Introduction

Following what seems like another age politically, the Government has now issued its formal response to the consultation on its proposed policy statement for an information scheme enabling social tenants to access key information from their landlords – the Social Tenant (Access to Information) Requirements (STAIRs). As part of its response, the Government has confirmed that it will be directing the Regulator of Social Housing to issue a new standard requiring all private registered providers (PRPs) of social housing to meet the two key requirements of the policy statement – firstly, to proactively publish management information from 1 October 2026, and secondly to implement an access to information scheme for tenants (and their representatives) from 1 April 2027.

Quick recap…

The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 was introduced by the previous Conservative Government following the Grenfell Tower tragedy. The Act brought in new powers for the Regulator to be able to introduce standards relating to information and transparency. The Government issued a draft ‘policy statement’ on access to information requirements and consulted on the statement between May and July 2024. The consultation received a strong response from the social housing sector, with 60% of all responses coming from registered providers of social housing.

Now that the consultation response has been published, we can see more of the shape of how the final policy statement will look. 

Consultation response – Key points

1. Scope of the requirements – Having confirmed that the requirements will apply to PRPs, there was some discussion as to whether the requirements should be extended to local authority registered providers (LARPs) or their tenant management organisations (TMOs). The Government declined to extend the requirements to LARPs on the basis that the existing statutory FoI regime was the most appropriate place for LARP tenants to access information. However, it did indicate that it would look to extend the scope of the FoI Act to cover TMOs.
2. Publication scheme - Chapter 1 of the STAIRs policy statement contains the requirement for PRPs to implement a publication scheme, ensuring that landlords proactively publish information relating to the management of their housing stock. The requirement will come into force from 1 October 2026. The Government considered that the existing scope of the scheme was sufficient to cover all relevant classes of information without publishing an exhaustive list, and at the same time ensuring that landlords retained a measure of flexibility in what to publish.  A key change has been to confirm that PRPs will not be required to create new records to comply with the scheme requirements and that information can be redacted where appropriate and reasonable to do so.
3. Information requests - Chapter 2 of the policy statement contains the requirements relating to the submission of information requests to landlords. The Government has confirmed that standing to make a request will be open to tenants and their representatives only, and that the requests will need to be submitted in writing (they note that landlords should be able to receive requests by email and text message). The Government declined to specify the range of representatives, stating that tenants should be able to designate who their representative is as they see fit. However, the Government was clear that the regime would only apply to current and not former or prospective tenants.
4. Processing of requests – the Government has confirmed the requirement for requests to be processed within 30 calendar days, beginning with the date of receipt of the request, which can only be exceeded in ‘exceptional circumstances’. What these might be is unclear, but reference is made to where a landlord may need to engage with a third party (such as a management company) to access the relevant information. The Government also highlights the aspects of the policy statement which may entitle a landlord to withhold information and explicitly aligns these exemptions with those set out in the FoI Act. It also settles on the proposed 18-hour time limit for processing requests (mirroring the requirements under the FoI Act).
5. PRPs to develop a STAIRs policy  – the Government has included a recommendation that PRPs prepare a policy for access to information requests, that sets out the range of information which would be available to tenants, how their request will be processed (including where a landlord considers it necessary to withhold information). The Government response stressed that freedom of information principles should guide decisions on what to disclose, ensuring consistency, legality, and fairness. A STAIRs disclosure policy should largely reflect FOI exemptions, whilst demonstrating a transparent and accountable approach to disclosure. Clearly, providers will need to factor this into their preparation for STAIRs over the next 12 months.
6. Complaints and regulation – the Government retained the proposed first stage ‘internal review’ process for dealing with any complaints before any escalation to the Housing Ombudsman. Whilst there was some preference within the consultation responses for the ICO to act on complaints, the Government retained its preference for the Housing Ombudsman as the correct portal for disputes, given the Ombudsman’s existing responsibilities for dealing with complaints from social tenants and in light of the Ombudsman’s existing relationship with the RSH.  However, the Government declined to align the STAIRs complaints process with the existing Ombudsman’s complaints handling code, on the basis that the principle of a ‘detriment’ cannot apply to STAIRs-related complaints, which will be focused on whether a landlord has followed the correct process. The Ombudsman may also be able to refer a landlord’s failure to comply with STAIRs to the Regulator.

Both the Regulator and the Ombudsman will issue consultations before STAIRs is implemented – the Regulator on making the necessary changes to their Standards, the Ombudsman focusing on the changes required to their Housing Ombudsman Scheme and how it will deal with complaints and reviews. In addition, the Ombudsman will also be required to publish good practice guidance in due course, to provide examples of how landlords have met the new requirements and how providers can ensure their processes are compliant with the new regime.

Your STAIRs next steps

The consultation response offers a more concrete insight into how the final policy statement will look and providers are now in a position to consider the steps they need to take to deliver effective implementation of the new requirements. In particular, we would advise providers to:

1. Consider what sources of information you hold and start to classify these in line with the classes of information in the policy statement.
2. Begin to prepare your STAIRs policy and plan for the implementation of both the publication scheme and the information requests process.
3. Identify your key operational teams responsible for managing your STAIRs process and your processes for effective collation and retrieval of relevant information from internal (and external) sources where appropriate.
4. Implement STAIRs training for your key teams to ensure readiness for the implementation timelines.

For further information and advice on STAIRs implementation plans, contact me.