Equality, diversity and inclusion plays an important role in the Regulator’s new approach to Inspection

Having a robust equality, diversity and inclusion strategy was key to achieving our C1 grading from the Regulator. 

Nottingham Community Housing Association (NCHA) has recently undergone its first inspection under the new regulatory standards. This gave me the opportunity to observe the impact of our EDI strategic work on both the inspection process, and our ultimate C1 grading under the new consumer standards.

The Transparency, Influence and Accountability standard is the key standard which considers EDI. However, much of its content is not new as it replaced the Transparency, Involvement and Empowerment standard which also had specific expectations around understanding and responding to the diverse needs of tenants. The new standards have a renewed emphasis on knowing and understanding our customers, but the principles here are long-standing. The Regulator is looking for a matured approach from providers of social housing as part of the new inspection regime.

NCHA started its EDI data analysis journey about 6 years ago and we still have a way to go as we develop a more nuanced approach to understanding our customers’ needs. We want to move beyond recorded protected characteristics towards a position where we understand specific vulnerabilities which might impact on the service they need.

Our regulatory inspection considered in detail how we were meeting the Transparency, Influence and Accountability standard. The regulator was particularly interested in how we used our EDI data to plan for and deliver services. Examples given were the changes made to our Community Support Team offer to reach our customers from Black and Minority Ethnic communities who were underserved by our tenancy sustainment interventions and overrepresented in the small number of tenancy failures we record each year. We also demonstrated our detailed complaints and satisfaction analysis which helps us understand any disparities in the experience and services our customers receive.

We detailed our plans and progress around developing a greater level of understanding of customers with additional needs or vulnerabilities. We also demonstrated how we would be working with our involved customer groups to develop specific service standards to meet these needs.

The inspection considered how customers were involved at NCHA and met with our Scrutiny Panel. They had specific lines of enquiry on the diversity of our involved customer groups, how we ensured our board heard the voices of NCHA customers, including those in minority groups, and whether there was a culture of fairness, transparency and respect.

The customer is front and centre of the new regulatory inspection. NCHA scored well in our inspection; however, we know we still have a long way to go to really get to know our customers and deliver the best possible services to enable them to live well in their homes. Our EDI strategic activity is a foundation for much of our compliance with the consumer standards. An evidence base of robust data – including equalities data - is necessary to demonstrate that you know your customers and that your services are designed around their needs, both operationally and strategically.