Annual Assurance Statement 2023
Dear colleague,
I am writing to follow up on some previous information that we have issued about what you should consider when completing and submitting your Annual Assurance Statements. You are due to submit your next statement to us by 31 October 2023.
We have previously published guidance to support landlords when they are completing the Annual Assurance Statements.
In the Annual Assurance Statements submitted in both 2021 and 2022, we asked social landlords to provide us with assurance that they had appropriate plans to implement an effective approach to the collection of equalities information and that they had started to consider how they can adopt a human rights approach in their work. Sector guidance on equalities data collection was published on 19 August 2021 and last updated on 27 June 2022.
In this year’s Annual Assurance Statements we are asking again that you provide us with assurance that you have an effective approach to the collection of equalities information and are considering how your landlord can adopt a human rights approach in its work.
We are also looking for a clear statement in the Annual Assurance Statement this year on your landlord’s compliance with relevant obligations in relation to tenant and resident safety. We wrote to all landlords on 1 December 2022 to confirm this and to say that we would provide additional advice on the areas to be covered.
In the Annual Assurance Statement to be submitted this year, we are asking landlords to confirm whether they meet all duties in relation to tenant and resident safety, and in particular that they have obtained appropriate assurance about their compliance with all relevant safety requirements including:
- Gas safety
- Electrical safety
- Water safety
- Fire safety
- Asbestos
- Damp and Mould
- Lift safety
The SFHA Self Assurance Toolkit may provide you with further information on this, as will the SFHA’s advice note for governing body members on dealing with damp and mould.
We recently carried out a programme of visits to landlords to discuss their Annual Assurance Statements. During the visits we asked how landlords had assured themselves about compliance with their duties in relation to tenant and resident safety.
We will shortly publish a report on the findings from the Annual Assurance Statement visits to share lessons learned.
I hope you find this information helpful. If you have any questions about your Annual Assurance Statement, please contact your Engagement Plan lead officer.
Best wishes
Michael Cameron
Chief Executive