Depending on the size of the property portfolio, and the tenure you’ll have slightly different positions on what is coming. But one thing which will be the same for all Associations and Local Authorities will be the tie between the SHWP and the Building Safety Act. As I’ve discussed in previous articles, the need for top-notch data is critical; without this, no matter what staffing structure you have, the management control will always come to the wrong conclusions.

Staffing structure and the Named Person

The number of assets the organisation has will influence how the structure will need to work; large organisations will be able to separate the ‘responsible/nominated person’ and the ‘building safety manager’. Smaller Landlords could possibly need to have the two slightly different functions under one person. This is going to be a significant post and will need to be someone who has high-level control to allow the monitoring and reporting to be detailed enough to be acceptable. Both situations will need a support team. The position could be dedicated with large organisations and possibly multifunction with the medium to small Landlords. The trick will be to make sure the administration is functional and accurate without making it too intrusive to delay required actions.

Regulation

Those of you who have many years under your belt, like myself, will remember the Audit Commission and the regular inspections that were carried out to confirm the Landlord was doing everything they said they were doing, and to the standard required; this will all be coming back. I think self-regulation generally has not worked for a few reasons, but the main one is the number of parties involved with different agendas and their ability to communicate effectively as an industry collective. This does not work, it needs to be an overall body like a Government type regulator to monitor, audit and strategically direct performance. Unfortunately, for a myriad of reasons, including political confrontation, I think this will get fudged.

Another potential requirement will be for ‘named’ staff to be publicised and, though it’s not a major issue if written into a new job description, thought will be needed on how to achieve this on current positions which absorb the new regulatory requirements. Up until now, Health & Safety has been a faceless corporate responsibility. Having named responsible people will carry a premium, including the need for an evidenced education, and a formal Continuous Professional Development (CPD) records which are checked regularly and recorded. Failure of the individual to achieve this could result in dismissal or demotion.

Larger organisations will have the capacity to create a dedicated responsible person but how will the smaller Landlord resolve this? Currently, the safety ‘buck’ stops at the CEO and Board. But the changes mean the CEO would also need to be trained to a level to be called the ‘named’ person if that is what the smaller Landlord decides. This in practice would be untenable and very rare that the person has an education and qualifications in the discipline and also have the credential’s to be a CEO. The answer may be to have the Safety monitoring oversight transferred from the CEO to the Responsible Person and the Board/committee and the Responsible Person operationally answer to the CEO.

The Regulator for Social Housing and the Building Safety Regulator (HSE) will be drawing together a joined up approach, to co-ordinate their procedure to control and monitor. The monitoring details will become clear as time goes on and may be based on outcomes, as in the past. That said, monitoring will need to be about more than historical data and results, it will need to be current data, i.e. staff qualifications, live up to date with CPD and the ‘who, what, where’ from the organisations’ structure; also the H&S Files will need to be up to date.

There can be a lag between works being completed and the H&S files being produced so there will need to be a clear and concise procedure for the Building Managers and Responsible Person to be able to control via the operational works managers.

For the smaller Landlord, the issue will be down to whether you are able to have the operational responsibility with the Building Manager. My opinion is that this will be unlikely, the Building Manager role will be more in line with a housing management professional. The technical function (Spec, approvals, CDM, contract management) could be a service feeding into the Building Manager structure. All that said, the variations in organisations and sizes is that one model will not fit all!

Transparency

The new regulations will require all staff who have an input into all things building safety will have to be identified, including their duties and responsibilities. This information will need to be available to all parties, from the regulators to the residents. In the past, offering roles and titles would be sufficient for Housing Associations; with Local Authorities, there was no pressure to even do this but the new environment will be asking for much more information of all senior staff and their duties.

Please get in touch if you would like to discuss any of the points in this piece further.