Cutting compliance reporting from five days to 33 minutes with True Compliance
Bield Housing & Care moved from a costly, fragile legacy system to a cloud-based compliance platform that gives teams, site managers, and the Board live access to trusted compliance data.
Introduction
Before True Compliance, Bield’s compliance information was difficult to access, hard to trust, and resource-intensive to maintain. Their previous system had reached the end of its operational life. It was no longer properly supported, cost around £90,000 a year to keep running, and relied on an office-based server that tended to shut down.
That created a serious confidence issue – Bield could not fully trust the system. They could not fully trust the data. And when compliance information was needed, colleagues across the business had to ask the compliance department to provide it manually. At the same time, Bield was dealing with a notifiable event. They needed faster reporting, stronger evidence management, and a clearer way to demonstrate their compliance position. True Compliance gave Bield a cloud-based, all-in-one compliance platform with live dashboards, document checking, clearer data, and instant access for teams across the organisation.
The Challenge
Bield’s legacy system had become a barrier to effective compliance management. The system was expensive to maintain, unreliable, and difficult to use as a source of truth. Keeping it operational required two full-time administrators, half of a system developer’s time, and external consultant support just to keep the system operational and create the necessary workarounds.
Resources that were being used to keep the system running rather than to help the organisation focus on proactive compliance work and residents.
The biggest issue was data confidence. Bield estimated that at that time, only around 20% of its compliance data was accurate and up-to-date. Information was fragmented, access was limited, and the compliance team carried the administrative burden of producing reports and responding to internal requests. Site managers could not simply log in and see what they needed. The Board could not access live evidence. Reports had to be created manually. For an organisation under regulatory pressure, that was not sustainable.
Why Bield chose True Compliance
Bield needed a system that could bring compliance data, documents, evidence, and reporting into one place. True Compliance stood out because it was cloud-based, easy to use, highly visual, and simple to navigate. It gave Bield instant access to compliance information in a format that was easy to digest. It also gave the organisation stronger document checking and a more reliable way to manage certificates.
Cost was not the only factor, but it mattered. True Compliance came in at around one-third of the cost of the previous system. Most importantly, it gave Bield one central platform for compliance. Gas, electrical, fire, fire equipment, water, and asbestos could all be managed in one place, rather than split across systems, spreadsheets, or held in peoples heads.
“True Compliance has made our compliance data transparent. Local development managers, the compliance team and the Board can all see the information they need, when they need it. Reporting that used to take days now takes minutes.”
Gavin Wright
Head of Property Management
Bield Housing & Care
Implementation
The implementation started with gas and electrical compliance, before expanding into fire and fire equipment. Bield is also implementing water and asbestos.
The migration was easily handled through additional TC Plus consultancy, taking Bield’s old data and bringing it into the new platform. The process was structured carefully, with data being mapped, checked, imported, and then reviewed again. That helped reduce issues, especially where historic certificates were unusual or inconsistent.
Bield’s implementation was twice as fast as they expected and had initially planned for. The rollout also included training for 200 employees and custom tiles for different teams, allowing colleagues to manage information for their individual developments.
Bield initially tried to complete more of the work themselves. Over time, they found it was faster and more effective to rely on the True Compliance and TC Plus teams. Work that the team at Bield initially tried to do internally could be completed by the True Compliance and TC Plus teams in around a third the time.
The Impact
Compliance data is now available across the organisation.
Before True Compliance, site managers had to ask the compliance department for information. Now, they can access it themselves. Bield has issued 840 invites, with 322 users actively using the system. Colleagues across the organisation can now see relevant compliance information, check development-level data, and flag inaccuracies when they spot them. That has changed how compliance data works inside Bield. It is no longer locked inside one department. It is visible, shared, and improving every day because more people can see it.
The Board can review live compliance data.
Bield now presents True Compliance widgets directly to the Board. The system is used live in Board meetings, giving senior leaders access to the same data and evidence as the compliance team. Board members also have their own logins, allowing them to review the underlying details behind monthly reporting. That level of transparency has strengthened assurance and made compliance performance easier to scrutinise.
Annual reporting dropped from five days to 33 minutes.
One of the clearest results came during Bield’s annual return process. Previously, the return was completely manual. The team had to gather information across electrical compliance, gas, gas jeopardy, and failed EICRs. That process took around five days. With True Compliance, the same return took 33 minutes – the work was completed in the time it took to get coffee.
Data confidence increased from around 20% to 95%.
Before True Compliance, Bield estimated that only around 20% of its compliance data was accurate. After implementation, Bield estimates that accuracy has increased to around 95%. There is still some data to clean up, particularly in rural areas, but the organisation is now much more confident in its compliance position. That confidence is continuing to improve because data quality is no longer just the responsibility of the compliance department. When colleagues across the business can see the information, they can also help identify and correct issues.
Admin time has been redirected into real compliance work.
True Compliance did not remove the need for Bield’s administrators. It changed the value of their work. Previously, two full-time administrators were focused on keeping the old system running. With True Compliance, that time has been redirected into actual compliance activity and resident-focused work. The organisation has reduced manual administration while increasing the time available for proactive compliance management.
Downtime has been dramatically reduced.
The old system could shut down as often as once a week. Since moving to True Compliance, Bield has recorded a drop in downtime of 99%. For a compliance team that needs live access to evidence, reporting, and assurance data, that reliability has made a significant difference.
EICR progress accelerated
Bield had been missing around 50% of its EICRs. With True Compliance in place, Bield completed the outstanding EICR work within a year. The team now has stronger evidence, clearer reporting, and better visibility across electrical compliance.
Evidence is easier to access
Bield can now provide fire evidence immediately, without relying on hard copies or manual searches. Everything is online. The compliance team can manage information remotely, from anywhere in the country, and teams across the organisation can access the evidence they need without waiting for the compliance department to send it over.
Regulatory confidence improved
Bield’s notifiable event ended in January after the organisation rebuilt compliance visibility, evidence management, and reporting through True Compliance. The social housing regulators described their new system as “fantastic” and “forward thinking,” and were impressed by the quality of the data and the speed of reporting.
“Everyone has eyes on the data now. That means accuracy improves every day, because issues can be flagged from across the organisation, not just from
within the compliance team.”
Jamie Mackenzie
Compliance Manager
Bield Housing & Care
Summary
For Bield, True Compliance has become more than a compliance database. It is now the central source of truth for building safety evidence, compliance reporting, and organisational assurance.
The platform has helped Bield reduce costs, improve access, strengthen data confidence, and give the Board live visibility of compliance performance.
Tasks that once took days now take minutes. Evidence that once had to be searched for manually can now be accessed online. Data that was once held inside the compliance department is now visible across the organisation.
For social housing providers under growing regulatory pressure, Bield’s experience shows the value of moving from fragmented, manual compliance management to a transparent platform built around live data, clear evidence, and organisation-wide access.