With the revised Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard, Competence and Conduct Standard, and updated Consumer Standards Code of Practice coming into force today (1 October 2026), Elephants Don’t Forget were delighted to be headline sponsors of Westminster Insight’s Competence and Conduct Standard Conference on Tuesday 29 September 2026, to hear directly from the regulator and leading voices in the sector on what the changes mean in practical terms.
We heard firsthand from speakers including Karen Doran, Director for Regulatory Engagement at the Regulator of Social Housing; Alistair McIntosh, Chief Executive Officer at HQN; and Charlotte Hilliard, Policy Lead on Professionalisation in Social Housing at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Our very own Debbie Ives, Compliance Director at Elephants Don’t Forget, was joined by Sarah Sargent, Group Director of Housing & Neighbourhoods at The Guinness Partnership, to discuss how they are embedding a culture of competence, compliance, and confidence with the support of our multi-award-winning continual assessment technology, Clever Nelly.
Here are some key takeaways from the conference:
1. Regulation is focused on outcomes
A clear message from the Regulator was that this is not intended to be a tick-box exercise. The focus will be on whether providers can demonstrate that staff have the skills, knowledge, experience, and behaviours needed to deliver good-quality services, and that contractor staff are held to the same expectations.
The expectation is that providers have:
- A clear professionalisation plan.
- Appropriate governance and oversight.
- Evidence of tenant involvement and scrutiny.
- A defined approach to qualifications and workforce development.
Importantly, the standard will be assessed alongside the wider consumer standards and TSM performance, rather than in isolation.
One comment that stood out came from Karen Doran, Director of Regulatory Engagement, who mentioned that the difference between organisations achieving C1/G1 compared to C2/G2 gradings is more often down to culture, professional judgement, and decision-making, rather than simply processes or policies.
2. Culture change is the real objective
Several speakers underscored the moral imperative behind these requirements, noting that their origins are rooted in the devastating lessons of Grenfell and the tragic death of Awaab Ishak.
The Professionalisation Review’s view is that qualifications are being targeted at senior leaders because those individuals have the greatest influence over organisational culture. While qualifications focus on leadership roles, the behavioural and conduct expectations apply to everyone.
There was a strong emphasis on:
- Professional judgement.
- Accountability.
- Ownership of outcomes.
- Creating a tenant-focused culture throughout the organisation.
3. Codes of conduct need to be embedded into everyday practice
CIH provided a useful overview of what a good code of conduct should include:
- Integrity and ethics.
- Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion.
- Harassment prevention.
- Professional competence.
- Accountability.
However, the key message was that the code cannot simply exist as a document on a shelf. It should be:
- Co-developed with staff and tenants.
- Embedded into recruitment processes.
- Reflected in objectives and appraisals.
- Incorporated into board terms of reference.
- Built into procurement and contractor arrangements.
The phrase that stuck with our team was that the code needs to be “lived, not filed.”
4. Residents care about outcomes, not qualifications
This was probably the strongest and most consistent message from the entire event.
Resident representatives from Metropolitan Thames Valley (MTVH) made the point that qualifications are simply an input. What matters to residents is whether their experience actually improves.
The questions they want answered are:
- Are complaints reducing?
- Is service improving?
- Is communication getting better?
- Are customer effort levels decreasing?
- Are TSM scores improving?
- Is service delivery more consistent across teams?
Their challenge to providers was essentially: “How will residents feel the difference?”
CIH used the analogy of learning to drive:
- Qualification = passing the theory test.
- Professionalisation = how effectively that knowledge is applied in practice afterwards.
The overall message was that providers should view these changes collectively rather than as standalone initiatives.
The conference reinforced that professionalisation is ultimately about improving organisational culture and resident outcomes rather than simply achieving qualification compliance. The regulator appears far more interested in evidence of improved decision-making, behaviours, and service quality than in qualification completion numbers alone.
Interested to learn more about what we do?
We’re proud to work with leading housing associations, local authorities and property services providers to equip their teams with the knowledge, competence and confidence to deliver optimal resident experiences and outcomes.
Visit our housing sector page and get in touch to see Clever Nelly in action.
Learn more about Clever Nelly and find out how:
- Our data and management information are helping to give better assurance to management and regulators that staff are competent in their roles.
- It’s supporting organisations to verify and demonstrate that frontline trades staff understand key regulatory topics, such as damp and mould under Awaab’s Law.
- It’s being used to justify strategic training decisions; reducing the need for time-consuming refresher training when it’s not required, giving much-needed time back to frontline services.
- It’s informing managers which employees need practical, on-the-job assessments and appraisals.
- It’s supporting assurance evaluations of property services and maintenance teams in relation to their individual understanding of critical health and safety procedures, such as working at height, lifting and carrying, and working with asbestos.
- It’s providing the business with assurance regarding how internal policies and procedures are being understood.
- It’s improving consistency and support during the induction process, giving managers the data required to create targeted training interventions where needed.
- It’s improving right-first-time processes, reducing service failures that often lead to complaints.