ONS to review HA public status

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is to review whether government grants to housing associations should instead be treated as loans.

In an exercise expected to be completed by November this year, the ONS will determine whether grants handed out by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) “are indeed grants” for the purposes of government accounting.

An ONS spokesperson said the review would consider a number of alternative classifications, including whether the grants should instead be classified as loans.

Housing associations currently hold around £45bn of housing grant on their balance sheets. The cash is repayable if the association moves stock the grant is attached to out of the social rented sector.

A decision by the ONS to reclassify grant as loans would not have an immediate impact on housing association accounts.

The ONS reclassified English associations as public sector bodies last year and will this year look at the status of associations in the rest of the UK. An ONS spokesperson said the review of grant was unrelated to this.