked examples and clearer explanations for more complex criteria, helping providers report and interpret data more consistently.

ESG considerations remain central to the operation of housing providers. The SRS continues to serve as a strategic tool for boards and executive teams to view their organisations, informing decision-making and strengthening business planning. The SRS also helps the sector showcase the breadth of its impact and demonstrate its performance to investors, regulators and the wider public. It provides a single, trusted source of truth on ESG performance across the sector and reinforces the social housing sector’s ambition to lead on sustainability.

Due to the relatively minimal nature of the changes to the reporting process, SfH will ask adopters to report against SRS v2.1 in the October 2026 reporting cycle.

Piers Williamson, chair of SfH, said: “SRS v2.1 positions the sector to look forward. The Standard has always been rooted in the belief that housing providers are strongest when they work together, and this update reflects the insights of those who use it day in, day out.

“As expectations around sustainability and financial reporting evolve, the SRS remains the only ESG standard designed specifically for social housing and wholly focused on its interests. With v2.1 we are equipping the sector to tell its story more clearly, demonstrate its leadership and continue building confidence among all stakeholders.”

Since its foundation, the SRS has enabled over 138 housing providers across the UK to report on ESG performance in a clear, consistent and comparable way. The Standard has also been adopted by 38 of the sector’s largest funders, including leading banks such as Lloyds and NatWest and institutional investors such as Legal & General, M&G Investments, abrdn, Schroders and Aviva.