The latest updates and insights from RIAMS Chief Editor Jeremy Manners.

Welcome to the March edition of RIAMS unpacked. I’m counting down the days now until RHE Housing 2026, my first conference with RHE, in Birmingham on 25 March. The lineup of speakers and panellists is fantastic, and I’m looking forward to our first Housing Roundtable LIVE in the afternoon. If you want to shape the conversation on the day, you can submit questions for the panel using this form. If you haven’t yet booked your place and want to find out more, click here. 

Housing matters are also at the fore in Wales, with housing associations gearing up for the implementation of new rules coming into effect on 1 April for investigating and remedying housing hazards. The new requirements are an addendum to the Welsh Housing Quality Standard and are similar to Awaab’s Law in England, setting clear timescales for investigating and resolving hazards. Please get in touch if you work for a stock-holding local authority or registered provider in Wales, as we are rolling out some brand-new training on HHSRS and the WHQS addendum: training@rheglobal.com. 

Additional housing training on the agenda this month sees housing expert Henry Dawson delivering online training on damp and mould. With his infectious enthusiasm for the subject, Understanding and Managing Damp and Mould in Domestic Property will doubtless be an engaging course. He will also be making an appearance at RHE Housing 2026 to update us on the upcoming HHSRS2 Operating Guidance.  

Changing tack, I had an interesting visit (I say that in a geeky way) from our water provider this week, who was carrying out some random sampling of our mains water supply. Not content to let the technician do his job undisturbed, I had a good chat with him about water sampling for heavy metals, bacteria and chlorine levels, as well as the current big issue around PFAS, which are known to contaminate our mains and private water and our food from various manufacturing processes. Our resident private water supply expert David Clapham delivers a range of training courses covering PFAS, sampling and enforcement. Take a look at what’s on offer here. 

Unpacking this month, there are some newsworthy items on cold weather mortality, increased fly-tipping and standards in social housing in Wales. We have a variety of policy and legal updates, and we sneak ‘a closer look’ at RIAMS guidance on taking witness statements. We also introduce the latest Question of the Month from Dr Tim Everett – so grab a coffee and keep reading for your monthly update on all things environmental health.  

In the news 

Cold weather health and mortality: The UKHSA has published its first Cold Mortality Monitoring Report, which indicates over 2,500 deaths in England during winter 2024/25 associated with cold weather. Key findings show that risk rises steeply with age, a higher number of men died than women, and circulatory diseases were the biggest cause of deaths, occurring in the days following cold weather. A LinkedIn article from Dr Ross Thompson, Principal Environmental Public Health Scientist with the Extreme Events and Health Protection Team at UKHSA, provides valuable insight into the report. 

Fly-tipping: There have been a number of recent news reports concerning the increased prevalence of fly-tipping across local authority (LA) areas. Defra has released fly-tipping statistics for England, highlighting the impact this is having on LAs, along with the increase in incidents and enforcement activity being undertaken. To note a few key points from the report, LAs took enforcement action 572,000 times in 2024/25 – an increase of 8% from the previous year; 69,000 fixed penalty notices were issued, an increase of 9%; and the most common size category of fly-tipped waste was (shockingly) equivalent to a small vanload. To help tackle this growing problem, the government is encouraging a publicity drive around seizing and crushing vehicles and calling on LAs to share images and videos of vehicles being crushed on social media. Defra has released guidance for LAs: Vehicle Seizure Powers – Local Authority Guidance, which I’ve linked to the Environmental Crime module in RIAMS Libraries, along with our procedure Unlawfully Deposited Waste: Fly-Tipping (ECP1).  

The Public Services Ombudsman for Wales is proposing to investigate social housing disrepair, damp and mould. The ombudsman reported that in 2024/25, nearly one fifth of new complaints they received were in relation to social housing, often relating to vulnerable tenants complaining of disrepair, damp and mould. The ombudsman conducted a consultation in November and reported that the majority of responses ‘supported that it would be in the public interest to undertake an investigation’ and that there were opportunities for social housing providers to improve their responses to tenants’ reports of disrepair, damp and mould. The investigations into two identified housing associations, which may follow, are ‘own initiative investigations’, meaning that individual complaints are not required for the Ombudsman to investigate.  

Legal and regulatory insights  

• The Senedd has passed the Environment (Principles, Governance and Biodiversity Targets) (Wales) Bill, which aims to protect the natural environment, establish environmental principles, set up an ‘Office of Environmental Governance Wales’ (responsible for ensuring public authorities comply with their environmental duties) and create a biodiversity target-setting framework. The bill summary can be found here.  

• The government has published statutory guidance for local housing authorities in England to support them in preparing and delivering local supported housing strategies under the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023. The duty to produce a strategy rests with the LHA, and social services have a duty to assist the LHA in producing the strategy. The guidance sets out a national framework comprising four components: strategic approach, partnerships, needs assessment and delivery plan. The first strategy should be published by 31 March 2027 (subject to regulations) and then every five years thereafter. As yet, there is no update on the licensing requirements for supported exempt accommodation, but you can find a Guidance Note: Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 (HP259E) on RIAMS. 

• Electrical safety standards for the private rented sector and social rented sector will apply to existing social tenancies in England (granted before 1 December 2025) from 1 May 2026. The requirements already apply to the PRS and new SRS tenancies, and this final stage of implementation will mop up the remaining ones. In the SRS, these regulations also cover electrical appliances provided by registered providers as part of the tenancy. Our updated procedure is available on RIAMS, and we have updated our e-learning, which will be published in the next few weeks.  

• Draft regulations have been laid that will require PRS landlords to provide their tenants with a written statement of terms and a prescribed information sheet. The Assured Tenancies (Private Rented Sector) (Written Statement of Terms etc and Information Sheet) (England) Regulations 2026 will require these new provisions from 1 May 2026, and form part of the tenancy reforms being introduced under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025.  

• The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is receiving its third and final reading in the House of Lords before returning to the House of Commons. Running alongside the bill, the government has launched a consultation on Smoke-free, heated tobacco-free and vape-free places in England, which is open until 8 May. The consultation seeks views on extending smoke-free laws to some outdoor public places, introducing heated tobacco- and vape-free places, introducing exemptions allowing designated smoking/vaping areas and defining boundaries and signage requirements. The devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are progressing plans to support the UK agenda around reducing smoking, supporting people to stop smoking, reducing ill-health from smoking and stopping young people vaping. These are outlined in: 

• Scotland’s Population Health Framework and Tobacco and Vaping Framework: Roadmap to 2034 

• Tobacco Control Strategy for Wales 

• Ten-Year Tobacco Control Strategy for Northern Ireland. 

• The Crime and Policing Bill is in the parliamentary process and is currently at the report stage in the House of Lords. It seeks to address anti-social behaviour, crime, policing, public order and national security. 

  
  

RIAMS in action  

RIAMS Libraries is the number one subscription platform for environmental health, providing a comprehensive library of practical and easily accessible procedures, notices, letters, guidance and forms covering all specialisms. Supporting local authorities in delivering robust and consistent enforcement, RIAMS provides a cost-effective solution for your team, keeping officers on the front line. 

For Scotland, we are looking for an outstanding environmental health professional to lead this next phase of expansion and join us as RIAMS Editor for Scotland. If you are interested in helping to shape the future of environmental health in Scotland, we’d love to hear from you. 

Thanks to Robin Stewart, Property Disputes Partner at Anthony Gold Solicitors, who has kindly allowed us to publish in RIAMS ‘Authorities Bundle for Awaab’s Law created by Anthony Gold Solicitors’. This is a valuable bundle for practitioners looking to support tenants, bringing all the key Awaab’s Law information together in one document.  

Activity: In February, we reviewed and updated 75 documents on RIAMS Libraries, including 54 procedures for England, Northern Ireland and Wales. We have also added a new procedure for England and Wales to guide officers on Compensation in the Event of Serving a Housing Prohibition Order (HP262). 

A closer look:

Procedure: Taking of Witness Statements Guidance (MP35) 

Module: Enforcement  

Relevant to: All practitioners involved in investigations and enforcement 

Countries: England, Northern Ireland and Wales 

Accurate and well-structured witness statements are a vital part of effective enforcement and prosecution work. This procedure outlines the key principles that officers should follow when obtaining witness statements and referencing exhibits to establish clear, admissible evidence that is able to support legal proceedings. It helps guide officers in ensuring witness evidence is reliable, professionally recorded and legally robust. 

The procedure highlights the legal framework governing statements, the practical aspects of obtaining and documenting them and runs through identifying and referencing exhibits. It covers the important distinction between factual witnesses and expert witnesses and how written statements can sometimes be used in court in place of oral evidence. 

Read the full procedure for England (MP35E), Wales (MP35W) or Northern Ireland (MP35N) to understand the detailed requirements and good practice necessary when gathering witness evidence. 

If your organisation doesn’t yet subscribe to RIAMS Libraries, contact RHE Global to book your free demonstration and trial.  

What’s new on RIAMS Communities? 

The forums continue to flourish with conversation and questions across private water supplies, environmental protection and housing. Take the opportunity to join the discussion and network with colleagues in your chosen subject areas here.  

Local authority practitioners and environmental health students can join RIAMS Communities for free. Creating an account is simple with a .gov.uk or .ac.uk email address. Join the conversation at communities.riams.org. 

No Smoke Without . . . Smell?  

February’s Question of the Month with Dr Tim Everett sniffs around to consider if just the smell of smoke can constitute a statutory nuisance. Tim explores the key case law and whether the smell alone may fall within the definition of smoke under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. He also examines common misconceptions about controlling odours from domestic premises, how different statutory nuisance categories may apply, and why assessing frequency, duration, and severity remains crucial. You can read the blog in full here.  

RHE Global  

RHE Global supports environmental health practitioners across all specialisms to work smarter, network and share best practices. Visit RIAMS to stay up to date with the latest environmental health developments and discussions. 

Don’t miss a thing – sign up to get public protection news and jobs straight to your inbox.  

Last year, the government consulted on proposals for MEES and EPC reforms for the private rented sector (PRS), seeking views on, among others, the proposed new EPC metrics to be used, cost caps, exemption periods and implementation timeframe. Towards the end of January, the government finally published their response to the consultation, giving clarity to the PRS on the direction and requirements moving forward. So here are ten key points we now know these reforms will be bringing in:

1. Domestic EPCs will change (currently intended to be brought in from October 2026) to consist of four headline metrics: energy cost, fabric performance, smart readiness and heating system. The banding for the new EPC metrics will be determined through the development of the Home Energy Model (HEM), which will replace the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) as the underlying methodology, though the details of how it will be calculated and translated into EPC scoring bands is yet to be finalised: a consultation on this is currently open until 18 March 2026.

2. A dual-standard approach to MEES compliance will be used, with PRS properties needing to meet a primary standard set against the fabric performance metric and a secondary standard set against either the smart readiness metric or the heating system metric (the decision being at the landlord’s discretion). So a landlord must first invest in ensuring the building’s fabric performance meets the primary standard and then, once it does (or a valid exemption is registered), move to investing in measures to meet their chosen secondary standard.

3. There will be a single compliance date for all tenancies within the scope of the regulations. All will be expected to comply with the regulations by 1 October 2030, with no differentiation in this requirement between new and existing tenancies.

4. There will be a grandfather clause so properties with an EPC C rating on a current or new EPC issued before 1 October 2029 will be considered compliant until that EPC expires (after 10 years) or is replaced.

5. The cost cap will be set at £10,000, with any third-party funding the landlord receives counting towards this, except where the funding is from the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS). In addition, there will be a ‘property value adjustment’  for properties valued below £100,000, whereby the cap will be lowered to 10% of the property value instead. Also, to encourage earlier preparation and investment by landlords, spending on relevant energy efficiency improvements from 1 October 2025 will count towards the £10,000 cost cap. 

6. The cost cap will be reviewed every 5 years to account for inflation and other factors that may affect it. The first review, it is confirmed, will not take place until after the compliance date of 1 October 2030.

7. The penalty will increase to £30,000 as the maximum that local authorities can issue per breach of the regulations. As well as financial penalties for properties that do not meet the standard without a valid exemption, landlords may also be fined for registering false or misleading information on the PRS MEES Exemptions Register.

8. Exemptions are to be updated and new ones added, which is hoped to give landlords greater clarity on when they may apply and allow easier review and compliance checks for local authorities. The cost cap exemption is to be separated out from the existing ‘all relevant improvements made’; there will be new exemptions for property value adjustment, solid wall insulation and negative impacts (which combines two previous exemptions); and the existing ‘new landlord’ exemption is simplified. The revised cost cap exemption, the property value adjustment exemption and the negative impacts exemption will be valid for 10 years; all other exemptions will typically be valid for 5 years, except the new landlord exemption, which will be valid for 6 months.

9. Short-term lets will not be included under the regulations with this update, but legislative power will be sought to be part of the primary and secondary legislation being laid to implement these reforms, which will allow the secretary of state to bring them into scope in the future if considered necessary. 

10. Updated and detailed guidance will be published by the government in 2029 for landlords, local authorities and tenants, covering compliance, enforcement and the changes to exemptions in advance of the higher standard being implemented.   

This government response has confirmed the reforms that will be going forward for EPC and MEES regulations. With this sitting alongside the other substantial changes in the sector with the Renters’ Rights Act, the update and expansion of the Decent Home Standard and the intended extension of Awaab’s Law to the PRS, the regulatory landscape for the sector, it is safe to say, is continuing to evolve apace. As this happens, RIAMS Libraries will be updated to provide local authorities with the support and simplicity they need to continue taking robust and efficient enforcement action across the plethora of new and updated legislation. 

For even more MEES conversation, don’t miss Hannah Nimmo from SOS UK (sustainable housing advocate), one of our speakers at the RHE Housing 2026 Conference. She will be sharing her insights on MEES and discussing their importance and the consequences of low enforcement.

Environmental health and housing regulation teams within local authorities have long spoken about their ongoing struggle to build capacity to effectively deliver all the varied duties and requirements of their roles. 

What data is there?

Within the profession, it is acknowledged that there is something of a resourcing crisis, not least in the discipline of housing regulation. However, while this may be generally recognised, quantifying and demonstrating the scale of the issue is another matter. Limited data has been collected on the subject, and certainly not with consistency or regularity to allow for any helpful analysis. That said, recent years have seen workforce surveys from the CIEH and LGA as well as research by Greenwich University.

What are the main challenges to building capacity?

Several factors will impact the capacity of an environmental health team. While not exhaustive and with their rankings varying across local authorities, commonly cited factors include staff numbers and recruitment, staff retention, the complexity and changes to the regulatory landscape and the financial situation. While each is discussed in turn below, in reality they are all closely interlinked, impacting and influencing one another, so they should not be considered in isolation.

1. Staff numbers and recruitment

There is an ageing workforce due to low numbers of new EHPs entering the profession. This is reflected in the difficulty local authorities have in recruiting appropriately qualified or experienced officers to fill vacancies or replace experienced staff upon retirement. As a consequence, workloads increase, and when trainees or new graduates are taken on, teams have less scope for the additional mentoring and support that is necessary. 

While in recent years there have been efforts to expand avenues to qualification beyond the traditional degrees through apprenticeship routes and advanced professional certificates, these new options still rely on local authorities being willing and having capacity within existing teams to support new recruits coming up through these routes. 

2. Staff retention

Alongside the issues of numbers and recruitment, for those able to fill posts within their environmental health teams, the issue then becomes one of retaining those staff and their level of experience and expertise within the organisation. Fairly few qualified EHPs are reaching strategic-level positions, indicating that within many local authorities, there is an issue around a lack of career progression, opportunities and defined, supported career pathways. EHPs are inevitably leaving their organisation (and sometimes the public sector entirely) in search of the career development they desire. This is equally true for salaries; many local authorities report difficulty being, or remaining, competitive on salary compared with other organisations and sectors, and this is believed to be a large driver of turnover within teams as well as in attracting applicants for vacant posts.

3. Complexity and changes to the regulatory landscape

As our previous blog, Housing Regulations: A review of the year and a look forward to 2026, demonstrated, legislation and regulations continue to be added, changed and updated with increasing complexity in the regulatory landscape in which EHPs work. With the enactment of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 (RRA), EHPs not only find themselves with expanded local authority investigatory powers and the implied expectation of increased enforcement but also a new regulatory framework with additional duties and areas of responsibility, with more still to come into effect at different points over the coming year. However, constraints remain due to the existing high workloads, which limit the time or budget for staff to undertake the necessary training to enable them to stay up to date with changes to the regulatory environment.

4. The financial situation

Finally, as you may have noticed, a common theme running through the previous sections is finances. Local authorities have endured years of austerity and resulting efficiency measures, with environmental health and housing feeling the effects of this as much as other departments. Staffing levels in many teams have been reduced, budgets for services have been squeezed – with discretionary services reduced or cut altogether, and little is left for staff training and development. Many EHPs expect their service budgets to continue to be reduced, either through direct cuts or indirectly through fiscal drag.

What funding is there for change?

While increases to local authorities’ core budgets are extremely unlikely, there has been welcome consideration of the impact of recent regulatory changes in the housing sector on local authorities. It was encouraging to see that four EHPs were invited to give evidence to the select committee looking at the potential impact of the Renters’ Rights Bill (as it was then). This impact was reflected in the confirmation of New Burdens funding, with £18.2 million already provided to local authorities in 2025/26 and a further tranche to be announced and allocated for 2026/27. 

The RRA’s New Burdens funding is allocated based on the size of the private rented sector within an authority’s area, so the amount each local authority receives will vary. It can be used very flexibly, with the only stipulation being that the local authority must be able to demonstrate one of two things:

• It is helping build enforcement capacity, or 

• It is supporting preparation for the implementation of the RRA.

Looking ahead, there is Phase 3 of the act’s implementation, which brings in the extension of the decent home standard and Awaab’s law to the private rented sector. This might lead to a third tranche of New Burdens funding in connection with the RRA, but as fuller details of arrangements have yet to be announced for this phase, we can but speculate on whether this may be. 

Equally, the upcoming implementation of the HHSRS review recommendations, being a substantial update, has the potential to attract government funding. However, there is no official indication from the government on this point yet. If any money is provided, it would likely be less than for the RRA, given that it is a change (albeit a substantial one) to existing regulations rather than a completely new regulatory power or statutory duty. 

Any New Burdens funding is one-off support intended to help teams prepare and improve processes, thereby developing stronger routes for supplementary funding to deliver services. With the current RRA funding, particular emphasis is currently on enforcement and better use of financial penalties (with payments retained by local authorities), which have been strengthened and extended under the RRA. 

With the funding available to local authorities, the important thing is to ensure it is used as effectively as possible. Take time to review and reflect on what is most achievable with the funds available and what would be most beneficial to capacity within existing structures and teams.    

How might capacity begin to be increased?

Digital tools: One option is to utilise technology to simplify, standardise, and improve the efficiency of existing processes. This can be achieved by using a digital inspection tool such as The Housing App. Ensuring technology is utilised where it is most effective helps maintain a consistent approach and assessment across the team and harnesses time savings for individual officers and the team as a whole through streamlined inspections, reducing the need for task duplication and data entry. This also helps make the processes and decisions more robust, ensuring that when financial penalties are deemed necessary, there is less room for challenge or appeal. 

Strengthened resources: Making use of reliable information sources and procedures can increase capacity. Inconsistencies in a team’s work are reduced, as is time spent correcting errors, which in turn reduces the risk of challenges or appeals to notices or enforcement action, all of which would otherwise add to time pressures for the team. RIAMS libraries provide access to reliable, expertly curated information and resources and procedures, supporting newer officers with easy-to-access notice templates, procedures and guidance, as well as reassuring more experienced officers that they are operating in line with best practice.

Collaboration: Another option is to collaborate with neighbouring authorities and share resources. This could be through benefitting from cost savings by co-commissioning training for staff, through the adoption of shared policies, procedures or protocols to build consistency across wider regions, or even moving towards fully integrating certain services to benefit from a combined staffing resource, which will build resilience. Such collaboration can seem daunting, but strategic and effective use of consultancy services, such as those offered by RHE, can help ensure success while allowing officers to maintain essential services throughout the process. With local government reorganisation continuing apace, many authorities will likely have to consider this in the near future.   

Conclusion

While the new funding can’t solve all resource and capacity issues faced by local authorities, it might give teams an opportunity to really consider the challenges ahead and what’s at their disposal to help them feel ready for these changes, both to the regulatory landscape and to local government reorganisation.

The latest updates and insights from RIAMS Chief Editor Jeremy Manners.

Welcome to February’s edition of RIAMS unpacked. Things have been heating up this week at RHE Global as we put the final preparations in place for RHE Housing 2026. Our first in-person conference for a while will see us in Birmingham on 25 March, hosting a day dedicated to the future of housing standards and legal reform. The event promises invaluable insights and practical guidance from leading voices in the sector.  

I’ve even taken to video this time around, to talk about the Housing Roundtable LIVE that we will hold on the day, with fantastic panellists lined up. You can shape the conversation now by submitting your questions for the panel in advance.  

Sign up to RHE Housing 2025 now while tickets are still available.   

Still on the subject of housing, I’m also proud to announce that over 760 people have viewed our free e-learning course Navigating Awaab’s Law: Guidance for Social Landlords. It provides a useful insight into the provisions of the law and is available to work through at your leisure. 

Unpacking this month’s developments, there are some newsworthy items and a variety of policy and legal updates. We also take a closer look at our powers of entry procedure and divulge the Question of the Month from Dr Tim Everett – so keep reading for your monthly update on all things environmental health.  

In the news 

Wyre Council has advised the public not to eat eggs or egg-laying poultry produced domestically near an industrial site in the Hillhouse Technology Enterprise Zone in Lancashire. The Food Standards Agency has issued precautionary advice that people should not consume home-produced eggs or allow birds kept for egg laying within 1 km of the site to enter the food chain, due to elevated levels of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) thought to have arisen from historic contamination from manufacturing at the former ICI site. And in the same week, the UK government published its PFAS Plan designed to understand sources of PFAS, reduce exposure and tackle pathways into the environment. Testing for PFAS will be increased, as will alignment with EU regulation by 2029. Northern Ireland is already subject to the EU’s approach to PFAS through the Windsor Framework and, along with the Welsh and Scottish governments, will look to collaborate with the UK government to ensure a consistent approach. The health impacts of PFAS have been widely publicised in the past, and concerns continue to grow about the health and environmental impacts. With this in mind, we have a private water supply course on PFAS on 18 June delivered by the incredibly popular David Clapham. David will cover what PFAS are, where they come from, the health risks they pose and how they affect water, along with practical considerations for officers. David also authored the RIAMS procedure PFAS: Contaminants of Interest in Private Water Supplies PHP95, which is a valuable tool for officers.  

Clearsprings Ready Homes, one of the companies with a multi-billion-pound Home Office contract to provide housing for asylum seekers and a long-term nemesis to many a housing standards team, has paid financial penalties of £140,000 to Swindon Borough Council for multiple management regulation breaches (as reported by the BBC). With a reputation for being reluctant to accept responsibility, let’s hope the settlement of this latest case ushers in a revised approach from the behemoth organisation. Massive congratulations to Swindon BC.  

Legal and regulatory insights  

• The promotion of high-fat, salt and sugar foods (HFSS) is being restricted in Wales. The Welsh regulations, the Food (Promotion and Presentation) (Wales) Regulations 2025, come into force on 26 March and restrict the promotion of HFSS products by volume price (e.g. multibuy offers), key locations in larger stores and free refills on certain drinks. The regulations apply to medium and large qualifying businesses with 50 or more employees. Enforcement is likely to be carried out by teams with food standards responsibilities, and offences carry fixed monetary penalties of £2,500. Take a look at the Welsh Government Implementation guidance. The England regulations, the Food (Promotion and Placement) (England) Regulations 2021, are largely mirrored by the Welsh regulations in content and resulted in the restriction of HFSS products by location coming into force on 1 October 2022 and the restriction of HFSS products by volume price being introduced on 1 October 2025, with transitional arrangements until 30 September 2026. 

Awaab’s Law is coming to Wales and Scotland:  

• The Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS) sets the minimum requirements to which social rented homes must meet and be maintained. Welsh ministers have announced that the WHQS is being updated to strengthen how social landlords respond to health and safety hazards, particularly damp and mould, in homes. The changes, which are similar to Awaab’s Law in England, will introduce clear mandatory timescales for investigating and remedying hazards. These changes follow concerns raised by the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales about failures by some landlords to address damp and mould hazards adequately. The new requirements are designed to be proactive and person centred and to prioritise health and wellbeing over technical repairs, as well as increasing accountability and transparency for tenants. These new requirements, which will cover all HHSRS hazards from day one (with the exception of Crowding and Space), will come into force on 1 April 2026 for all social landlords.  

• The Scottish Government has introduced draft regulations, the Investigation and Commencement of Repair (Scotland) Regulations 2026, due to come into force in October, imposing timeframes on both private and social landlords to investigate damp and mould and commence repairs. These regulations are expected to be the first stage of Awaab’s Law in Scotland, with further hazards expected to be including through future regulation. 

• Rental discrimination in Wales is to be banned from 1 June 2026. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 (Commencement) (Wales) Order 2026 introduces sections 43–49 of the Renters’ Rights Act, prohibiting discriminatory practice in relation to children or the benefits status of proposed tenants. The prohibition applies to dwellings that are to be the subject of an occupation contract, on the basis that a child would or may live or visit the dwelling or that a person is in receipt of or may receive benefits.  

• Housing offences (sentencing guidelines consultation): The Sentencing Council is running a consultation until 9 April on a package of sentencing guidelines for housing-related offences, including unlawful evictions and harassment, HMO licensing offences and management regulation breaches, providing false or misleading information and failing to comply with an improvement notice, prohibition order or overcrowding notice. These are really interesting proposals that will fill a gaping hole in the guidelines and hopefully lead to more robust and consistent sentencing decisions. Senior Housing Consultant Liz Blend discusses the consultation and its implications here. 

• A draft version of the Assured Tenancies (Private Rented Sector) (Written Statement of Terms etc and Information Sheet) (England) Regulations 2026  has been published and is expected to come in (possibly with amendments) on 1 May 2026. Private landlords will need to issue a written statement of terms to their tenants before they sign a new tenancy agreement from 1 May onwards and issue all existing tenants with a government-produced information sheet by 31 May 2026. The government has released guidance on this and has committed to publishing the information sheet in March. 

• New funding has been announced in Northern Ireland to support low-income households with heating and insulation improvements through the Northern Ireland Sustainable Energy Programme. The programme is expected to support a further thousand vulnerable households in the improvement of the energy efficiency of their homes. 

• Decent Homes Standard – consultation response and policy statement: The government has laid out its plans for a revised DHS to apply to both the private and social rented sectors in England from 2035. You can familiarise yourself with the details and the implications for housing teams on Communities, as well as the crossover with the new minimum energy efficiency standards (MEES). 

• A Warm Homes Plan for England and Wales has been published, along with a new consultation on Home Energy Model: Energy Performance Certificates, which is open until 18 March. The UK government has also provided consultation responses on the following: 

• Reforms to the Energy Performance of Buildings Regime (partial government response) 

• Improving the Energy Performance of Privately Rented Homes 

The Warm Homes Plan is a £15 billion government initiative to upgrade millions of homes and reduce fuel poverty by 2030, with a focus on low-income and fuel-poor households, as well as supporting the retrofitting of green technologies such as solar and heat pumps. MEES will be raised to the equivalent of EPC C and the cost cap for landlords will be increased to £10,000. Solar panels will be required on all new homes, and there will be a further push to deliver more heat networks. 

• The Crime and Policing Bill is now at the report stage in the House of Lords. It is a wide-ranging bill that aims to tackle serious crime, ASB, violence against women and girls and knife and retail crime, while increasing police powers and strengthening public confidence. Notably, it will introduce ‘respect orders’ to tackle persistent ASB, along with new, specific criminal offences targeting retail worker assaults, child criminal exploitation and ‘cuckooing’.   

RIAMS in action  

RIAMS Libraries is the number one subscription platform for environmental health, providing a comprehensive library of practical and easily accessible procedures, notices, letters, guidance and forms covering all specialisms. Supporting local authorities in delivering robust and consistent enforcement, RIAMS provides a cost-effective solution for your team, keeping officers on the front line. 

Supporting environmental health in Scotland  

RIAMS is beginning its expansion into Scotland and we are looking for an outstanding environmental health professional to lead this next phase and join us as RIAMS Editor for Scotland. If you are interested in helping to shape the future of environmental health in Scotland, we’d love to hear from you. 

Activity: In January, we reviewed and updated 195 documents on RIAMS Libraries, including 104 procedures for England, Northern Ireland and Wales. We also added new letter templates for entering land to carry out works in default under section 219 of the Town and Country Planning Act (PL50/51). 

A closer look 

Procedure: Powers of Entry (MP23)  

Module: Enforcement  

Relevant to: All practitioners undertaking inspections and enforcement 

Countries: England, Northern Ireland and Wales 

Powers of Entry (MP23) sets out the general framework for authorised officers using powers of entry to investigate legal compliance. It explains the legal basis, approval processes and practical steps required to ensure entry to property or land is lawful and properly documented. 

The procedure highlights the different statutory provisions, the need to check primary legislation and to have regard to the Home Office Code of Practice, as well as how detrimental deviating from the correct process can be. 

It covers key points for practitioners, including: 

• Documented authorisations, legally robust delegated powers and agreed processes for approval 

• Human rights considerations and identification 

• When to provide notice of powers and rights and the use of PACE 

• When entry is refused, use of warrants and the Criminal Procedure Rules 2025 

• Proper conduct and working within your powers 

• Record-keeping and risk assessment. 

In short, the procedure gives the operational and legal framework that inspecting officers must follow when exercising powers of entry to undertake enforcement. Read the full procedure here. 

If your organisation doesn’t yet subscribe to RIAMS Libraries, contact RHE Global to book your free demonstration and trial.   

What’s new on RIAMS Communities?  

Local authority practitioners continue to sign up to our environmental health forums and engage in conversations across private water supplies, ASB, environmental protection and housing. Take the opportunity to join the discussion and network with colleagues in your chosen subject areas here.  

RIAMS Communities is now available to environmental health students on accredited EH courses in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Students affiliated with an accredited university can register using their .ac.uk email address and join the conversation at communities.riams.org. 

Not Everything, but Definitely More Than Something: January’s Question of the Month with Dr Tim Everett explores what ‘reasonably practicable’ means when investigating statutory nuisance, how far councils need to go, where they have succeeded and where they may stumble. Case law shows that the definition is narrower than what is physically possible and involves weighing the seriousness and likelihood of harm against what is workable in practice. Councils cannot rely on blanket policies and must consider local circumstances and available resources to ensure they deliver proportional, context-specific investigations. You can read the blog in full here.  

RHE Global  

RHE Global supports environmental health practitioners across all specialisms to work smarter, network and share best practices. Visit RIAMS to stay up to date with the latest environmental health developments and discussions. 

Don’t miss a thing – sign up to get public protection news and jobs straight to your inbox.