Industries · Social Housing
The Regulator, the Ombudsman and now your residents can all ask you to prove it. We join up your repairs, stock and tenant records so every answer traces back to a home, not a spreadsheet rebuilt at deadline.
Trusted by housing data teams including Onward Homes
Hazard case HC-20418
Flat 3, 14 Mill Lane · Damp and mould · Emergency
Illustrative record built from synthetic data. Five systems, one trail.
hazard groups join Awaab's Law on 30th November 2026
to answer a tenant's STAIRs request from April 2027
a year lost to poor housing data, by MHCLG's own conservative estimate
01What is changing
Most housing associations already hold the data. It sits across a housing management system, repairs and contractor portals, stock condition files and spreadsheets.
Every new rule now asks you to join it up and prove it.
From 30th November 2026, excess cold, excess heat, falls, fire, electrical hazards, domestic hygiene and structural collapse join damp and mould on the clock. Each case needs a timed trail from first report to completed works.
The Regulator's Sector Risk Profile 2026 asks boards to be assured that key decisions rest on robust and comprehensive data. A headline compliance figure now has to trace back to the homes behind it.
From 1st April 2027, any tenant can request records about their home, from repairs to complaints. You must find, redact and send them, including what your contractors hold.
Read the STAIRs data guide →Annual TSM returns, EPC Band C by April 2030 and the new Decent Homes Standard from 2035 all draw on the same property, tenancy and repairs data you need for Awaab's Law.
The regulatory horizon
02What housing associations use it for
Every housing association starts somewhere different. These are the problems we are most often asked to help with. Pick the one that matters most and we will shape the solution around how you work.
Hazard cases sit across repairs, contractor and contact centre systems, so nobody sees the clock until it has nearly run out.
Every case timed against the legal deadlines, with alerts before a breach and a full trail ready for the Ombudsman.
From 1st April 2027, tenants can request records about their home, and you have 30 days to find, redact and send them.
One place to retrieve a tenancy's records, with other residents' details masked and every request logged.
Management measures are often rebuilt in spreadsheets before each return, so last year's figures cannot be reproduced.
Each measure calculated from source with one tested definition, traceable to the records behind it.
The Regulator expects boards to be assured that key decisions rest on robust data, yet most board figures cannot be traced.
Every figure in the board pack opens to the homes and records behind it.
Most damp and mould is found when a tenant reports it, by which point the legal clock has already started.
A view of the homes most at risk, built from property type, stock age, repair history and vulnerability, so inspections can come first.
Backlogs, repeat jobs and contractor updates sit in different systems, so it is hard to see where time and money go.
One view of the backlog, repeat repairs and each contractor's performance against target.
Gaps in survey coverage leave associations unable to show they understand the condition of every home.
Know which homes lack a recent survey, and track progress towards the new Decent Homes Standard.
Every social rented home needs EPC Band C by April 2030, and the budget will not stretch to everything at once.
A retrofit plan prioritised by home, cost and impact, joined to stock condition and repairs data.
Vulnerability is often recorded in one system and missed in the next, so it does not change how a case is handled.
Vulnerability flags joined across housing, repairs and support data, so the right cases get priority and care.
Treating every arrears case the same means the wrong intervention at the wrong time.
Arrears segmented so tenants who cannot pay get support, and those who will not get the right action.
Empty homes lose rent every week, and decants for hazard works add cost and disruption.
Void turnaround and decant costs tracked by home, so you can see where time and money go.
Grant under the Social and Affordable Homes Programme is paid against milestones, and pipelines often sit in separate systems.
Starts, completions and scheme costs reported from one source, ready for Homes England.
Every housing association is different, so there is no one-size-fits-all. We start with your use case and recommend technology only once we understand it.
03Use cases by role
The same joined-up data answers different questions depending on who is asking. Pick a role.
“Can we prove compliance from our own data, without rebuilding a spreadsheet every deadline?”
“Which hazard cases are about to breach their deadline?”
“Is the figure in the board pack right, and how do we know?”
“Where do I start, and will what I build still work next year?”
04Explore social housing data
Each topic page shows the working: the data, the model and the steps, written for heads of data and their analysts.
What tenants can request from April 2027, where the records live, and how to retrieve, redact and log them in 30 days.
Read the guide → Awaab's LawOne hazard case, six systems, and the data model that joins them.
Read the guide → Data standardThe MHCLG and HACT standard, its four entities, and why to adopt it now.
Read the guide → PlatformsA fair comparison, including what each costs a charity.
Read the guide → Board · Free checklistThe five things the Sector Risk Profile 2026 expects behind every board figure, and the evidence to ask for.
Read the guide → TSMsCalculate every measure from source, before the June return.
Read the guide →05How we work
Every housing association is different, so there is no one-size-fits-all. We shape a phased solution around your systems, data and team, alongside the Microsoft tools you already run, and recommend technology only once we understand the use case.
Pick the evidence you cannot move, such as Awaab's Law Phase 2, and build that first.
Agreed in a first conversationAutomated pipelines from housing management, repairs, contractor, compliance and contact centre systems.
Fivetran · Qlik TalendOne governed platform, modelled on tenants, property, investigation appointments and work orders.
Snowflake · Databricks · dbtDashboards and alerts for repairs, compliance and the board, each figure traceable to a home.
Qlik · Power BIYour team owns the models, pipelines and roadmap when we step back.
Documentation and enablement06Proof
They guided us through the process, handled the initial migrations, and gave us the confidence to take it forward ourselves. It was a true partnership.Anita Wright, Head of Data, Analytics and Insight, Onward Homes See how Onward Homes did it →
07The 10-point evidence check
Tick the statements that are true today. Your score updates as you go. Nothing is recorded.
Early days. The evidence exists, but it is scattered. Start with one deadline and one joined-up workload.
Talk through your scoreCatalyst BI is a UK data and analytics consultancy. We help housing associations join up data from housing management, repairs, contractor and contact centre systems so they can evidence Awaab's Law, STAIRs, TSMs and board assurance from one governed source. We work across Snowflake, Databricks, Fivetran, Qlik, Coalesce and dbt, alongside Microsoft tools, and transfer the knowledge so your team owns what we build.
No. Catalyst BI is an independent UK data and analytics consultancy. Catalyst Housing was a housing association that is now part of Peabody. The two organisations share part of a name and nothing else.
From 30th November 2026, seven more hazard groups come under Awaab's Law timescales. For every case you need to show when the report arrived, how the hazard was categorised, when it was investigated, what you told the resident and when works were done. That means joining repairs, contractor and contact centre data into one record per case.
It is a data standard developed by MHCLG with HACT to support Awaab's Law, built around four entities: tenants, property, investigation appointments and work orders. HACT and Data Futurists are leading its next phase and endorsement. Modelling your data on it now makes reporting, audits and future system changes easier.
From 1st April 2027, tenants can request records about their home, including repairs and property condition, rent and service charges, anti-social behaviour, complaints and health and safety. You have 30 calendar days to respond and must redact other people's personal data, so you need to know which systems hold each type of record.
Make headline figures traceable. Each compliance or performance figure should open to the property-level records behind it, with the source system and the date each record was updated. The Regulator's Sector Risk Profile 2026 asks boards to ensure key decisions are underpinned by robust and comprehensive data.
No. Most housing associations run on Microsoft and we work alongside it. Snowflake or Databricks can sit underneath Power BI, and Qlik can sit alongside it where its associative model or alerting fits better. The use case picks the tools.
Both can work. Fabric suits teams deep in Microsoft licensing who want one vendor for storage and reporting. Snowflake suits teams that want zero maintenance, consumption pricing, secure data sharing with councils and contractors, and freedom to use any reporting tool. Compare them on your own workload rather than in general.
Usually, yes, and we design for it. Most housing data teams are small, so we build the first workload with you, document every model and pipeline, and hand over. At Onward Homes we migrated the first 100 Qlik apps and Onward's own team completed the rest.
The first workload, such as a live view of Awaab's Law cases against their deadlines, is usually measured in weeks when it starts from your existing systems. Onward Homes moved more than 300 live Qlik apps to Qlik Cloud in six weeks.
We agree a data processing agreement and lawful basis before we access any tenant data, work inside your own platform wherever possible, and use synthetic data for demonstrations. Access is role-based and changes to data models are version-controlled, so you can see who changed what and when.
Probably not yet, and that is normal. AI is only as good as the data under it. Join and govern the data first, then add prediction, such as damp and mould risk, or AI that reads repairs notes and complaints, with a person making the final decision.
Pick the deadline that worries you most: Awaab's Law Phase 2, STAIRs requests or the next TSM return. We start by understanding your use case, then come back to show where the evidence trail breaks and a solution shaped around how you work.
