The Competence and Conduct Standard

On this page, you'll find more information about the government's consultation work on the Competence and Conduct Standard. 

Compentence and Coduct Standard consultation

In February 2024, the then Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), now Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) launched a consultation on the Competence and Conduct Standard and the NHF submitted a full sector response, following engagement with our members.

Summary of our response

Housing associations are committed to delivering a high-quality service to residents and investing in staff development. However, we want to ensure the measures introduced in the Competence and Conduct Standard do not negatively impact costs, retention and recruitment for the sector.

We know the operating environment for housing associations is challenging and housing associations are already difficulties around staff recruitment and retention.

We want to make sure the proposals are deliverable for housing associations, including smaller and supported housing providers, so residents get the best outcomes. The changes proposed are substantial, and need enough time for a transition period that allows the sector to adapt.

In our response to the consultation, we asked the government to consider:

• A transition period of at least five years, enabling the sector to adapt to the standard and reduce disruption to existing services. This will allow costs to be spread over a longer period of time, give the labour market time to adapt to the changes and allow training providers time to adapt.
• More consideration about how the standard will affect supported and smaller housing associations, which may have more staff who would require training under the changes. We’re asking the department to use the Regulator of Social Housing’s definition, which is those with fewer than 1,000 homes.
• Measures to reduce disruption to service delivery, including clarity on which existing qualifications can be passported and whether staff with significant experience can be fast-tracked. For staff in the final years of their careers, an option for exemption should be considered.

You can find out more about the consultation on the government website. You can learn more about our work on the Social Housing Regulation Act and stay informed about the latest developments on our dedicated webpages.

Next steps

A government response to the consultation will be published, which will set out their position on transition periods and qualification criteria, including the role of technical qualifications and requirements for smaller Registered Providers. The standard did not come into force in April 2025 as proposed in the consultation. Following the government’s direction to the Regulator of Social Housing, the Regulator will need to consult on the standard before it can come into effect. We will be coming to our members with guidance and opportunities to feed into our response when that consultation is published.   

In autumn 2025, the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) will set new standards for the Competence and Conduct of social housing staff, coming into force in October 2026. There will be a transition period after this date allowing time to comply with qualification requirements for senior housing managers and executives. At the NHF, we have been asking for a longer transition than the two-year period originally proposed, so we are pleased to see that larger housing associations with 1,000 or more homes will have three years, and smaller housing associations will have four. 

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