MS, Cabinet Secretary for
Housing and Local Government: I am today putting in place a new
10-year Welsh Government Rent and
Service Charge Standard 2026-2036 (the Rent Standard),
providing immediate certainty and stability for social landlords
and tenants across Wales. This long-term policy reflects our
commitment to ensuring that social housing remains affordable,
high-quality, and responsive to the needs of communities.
The Rent Standard has been shaped through extensive engagement
with the sector and wider stakeholders, including Community
Housing Cymru (CHC), the Welsh Local Government Association
(WLGA), and tenant representatives. Alongside the Rent Standard,
we are also publishing the summary of responses to the
public consultation, which shows broad support for our
proposals to strengthen the social rent framework. Respondents
also highlighted key areas for further development — including
the need for an affordability framework, greater flexibility to
support rent convergence, and improved data collection and
transparency.
Affordability remains at the heart of our social rent policy and
I have committed to embedding this further by developing an
affordability framework, which will bring greater clarity and
consistency to rent setting practice across Wales. I have
listened to respondents and acknowledge the potential for rent
convergence to generate additional rental income and promote
greater consistency across the sector. However, convergence is
inherently complex, with significant implications for
affordability. That is why we will undertake further analysis
alongside our work on affordability to inform consideration of
whether, when, and how convergence could be pursued within the
wider housing and fiscal landscape.
We will also continue to progress collaborative work to
strengthen consistency of communication and practice around
service charges, improving transparency and accountability to
tenants. This work will complement our efforts to build on
established good practice in raising wider awareness and
understanding of the role of rent, and expand opportunities to
embed tenant voice in rent-setting processes.
We will reflect calls for improved data collection and
transparency by strengthening our monitoring and reporting
mechanisms, taking the opportunity through the wider rent
settlement agreement and the jointly agreed initiatives developed
with Community Housing Cymru (CHC) and the Welsh Local Government
Association (WLGA), to strengthen transparency and accountability
and improve learning and practice, through enhanced data sharing.
We welcome the sector's commitment to increasing transparency for
tenants and are keen to explore, in collaboration with a small
number of volunteer local authorities, how this could be further
strengthened, including through the voluntary adoption of
regulatory standards for tenant services.
Our new Rent Standard is more than a
technical framework — it is a reflection of our values and our
vision for housing in Wales. It recognises the vital role social
landlords play in supporting individuals, families, and
communities across Wales, and it reaffirms our commitment to
working together to ensure social housing remains affordable for
current and future tenants, and is fair, sustainable, and rooted
in social justice.
