01 Jan 2001
Qualifications and the Competence and Conduct Standard
The Competence and Conduct Standard will come into force on 1 October 2026. To comply social housing providers will be required to have:
- A Code of Conduct that sets out the expectations for professional behaviour across the organisation, see CIH code of conduct here
- A Workforce Development Policy that should include arrangements for recruitment, induction, learning and development, performance management, and continuous development that ensures employees, and where relevant service providers, have the skills, knowledge, behaviours, and support needed to perform their roles effectively
- A Workforce Development Plan that evidences how organisations will support all members of staff to develop knowledge skills and behaviours required for their role, and includes evidence that senior managers and executives hold, or are working towards, a recognised housing management qualification where required.
This check list is designed to support those in HR roles identify which senior management and executive roles are in scope of the qualification requirement, verify existing qualification of the staff in these roles, and develop a plan to ensure that the mandatory qualification requirements are met within the transition period.
References are provided for guidance, you must ensure that the policy is fully read and understood within the organisations, responsibility for ensuring all staff in scope are appropriately qualified lies with the housing organisation.
Stage one: Identify roles in scope
Review job descriptions to:
Where to find the information you need:
The job description for each person can be used to support this, for internally employed staff:
Are they a Senior Housing Manager or Senior Housing Executive? (Chapter 2 para 15 & 16 ; Annex A paras 8–26; Annex D)
Do they have a substantive role/ spend the majority of their time in managing housing management services for registered providers? (Chapter 2 para 15(a); Annex A paras 4–23)
Where to find the information you need:
Do any role-based exemptions apply? (Chapter 2 para 15b, Chapter 5, Annex A paras 27–37)
Have they been in post for more than 12 months? (Chapter 2 para 15(c))
Where to find the information you need:
For service providers/ organisations that use service providers see Chapter 6, Annex A para 1-3 (particularly 29-37, 49-53), Annex B, Annex D)
Stage two: Identify role subsection and level
The MHCLG competence and conduct policy statement splits roles into subsections, identify which role fits best into each of the subsections:
The job description for each person can be used to support this, split everyone up into level 4 or 5 and subsection A, B or C
Also see guidance on cross cutting roles (Chapter 3 para 26)
| Qualification Level required | Role Subsection |
| Level 4 - Senior housing manager (Chapter 3 para 18; Annex A paras 8–26; Annex D) | A – General housing Management (Chapter 3 paras 22–23; Annex A para 5) |
| B - Technical Housing Management (Chapter 3 para 24; Annex A para 5) | |
| C - Leasehold/Cross-Tenure (Chapter 3 para 25; Annex A para 5) | |
| Level 5- Senior housing executive (Chapter 3 para 19; Annex A paras 8–26; Annex D) | A – General housing Management (Chapter 3 paras 22–23; Annex A para 5) |
| B - Technical Housing Management (Chapter 3 para 24; Annex A para 5) | |
| C - Leasehold/Cross-Tenure (Chapter 3 para 25; Annex A para 5) |
Stage three: Verify existing qualifications and apprenticeships
For members of staff who are employed in roles in scope request evidence of any achieved qualifications/ apprenticeships they hold/ are working towards.
Evidence could be a certificate or letter of achievement from the awarding organisation/ university.
3A and B — Is the qualification/ apprenticeship at the correct level and relevant to role?
Check that the qualification/ apprenticeship:
Where to find the information you need:
Is the qualification/ apprenticeship at the correct level for their role?
- Senior managers must be level 4 or higher (Chapter 3 paras 18–19, 28–29)
- Senior execs must be level 5 or higher (Chapter 3 paras 18–19, 27–29).
Note that SQA/ Qualifications Scotland Accreditation uses a different levelling system.
Where to find the information you need:
Are any achieved / live enrolments on qualifications or apprenticeships in subjects relevant to the persons role subsection?
- General housing management relevant qualification/ apprenticeships (Chapter 3 paras 22–23, Annex A para 38 - 40)
- Technical relevant qualification/ apprenticeships (Chapter 3 paras 24, Annex A para 38 - 40)
- Leasehold relevant qualification/ apprenticeships (Chapter 3 paras 25, Annex A para 38 - 40)
- See additional guidance on recognised qualification types in Annex A para 38-40).
3C — Is the qualification/ apprenticeship regulated?
Where to find the information you need:
Is the qualification regulated (Chapter 3, 28–29)
| Qualification | Regulated |
| CIH Level 4 or 5 qualification | Yes |
| The Institute of Housing Professional Qualification (PQ) | No - but is a recognised allowed level 5 qualification in the policy statement (Chapter 3.3 para 29) |
| CIH validated housing degree | Yes |
| Other CertHE, DipHE, Foundation Degree, Degree, Postgraduate Certificate/ Diploma/ Degree, HNC, HND | Contact university/ college to inform |
| Other Level 4/5/6/7/8 qualifications Apprenitceships |
Check certificate for regulators logo (Ofqual/ Qualifications Wales/ CCEA/ SQA/ Qualifications Scotland Accreditation, or a predecessor of these) or contact the awarding organisation (particularly by a predecessor of the regulator listed above). For English Apprenticeships with an End Point Assessment the lfate/ Skills England logo will appear on the certificate. For apprenticeship frameworks the learner should have a qualification certificate. See the guidance above for other Level 4 to 8 qualifications. |
3D — Is the qualification the correct size?
Where to find the information you need:
| Qualification | Qualification time of over 120 hours? |
| Foundation Degree/ HNC/HND, Degree, Postgraduate Certificate/ Diploma or Master’s degree | Yes |
| CIH Level 4 or 5 Certificates | Yes |
| CIH Level 4 or 5 Diplomas | Yes |
| Other Level 4 or 5 Certificate or Diploma | Usually Yes - but check the qualification specification/ syllabus, or contact the awarding organisation for confirmation as there are anomalies, especially in older qualifications |
| The Institute of Housing Professional Qualification (PQ) | Yes |
| Level 4 or 5 Award | Generally 120 hours or less - however check the qualification specification/ syllabus, or contact the awarding organisation for confirmation as there are anomalies, especially in older qualifications |
3E — Does the qualification include the required content?
- Compare the achieved qualification/ apprenticeship's content against the qualification content requirements in the competence and conduct policy statement
- Identify if there are any knowledge gaps for each person.
- CIH level 4 and 5 qualifications can be checked here
- For English end point assessment apprenticeships, the knowledge skills and behaviours studied can be found by searching for the apprenticeship here
- For CIH validated housing degrees, we can't guarantee that all historic validated degrees meet all of the content requirements, so they must be mapped to the course content statements in the policy
- For all other qualifications/ degrees and devolved nations apprenticeships, the qualification certificate transcript should include a list of units studied or ask the university or awarding body for the qualification specification or syllabus.
These can be used to map what was studied against the course content requirements set out for each subsection in the policy:
- Subsection A – General Housing Management qualifications/ apprenticeships content requirements (Chapter 3 paras 22–23; Annex A 38–40, 41, 42a,)
- Subsection B - Technical Housing Management qualifications/ apprenticeships content requirements Chapter (3 para 24; Annex A 38–40, 41, 42a, b)
- Subsection C (Leasehold/Cross-Tenure qualifications/ apprenticeships content requirements (Chapter 3 para 25, Annex A 38–40, 41, 42a, b, c),
Where a qualification/ apprenticeship contains some of the course content required for the subsection, but not all it is partially compliant (Chapter 3.4 para 31 Annex A 41-42).
Additional training modules can be studied to cover missing content, but additional training must be of an appropriate size and level and be completed within the transition period (Chapter 3 para 30-34, Annex A 43-44)
Additional training may not be considered if it was studied more than 2 years before the standard comes into force (Chapter 3 para 31b).
Stage four: Create a plan to close qualification gaps
- Identify each of the in-scope role holders as, non-compliant, partially compliant, or fully complaint
- Check the transition period for your organisations size in the MHCGL competence and conduct policy statement
Check the transition period for your organisation, this outlines when staff in scope need to be enrolled to qualifications or additional training by (Chapter 4)
Check the definitions and rules about when a person is or needs to be “working towards a qualification” various information is provided for different scenarios (e.g. people who are long term absent from work, where there are waiting lists for enrolment on qualifications etc) (Chapter 1 para 13, Chapter 3 para 30-34)
- Create a plan to ensure that all in scope role holders are enrolled onto compliant qualifications/ additional training as required before the transition period ends.
| Fully Compliant |
Has/ is enrolled on a relevant regulated qualification/apprenticeship to their role at the correct size type and level containing all required content. OR Has/ is enrolled on a qualification/apprenticeship at the correct size type and level that is partially complaint and also has/ is enrolled onto additional training to cover identified knowledge gaps. |
Continue with CPD as per wider workforce development requirement. |
| Partially Compliant |
Has/ is enrolled on a regulated qualification/apprenticeship at the correct size type and level that is relevant to their role, but some of the required content is missing. |
Holds a partially compliant qualification. Will need to complete training to meet knowledge gaps. |
| Not compliant |
Does not have a regulated qualification/apprenticeship at the correct level, size, or type that is relevant to their role. |
Will need to complete a compliant qualification. |
Ensure required actions are completed within the transition period
- The standard comes in to force from 1 October 2026
- Check the transition period for your organisation, these are based on organisation size and are outlined in the MHCLG competence and conduct policy
- Ensure a plan is in place for all those who are in a role in scope to have// be working towards a qualification/ any required additional training before the end of the transition period.
Keep an audit trail
- As part of the wider workforce development plan record the process followed to identify roles in scope and how people in those roles hold/ will achieve complaint qualifications before the end of the transition period
- This plan should also include records of ongoing learning and CPD for all staff within the organisation to ensure they have the correct knowledge skills and behaviours to perform in their role.
Please ensure that the MHCLG competence and conduct policy is fully read and understood within the organisation, responsibility for ensuring all staff in scope are appropriately qualified lies with the housing organisation.
