Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for his policies of (a) financial pressures facing London local authority Housing Revenue Accounts and (b) the analysis by Savill's reported in the briefing entitled Housing Revenue Account financial pressures, published by London Councils on 15 December 2023.

The department has noted the analysis by Savill’s and has regular engagement with councils, including in London.

The department does not economically regulate local authority registered providers’ HRA finances but does work with local authorities and representative bodies to examine the problems that are common to all landlords, and to gain intelligence from practitioners on measures that have been taken locally, and how these might be adapted to the wider environment. Nonetheless, it is for councils to meet their statutory responsibilities to keep their homes to a safe, decent standard. The revised consumer standards and changes to the role of the Regulator of Social Housing will help to ensure that happens. Local authorities have wide discretion on how to prioritise their spending within the HRA to meet their statutory and other commitments.

The regulatory changes which come into effect on 1 April have been assessed to be affordable to the sector. Impact assessments were published for the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, the publication of the revised consumer standards, and for the ongoing consultation on competence and conduct requirements. All future regulatory changes, including to the Decent Homes Standard, will also be subject to consultation and impact assessment.

The impact assessment for the revised consumer standards can be found here: Annex 5: Regulatory impact assessment, and the draft impact assessment for competence and conduct requirements is available here: Annex C: Impact assessment.