We began with a speech from Ashwin Kumar, Professor of Social Policy at Manchester Metropolitan University and Director of Research and Policy at the Institute of Public Policy. He explained some of the reasons that some of our residents are experiencing severe financial stress and the economic conditions our sector is in.

A panel then explored how we deliver our social purpose in times of political and social change. Rhys Moore, Director of Public Impact at the NHF, stressed the need to articulate the full benefits of social housing and its crossover with health and community. Breakout sessions then covered the new rent settlement, SORP, AI and more.

In the afternoon, we spoke about inspections and how to have a positive one. We understood the importance of engagement throughout your organisation and understand what is important to your customers. This means avoiding treating inspections as merely a box ticking exercise.

We closed day one with a discussion on the role of data in decision-making, where Sarah Seeger from LiveWest highlighted how good data management helps us “understand the diverse needs of our customers”.

On Audit and Risk day two, Fiona MacGregor from the Regulator of Social Housing provided an update on the Sector Risk Profile. We then examined social housing’s new responsibilities under Awaab’s Law. One of the things that came through in this session was the importance of a golden thread for tracking repairs and maintenance.

In this session, the Housing Ombudsman, Richard Blakeway emphasised the need for agile responses to material changes in residents’ homes. He gave examples of where responses to one material issue can cause another, particularly around heating and damp and mould.

In our breakout sessions, we looked topics like the Decent Homes Standard, mergers and building a positive employee culture. The plenary on accelerating development explored flexibility around funding sources, and interesting detail on how project financing works. Our final main stage session looked had a look at the future of risk. Alex Sagovsky from PwC said he believed that supply chains have the biggest risk attached to them in the future. Once again, the smart use of data appeared as an important aspect of risk management and a strong audit trail.

Finally, we want to thank Craig Thornton for his excellent job as chair of Audit and Risk 2025. This event would not have been nearly as valuable without his effort.

We will see you at Audit and Risk 2026. Price freeze tickets for next year’s conference are available until Friday 28 November. Book tickets for next year with this year’s super early bird prices.