Posted 09.06.16
The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) has published new analysis of cost variation across the social housing sector and announced that it will increasingly challenge registered providers on their approach to efficiency as part of its regulation of Value for Money (VfM).
Delivering better value for money: understanding differences in operating costs is part of a suite of documents published by the Regulator to help boards and executives further understand the main drivers of costs and ensure appropriate strategies are in place to maximise VfM and meet their objectives of investing in new and existing homes and delivering quality services to tenants.
The new analysis shows that providers have achieved real-term reductions in their headline social housing costs per unit over the past 5 years, in large part due to the cost of maintenance and major repairs falling through the near completion of the Decent Homes programme. However, it also demonstrates that the sector will need to significantly increase its operating efficiency over the next 5 years.
Median headline social housing costs are £3,550 per unit in 2015. The Regulator's analysis found significant variation across the sector, with the lower and upper quartiles of headline unit costs being £3,200 and £4,300 respectively. Providers are forecasting making greater cost savings over the coming years, with the headline social housing cost per unit forecast to decrease by 7% in absolute terms.
