Section 4 - Inspections

6.54 As the Regulator, the Department is required to exercise supervision and control over Registered Housing Associations (Article 4 (1) (c) of the Housing (N.I.) Order, 1992) OPSI

. This is carried out by the Governance and Inspection Team within Housing Division. The Team is responsible for providing the Department’s Accounting Officer and the Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO) with an assurance on the probity, regularity and integrity of expenditure in the operation and administration of Registered Housing Associations.

6.55 The Team’s Terms of Reference are to examine the internal workings and control procedures for all Associations in order to:

Assess compliance with regulatory requirements,
Consider how the association is performing in providing good quality, cost effective housing and services,
Measure its ability to achieve improvement in its operations, and
Provide an independent opinion on the adequacy and effectiveness of internal control.

6.56 The Inspection process consists of three stages, Pre-Inspection Research, Fieldwork and Reporting. Associations will be required to provide information to the Department when requested and assist the Inspectors during the Fieldwork stage.

There are four main areas of focus during the inspection:

Corporate Governance
Finance
Property Development
Property Management

The Team reports on how well associations are meeting the legislative and professional requirements and the needs of service users. The format of the report is a four tier grading system or insurance ratings

For more information on the Inspection process

6.57 Departmental monitoring - The Department, in its role as Regulator, is required to monitor the performance of housing associations to ensure regularity, propriety and value for money. As well as the Inspection process, the Department will carry out monitoring periodically through obtaining certain documentation and reports. To avoid duplication of work, the Department will request the same information that the Board receives. This would include:

Minutes of meetings (these should include sufficient information and detail on the operational areas, decisions taken as well as issues that arise)
Performance Indicators
Annual Regulatory Returns

The Department may ask for other information outside of this list at any given time and all Associations are required to comply with these requests.

Back to Governance Guide contents