Short notice inspections in local authority housing services and ALMOs
Following the introduction, during 2008, of new style short notice inspections of housing associations, in October 2008 the Audit Commission launched a consultation exercise on proposals for short notice inspections of local authority housing services and arm’s length management organisations (ALMOs). In light of responses to that consultation, the methodology to be used in a pilot programme of inspections was published.
A programme of pilot inspections ran from March to July 2009. The outcomes from this programme will be considered by the Audit Commission Board later this year to decide whether short notice inspections of local authorities and ALMOs should feature in the forward programme of housing inspections.
A copy of the earlier consultation paper and a summary of the responses we received are available for information
Short notice inspections of housing associations
Short notice inspections have been developed to encourage improvements in the performance of housing associations (HAs) in delivering services to their customers: tenants and leaseholders. They focus on the outcomes for residents and work on the basis that HAs will concentrate on improving services rather than preparing for an unprogrammed inspection, which could happen at any time.
Following consultation, the Audit Commission has now issued the revised Short notice inspection of housing associations: Statement of methodology.
For interested parties, the feedback the Audit Commission received during the consultation programme is available in Short notice inspection of housing associations: Summary of the responses to the consultation on our methodology. This document summarises the responses as well as setting out how we have dealt with the responses in the final version of the short notice inspection methodology.