Tenant Services Authority
Like all registered housing associations Grand Union Housing Group is regulated by the Tenant Services Authority (TSA). The TSA’s regulatory framework is based around six key standards. These are:
- Tenant Involvement and Empowerment
- Home
- Tenancy
- Neighbourhood and Community
- Value for Money
- Governance and Financial Viability
We are currently working with tenants across the Group to agree how service delivery against these standards can be tailored to meet their requirements and priorities.
Audit Commission
The Audit Commission works with the TSA to inspect housing associations and make sure they are complying with the TSA’s regulatory requirements. The Commission uses Key Lines of Enquiry (KLOEs) to help inform its inspection judgements.
The KLOEs that are relevant to housing are:
KLOE 1 – Prospects for improvement
KLOE 3 – Stock investment asset management (includes repairs and maintenance
KLOE 4 – Housing income management
KLOE 5 – Resident involvement
KLOE 6 – Tenancy and estate management
KLOE 7 – Allocations and lettings
KLOE 8 – Homelessness and housing needs (Local Authorities primarily)
KLOE 11 – Supported housing (including sheltered housing)
KLOE 12 – Management of leasehold and shared ownership housing and leasehold management, shared ownership and right to buy
KLOE 13 – Housing regeneration and neighbourhood renewal
KLOE 14 – Right to buy, right to acquire and home ownership services
KLOE 30 – Access and customer care in housing services
KLOE 31 – Diversity
KLOE 32 – Value for money
KLOEs 3 to 14 relate to operational services and are concerned with the detail of the specific service area being assessed or inspected. KLOEs 30, 31 and 32 are for overarching assessments of access, diversity and value for money, although these elements are also included in the operational KLOEs.
KLOEs are reviewed by The Audit Commission on a regular basis. When organisations are inspected they are required to provide documented evidence to support compliance with each of the KLOEs. If an organisation is unable to do this, it will have a negative impact on their rating. Therefore it is important that Aragon logs documents as ‘evidence’ for each KLOE.
Homes and Communities Agency
Although not part of the regulatory process, the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) provides the funding needed to enable affordable homes to be built and regeneration work to take place. It also seeks to ensure that new homes are environmentally and socially sustainable.
