Rents and housing benefit

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There are complex rules regulating social housing rents, service charges and housing benefit. Providers of social housing must understand these rules to carry out their functions and comply with government guidance and legislation. This subtopic provides an introduction to these issues.

Social housing rents

How social housing rents are regulated depends on who is providing the social housing tenancy and the type of tenancy.

There are two types of social housing provider:

  1. •

    local housing authorities (LHAs)

  2. •

    private registered providers

LHAs

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The Welsh Government has published technical guidance on key performance indicators (KPIs) as mandated by the Procurement Act 2023 and the Procurement (Wales) Regulations 2024, SI 2024/782. This guidance outlines the new legal requirements for Welsh contracting authorities to set, publish, and assess at least three KPIs for public contracts valued over £5m. It defines KPIs, provides an overview of the legal framework governing their use, and specifies the requirement to assess supplier performance against these indicators annually. The guidance also introduces a standardised rating system for performance assessment, clarifies the publication requirements for KPI-related information in various procurement notices, and highlights the potential consequences of poor performance, including new discretionary exclusion grounds.

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