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Sustainability reporting is already well established among UK housing associations as the sector launched its bespoke framework in 2021– Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing (SRS), today adopted by 140+ housing associations and 35+ lenders and investors. Until today most of the SRS reports are self-certifying.

Assurance is not yet common practice. However, assurance:

• Improves the accuracy and reliability of ESG data
• Enhances access to sustainable finance
• Helps housing associations identify risks and areas for improvement

Although assurance of sustainability reports is not yet mandatory in the UK, it is expected to become increasingly important as investor scrutiny grows, and new reporting standards by UK Government are implemented. And early adoption of assurance by housing associations will also provide a strategic advantage once audited non-financial reporting becomes mandatory: our client experience with the -externally verified- Certified Sustainable Housing Label shows that it takes housing associations several years to provide quality data.

To address the impending need for demonstrating assured sustainability data, RITTERWALD has developed an external assessment of the Sustainability Reports for Social Housing. This limited assurance anticipates the non-financial IFRS reporting requirements by providing a baseline to improve the quality of reporting.

RITTERWALD LIMITED ASSURANCE: EXTERNAL ASSESSMENT

The External Assessment includes 14 material criteria, comprising 6 environmental, 4 social, and 4 governance indicators, and selected from the SRS in collaboration with lenders, disclosure frameworks, and insights from the Certified Sustainable Housing Label issued by RITTERWALD.

The 14 criteria are evaluated along 4 levels of evaluation: insufficient, sufficient, good, and great. The overall assessment of the sustainability report is then compiled over 3 ranking levels: poor (less than 40% of the criteria is ranked as good or great), satisfactory (between 40%–65% of the criteria is ranked as good or great) and exemplary (more than 65% of the criteria is ranked as good or great and no criterion is ranked as insufficient).

Only the publicly available version of the sustainability report is assessed. The results of the individual and overall assessments are summarized in an Assessment Statement provided to the housing association. The statement also includes recommendations for improving the reporting quality.

An overview of the external assessment can be found at www.sustainable-housing.eu