From 1 October 2026, Private Registered Providers (PRPs) of social housing in England will need to proactively publish specified information under the Social Tenant Access to Information Requirements (STAIRs).
A STAIRs Publication Scheme should give tenants a clear and accessible way to find information about how their social housing is managed, from governance and spending to repairs, safety and performance.
So, what should your Publication Scheme contain, and how should it work?
What is the STAIRs Publication Scheme?
The STAIRs Publication Scheme is the proactive element of the new transparency requirements. Rather than requiring tenants to request commonly needed information, providers must make specified information routinely available.
For the 1 October 2026 deadline, providers need to know what information falls within their Publication Scheme and make it accessible.
What should be included in a STAIRs Publication Scheme?
The model STAIRs Publication Scheme groups information into seven main classes.
1. Governance and decision-making
Tenants should be able to understand how their housing provider operates and how decisions are made.
This includes:
- Organisational structure
- Board members and committees
- Executive team
- Decision-making processes
- Tenant consultation documents
- Key documents relating to strategic decisions
Much of this information may already be public. Providers should check that it is current, complete and easy to find.
2. Finance and spending
The Publication Scheme covers financial information relating to the management of social housing, including:
- Audited accounts and financial statements
- Rent collection
- Procurement procedures
- Relevant contracts and tenders
- Certain merger transaction or integration costs
Providers should identify which existing financial information falls within the scheme and ensure tenants can access it.
3. Housing stock management
This includes corporate plans and objectives relating to:
- Decent homes
- Planned investment
- Estate management
- Maintenance and repairs
- Environmental performance
- Stock investment
- Resident engagement
The model scheme also covers stock profiles, transfers, third-party management arrangements and relevant stock or asset condition information.
4. Performance
The model scheme includes performance information such as:
- Inspection outcomes and ratings
- Performance reviews
- Tenant Satisfaction Measures
- Annual reports
- Complaints-handling performance
- Health and safety performance
- Evictions
- Compensation and redress
- Response times for emergency and significant hazards
- New-build information
Publishing an annual report does not necessarily cover everything required. Providers should check each type of performance information against what is currently available.
5. Housing services and tenant liaison
Providers should publish clear information about the housing services, advice and guidance available to tenants.
6. Lists and registers
The model Publication Scheme includes safety and property records such as:
- Gas safety registers
- Fire safety risk assessments
- Electrical safety records
- Asbestos registers for communal areas
- Water hygiene logs and legionella risk assessments
- Building safety performance documents
- Damp and mould case-tracking reports
- Estate inspections
- Home accessibility and adaptations registers
This information may sit across housing, property, compliance and health and safety functions, making coordination between teams important.
7. Social housing management
The final class covers policies and strategies relating to social housing management, including:
- Anti-social behaviour
- Building safety
- Complaints
- Damp and mould
- Disrepair
- Fire safety
- Rent
- Repairs and maintenance
- Service charges
- Tenancy
- Water safety
Providers should check that relevant policies are published, current and consistent with those used internally.
Don’t turn your Publication Scheme into a document dump
Publishing a collection of documents does not necessarily make information accessible.
Consider the Publication Scheme from a tenant’s perspective: Can they find the information they need? Is it clear what each document relates to? Is it current and accessible?
Information can technically be published but remain difficult to find if it is scattered across webpages, PDFs and different areas of a website. The STAIRs operational guidance encourages providers to organise information so it is easy to find.
Structuring your Publication Scheme around the seven information classes can help tenants find relevant information without needing to understand your organisation’s internal structure.
Not everything should be published
Proactive transparency does not mean publishing everything your organisation holds.
Providers need to consider whether information falls within the scope of STAIRs and whether anything should be withheld or redacted, including personal data, confidential information or commercially sensitive material.
Certain internal business activities, non-social housing management functions and activities unrelated to social housing management may also fall outside the scope of the Publication Scheme.
An appropriate review process should therefore sit behind publication.
Your Publication Scheme needs to stay current
Getting the right information online by 1 October 2026 is only the start.
Policies, performance data, board membership and reports change over time. The model Publication Scheme states that the scheme should be reviewed at least annually.
Providers should establish who owns each area of published information and who is responsible for reviewing and updating it.
A practical way to review your Publication Scheme
Work through each of the seven information classes and ask:
- What are we required to make available?
- Do we already publish it?
- Is it current?
- Can tenants easily find it?
- Is it accessible?
- Does anything need to be redacted or withheld?
- Who owns and updates it?
This provides a practical gap analysis for the 1 October 2026 deadline.
What happens after 1 October?
The Publication Scheme is the first stage of STAIRs.
From 1 April 2027, eligible tenants and their representatives will be able to make information requests under STAIRs, with providers generally expected to respond within 30 calendar days.
We cover preparing for that second deadline separately in Why Housing Associations Should Prepare for STAIRs Now.
In short: October is about proactively publishing information; April introduces individual information requests.
Is your STAIRs Publication Scheme ready for 1 October 2026?
Housing associations should now be asking whether the right information is published, accessible, current and properly managed.
TMW Resilience can help housing associations review their existing information against the STAIRs Publication Scheme, identify gaps and establish practical governance for maintaining it.
Find out more about how TMW Resilience can help your organisation prepare for STAIRs.