The government plans to direct the Regulator of Social Housing to introduce the new access to information requirements in early 2025. This practical workshop will provide delegates with all the essential information about the Social Tenant Access to Information Requirements (STAIRs), from what they cover to how they fit into the wider regulatory framework.

The STAIRs were consulted on last summer and are designed to give all social housing tenants the opportunity to find out key information from their landlord about the management of their homes.

The proposals were essentially housing associations’ version of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI) and will only affect private registered providers. Stock holding local authorities and ALMOs will continue to be subject to FOI requests as public authorities.

Housing associations, however, must understand the details of the requirements and prepare for them to come into effect. This workshop will provide practical advice on the best ways to give tenants easy access to accurate information and underline the importance of good minute-taking and record-keeping.

The workshop will cover:

• What the STAIRs entail and what the likely impact is going to be
• What you should expect once tenants get the right to access information
• How organisations handle FOI requests and what you can learn from the process
• A view from the other side – what tenants and journalists expect to receive when making requests.

Why attend?

• Understand the new Social Tenant Access to Information Requirements (STAIRs) and how these will be implemented
• Receive practical advice on preparing to meet the requirements
• Keep up to date on current good practice and what you can do in advance to make this easier for you and your tenants
• Connect with data and governance colleagues from across the sector.

Essential for:

Housing association staff only, particularly:

• Data governance managers and teams
• Communications managers and officers
• Board members
• Governance managers
• Information management teams
• Operations managers
• Customer services managers.

10:30am Welcome and introductions

• Chloe Fletcher, Director, HQN

10:40am STAIRs – the requirements

• Roger Jarman, Associate, HQN

11:10am The journalist’s perspective

• Keith Cooper, Freelance journalist

11:45am Break

11:55am Learning from others

• Chloe Fletcher, Director, HQN

12:25pm Closing remarks

• Chloe Fletcher, Director, HQN

12:30pm Close

Chloe Fletcher, Director, HQN

Chloe has worked in the social housing sector for over 25 years, since her first role in housing management with JSS Pinnacle as a trainee housing officer. She completed a Masters in Housing with Professional Qualification at the London School of Economics and then moved into housing policy, working on behalf of the London boroughs, initially for London Housing Unit and then London Councils. She joined the National Federation of ALMOs (NFA) in 2007 working with members, government officials and wider housing stakeholders to develop NFA policy and support the ALMO movement. She brings her wide range of housing management and policy knowledge to HQN as director, working across the business and bringing her skills and experience to the whole social housing sector.

Roger Jarman, Associate, HQN

Roger Jarman is a long-standing HQN associate. He provides consultancy services, leads training programmes and writes on housing regulation and other matters. He is the author of HQN’s toolkit on the new regulatory framework for social housing.

Apart from his consultancy work, Roger runs a small housing charity in West London. In September 2024, he was appointed Chair of the Independent Housing Board for the London Borough of Ealing. He has held non-executive positions in three housing providers.

He has worked in senior positions in both housing associations and local authorities. From 1991 to 1999, he was Head of Housing Management at the Housing Corporation and from 1999 to 2011, he was Head of Housing at the Audit Commission, overseeing the 1,400 housing inspections undertaken by the commission during that period. He was a member of the team that produced the Cave Review of social housing regulation in 2007.

Keith Cooper, Freelance journalist

Keith Cooper is a freelance investigative journalist, researcher and writer specialising in housing, homelessness and mental health care. His work has been covered by national media and cited in newspaper editorials, parliament, official reports, medical journals and academic textbooks. He has worked as an editor and reporter on the Health Service Journal, Inside Housing and Local Government Chronicle magazines. He’s spent the last year investigating and writing about the increasing use of temporary accommodation, including the escalating use of out-of-area placements and the hidden impact of poor-quality housing on child development and the safety of babies. His work points out good practice as it exposes shortfalls in provision. Before training as a journalist, Keith worked as a diagnostic radiographer for the NHS.

If you are unable to attend an event or public training course, please let us know in writing (email is fine) at least 48 hours before. Please email [email protected]

Otherwise, a cancellation fee of £60 plus VAT will be chargeable.

If you are using a package place to attend and do not inform us within the agreed time frame, then a place will be taken to cover your non-attendance.

Cancellations must be made in writing, and will be acknowledged by HQN Limited.