Citizen Housing has received top marks from the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) – with a bit of help from HQN.

The West Midlands-based housing association was awarded the highest possible consumer and governance gradings by the regulator following its recent inspection.

In an article written for HQN’s quarterly magazine, Katie Finch, Citizen’s Director of Assurance and Business Services, discussed the work that went on behind the scenes to help the housing association navigate the inspection process and how HQN provided useful support.

Katie wrote: “The first thing to say is that inspection is a marathon not a sprint. It has been over seven months from the first call we received to when our judgement is public.

“One of our key priorities leading up to our inspection was to prepare through a mock process. We commissioned HQN to carry out as much of the process that the regulator would do which included document requests, interviews and observations of our boards and committees.”

“We submitted up to 100 documents as part of the evidence gathering. The key from our point of view was to highlight any potential gaps, which has helped us to articulate ourselves better when the regulator asked questions.

“Confidence was a big thing – for the board and committee members as well as the engaged tenants. They hadn’t been through an inspection before so to understand the process and what was expected of them was quite valuable.

“You do really have to prepare well. Inspections are fundamentally different to IDAs, particularly with the consumer regulations, which touch on every single part of the organisation.

“It’s also quite demanding – inspections are time demanding and require the right level of resource, but you also have to make sure it’s business as usual as delivering for customers remains the top priority.

“[HQN’s] Damian [Roche] was brilliant, we really valued his support especially his work on the consumer standards and working with our engaged customers.”

You can read more about HQN’s inspections work in the HQM feature here