Earlier this Autumn, the Law Commission launched a consultation on proposed changes to co-operative and community benefit society law and regulation.

There are almost 7,850 community benefit (registered) societies (CBS) in England and Wales, including the majority of social housing providers. Many of these are registered with the Regulator of Social Housing or the Welsh Ministers’ Housing Regulation Team and a large number are charitable. Some of the changes the Law Commission has proposed in the consultation could have fundamental implications for these housing providers, as we explained in our previous blog. 

We have been working closely with the Law Commission, the NHF and Community Housing Cymru to explore these implications and their potential impact on CBSs that are registered providers (RPs) and registered social landlords (RSLs). 

The consultation is over 200 pages long and consists of almost 90 separate questions, and the deadline for responses is midnight on 10 December 2024. It is important that as many CBS RPs and RSLs as possible respond, for the Law Commission to have a clear understanding of the views of multiple stakeholders before it finalises any recommended changes to draft legislation. 

We know that many CBS RPs and RSLs are concerned about the proposed changes but may be put off by by the scale of the overall consultation and feel they lack the time to prepare an adequate response by the deadline.

We will be running a webinar on 27 November, specifically focusing on the parts of the consultation that are most significant to CBS RPs and RSLs. 

Our governance experts Vic Jardine, Catherine Simpson and Peter Hubbard will provide a step-by-step guide to the key changes and what they could mean for individual CBSs and the housing sector more widely, and they will provide advice and guidance on how to respond to the consultation.

Following the webinar, a set of specimen responses will be available to any RP or RSL that would find them useful to help them submit their response.

You can register for the webinar here.