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.

Stage one: Identify roles in scope

Review job descriptions to:

Identify roles in scope
Check whether any exemptions apply
Check the MHCLG competence and conduct policy statement for information on services providers if your organisation works with them.

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:

Senior manager (Level 4)	Subsection A General Housing Management role
	Subsection B Technical role
	Subsection C Leasehold/ Cross tenure role
Senior Executive (Level 5)	Subsection A General Housing Management role
	Subsection B Technical role
	Subsection C Leasehold/ Cross tenure role

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:

Meets the required level (Level 4 or Level 5)
Is relevant to the person's role category (A, B or C).

3C — Is the qualification/ apprenticeship regulated?

Confirm the qualification is regulated or recognised within the MHCLG competence and conduct policy.

3D — Is the qualification the correct size?

Check the qualification/ apprenticeship is over 120 hours Total Qualification Time (TQT) (also known as study time or notional study time).

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.

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
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.

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
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.

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.