Introduction
We regulate social landlords to safeguard and promote the interests of current and future tenants of social landlords, people who are or may become homeless, and people who use housing services provided by registered social landlords (RSLs) and local authorities.
Social landlords provide homes and services to around a quarter of all households in Scotland. In doing so, they make a major contribution to the wellbeing of individuals and local communities, supporting the achievement of many of the Scottish Government’s National Outcomes.
The last few years have been amongst the most challenging for those who rely on social housing and for those who provide it. The coming years look like they will remain unpredictable, volatile and difficult. This includes continuing financial hardship for many tenants, and social landlords being impacted by cost inflation, higher interest rates and tightening of public finances. This is the context in which social landlords need to tackle the acute problems in homelessness, decarbonise homes and alleviate fuel poverty, and maintain tenant and resident safety alongside delivering good services.
This context will challenge the resilience, capacity and confidence of social landlords as they continue to strive to serve their tenants and service users. The ability of social landlords to adapt and evolve, to be resilient in the face of change and challenges, has never been more important, not least to protect the positive contribution that social landlords have made to many of our communities over the decades.
We recognise that the current context means that social landlords are likely to have to prioritise their attention and resources on the most critical and immediate issues. Through the 2023 review of our Regulatory Framework, we know that our stakeholders want a stable regulatory environment that supports the delivery of good outcomes for tenants and service users.
We will work with our stakeholders to understand what achievable priorities at a sustainable pace look like for social housing for the next three years. We will also continue to work closely with all our stakeholders to protect the interests of tenants and others by supporting social housing and delivering shared goals. And we look forward to working with all of our people to deliver this strategy.
Our strategy sets out what we will do to fulfil our statutory objective and functions over the three years to March 2027. We describe the wider contribution that we aim to make in social housing and also as a Scottish public body.
We will report on our performance each year in our published annual report, setting out the work we have done to deliver our statutory objective and functions and our progress in delivering against each of our strategic priorities. We will review the strategy at its mid-point in 2025/26 to ensure it remains relevant.
George Walker, Chair
Our role
The Scottish Parliament has set us one statutory objective:
to safeguard and promote the interests of current and future tenants of social landlords, people who are or may become homeless, and people who use housing services provided by registered social landlords (RSLs) and local authorities.
It also gave us statutory functions to achieve our objective. These are the things we must do:
- monitoring, assessing and reporting regularly on the performance of social landlords and the governance and financial health of RSLs;
- making regulatory interventions where appropriate; and
- maintaining a register of social landlords.
To help us deliver these functions, the Scottish Parliament has given us a range of powers, including powers to:
- request information from social landlords;
- make inquiries in/of social landlords;
- set a performance improvement target (for one or more social landlord);
- require a performance improvement plan from a social landlord;
- serve an enforcement notice on a social landlord;
- appoint a manager to a social landlord;
- appoint a governing body member to an RSL; and
- direct the transfer of an RSL’s homes to another RSL.
We are committed to better regulation principles enshrined in the Scottish Regulators' Strategic Code of Practice and will regulate in a way that is proportionate, consistent, accountable, transparent and targeted only where needed.
We set out in the Regulatory Framework our risk-based approach to how we deliver our functions, meet our duties and use our powers. We put empowering tenants and landlord self-assurance at the heart of the Framework and we promote equality and human rights.
Our wider contribution
By regulating social landlords, we support them to:
- achieve the standards and outcomes in the Scottish Social Housing Charter;
- provide tenants with good-quality and safe homes that meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard and the Social Housing Net Zero Standard;
- keep homes as affordable as possible;
- meet their duties to prevent homelessness and help people who are experiencing homelessness; and
- be well-governed and in good financial health (RSLs only).
We also help maintain the confidence of funders, lenders, and investors in social housing. This helps social landlords to secure investment in their work at competitive rates, which in turn helps to protect the interests of current and future tenants.
In turn, this all contributes to the Scottish Government’s National Outcomes, including:
- Children and Young People – We grow up loved, safe and respected so that we realise our full potential;
- Communities – We live in communities that are inclusive, empowered, resilient and safe;
- Environment – We value, enjoy, protect and enhance our environment;
- Human Rights – We respect, protect and fulfil human rights and live free from discrimination; and
- Poverty - We tackle poverty by sharing opportunities, wealth and power more equally.
Through our regulation we support the Scottish Government’s vision under the Housing to 2040 route map for everyone to have access to a warm, safe, affordable and energy efficient home that meets their needs, in a community they feel part of and proud of. We will actively work alongside the Scottish Government and stakeholders to support this.
We will continue to strive to be an effective public body, meeting our duties and obligations and we will contribute constructively to the Scottish Government’s public service reform agenda. We will continue to work to meet and respond to wider policy agendas, including those on:
- equalities
- human rights
- rights of the Child
- consumers
- Corporate Parenting
- biodiversity
- climate change
How we will achieve our objective
We will meet our statutory objective by regulating social landlords effectively and efficiently. We achieve that by successfully delivering our statutory functions and by fulfilling our duties and responsibilities as a public body.
Our strategic priorities are:
- To deliver our statutory functions
- monitoring, assessing and reporting regularly on the performance of social landlords and the governance and financial health of RSLs
- making regulatory interventions where appropriate
- maintaining a register of social landlords
- To listen to tenants and service users, use their feedback to inform effective regulation, and empower them by publishing useful performance information about their landlord
- To work closely with, and listen to, all our stakeholders, to help us understand the challenges they face, and to promote a wider understanding of the current and emerging risks that may impact on social housing
- To be an effective, efficient and open public body and contribute constructively to the Scottish Government’s public service reform agenda
We will maintain our focus on the major challenges in social housing – including those in homelessness, net zero, cost inflation and affordability – while being agile in response to events and developments in social housing and the wider world. We will be ready to flex our focus and adjust our approach to ensure these remain relevant and appropriate.
The views of our stakeholders are important to us. We will engage with our stakeholders regularly to hear from them about their priorities and our work. We will use this to inform our approach and work plans. We will look for opportunities to collaborate and to use our information and influence to help achieve the best possible outcomes for tenants and service users.
What we will do in the next three years
We set out below the actions we will take to deliver on our strategic priorities and to regulate effectively.
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Priority 1: Deliver our statutory functions |
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Every year we will:
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By March 2027, we will also:
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Priority 2: Listen to tenants and service users, and use their feedback to inform effective regulation, and empower them by publishing useful performance information about their landlord |
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Every year we will:
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By March 2027, we will also:
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Priority 3: Work closely with, and listen to, all our stakeholders, to help us understand the challenges they face, and to promote a wider understanding of the current and emerging risks that may impact on social housing |
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Every year we will:
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Priority 4: To be an effective, efficient and open public body and contribute constructively to the Scottish Government’s public service reform agenda |
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Every year we will:
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By March 2027, we will also:
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How we will be accountable and demonstrate our effectiveness
We are directly accountable to the Scottish Parliament for the achievement of our statutory objective and the delivery of our statutory functions. We welcome the scrutiny of our work by Parliamentary Committees, and we update the relevant Committees on our work throughout the year.
Our Board and Management Team will monitor progress against our priorities and work plans throughout each year.
Each year we will publish a summary of the work we will do to deliver this strategy. In each annual summary we will set out the key measures we will use to demonstrate our delivery of the actions in this strategy.
We will report on our performance each year in our annual report and accounts. In each annua report we will specifically set out the work we have done to deliver our statutory objective and our statutory functions and our progress against the strategic priorities and actions we have set out in this strategy. We lay our National Report on the Scottish Social Housing Charter and our audited Annual Report and Accounts before Parliament each year.
We will publish reports on our delivery of relevant public body duties. We will also cooperate with the Information Commissioner, Scottish Public Services Ombudsman and Scottish Information Commissioner around any concerns raised about us. We will report on these in our annual report and accounts.