The regulator also held its inaugural advisory panel meeting

The publication of the fees statement and the meeting of the Fees and Resources Advisory Panel (FRAP) is part of the social housing regulator’s commitment to be open and transparent with the social housing sector.

The fees statement details the regulatory priorities for the next financial year, the associated budget breakdown and the fee per social housing unit.

The document sets out the regulator’s purpose: ‘Promote a viable, efficient and well-governed social housing sector able to deliver homes that meet a wide range of needs.’ It also details how this will be achieved through their four key priorities: ensure we have appropriate understanding of sector level risks; deliver intelligence led regulation; ensure we are forward thinking and responsive to changes in the external operating environment; ensure we are an efficient and effective organisation.

The statement sets out the new fee system introduced earlier this month for providers. For 2017/18 the initial registration fee is £2,500, then registered providers with less than 1,000 homes pay a flat fee of £300 per annum, while registered providers with over 1,000 homes pay £4.72 per social housing unit.

There is also a breakdown of the regulator’s budget. It shows how money will be raised and how it will be spent, including investing in their staff; making increasing use of automated data analysis; preparing for the transition to a stand alone organisation once legislation is passed in parliament; and delivering a revised IT system to manage their intelligence on registered providers.

The fees statement was discussed at the inaugural FRAP meeting on 24 October, which was attended by representatives from the Chartered Institute for Housing, g15, g320, Homes for the North, National Housing Federation, Placeshapers, Tenants Participation Advisory Service, and UK Finance.

Julian Ashby, Chair of the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) Regulation Committee, said: “While the regulator is accountable to Parliament for the delivery of its statutory objectives, it is important that we are transparent with stakeholders in relation to the fees we have started charging and the quality of the regulation that we deliver.

The annual fees statement supports our commitment to transparency. The twice yearly panel meetings are alongside our extensive stakeholder engagement and will ensure an appropriate geographical, sectoral and stakeholder coverage of views. I hope these steps demonstrate our determination to deliver value for money regulation that supports our ability to retain investors’ confidence in the sector.”