The Scottish Housing Regulator has written to all social landlords to highlight how to access the advice on Coronavirus Covid-19 and to advise landlords on business continuity issues.
Landlords need to be aware of, and have regard to, the latest advice from Government, the NHS and the Chief Medical Officer. The position is changing on a daily basis and therefore it is important to check that advice regularly.
The Scottish Government’s advice can be found here https://www.gov.scot/coronavirus-covid-19/
Public health advice can be found at: Coronavirus (COVID-19) on NHS Inform.
For the latest advice and information from the UK Government go to gov.uk/coronavirus.
Health Protection Scotland provides general advice on protecting people from the virus at: https://www.hps.scot.nhs.uk/a-to-z-of-topics/wuhan-novel-coronavirus/
The latest travel advice is available here: gov.uk/guidance/travel-advice-novel-coronavirus.
The Regulator has advised all social landlords to ensure that their business continuity / resilience plan is up to date and accessible to all who may need it. It has advised that landlords should prepare to maintain a record of any instances where service cannot be delivered because of Coronavirus Covid-19, for example where a tenant cannot give access to their home / attend its office because he or she is self-isolating.
The Regulator has advised social landlords to notify it of any significant service disruption or financial impact as a consequence of Coronavirus Covid-19.
The Regulator will monitor the impact of Coronavirus-Covid-19 on social landlords and will report any significant impact to the Scottish Government. It will take account of the impact of Coronavirus Covid-19 reported by a landlord when it assesses the landlord’s performance in the annual risk assessment.
Notes to editors
- The Scottish Housing Regulator was established on 1 April 2011 under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010. Its objective is to safeguard and promote the interests of tenants and others who use local authority and RSL housing services. The Regulator operates independently of Scottish Ministers and is accountable directly to the Scottish Parliament. It assumed its full regulatory responsibilities on 1 April 2012. The Regulator consists of the Chair and eight Board members. More information about the Regulator can be found on its website at www.scottishhousingregulator.gov.uk
- SHR regulates around 160 registered social landlords and the housing activities of 32 local authorities.
- SHR sets its approach to regulation in its Regulatory Framework.