THOUSANDS of social housing managers will be required to study for qualifications as part of a drive to professionalise the sector in the wake of a two-year-old’s death in a mouldy flat.

Housing Secretary Michael Gove announced the changes today after recognising that social housing residents were being “inexcusably let down.”

He said that the shift would “drive up standards” across the board after the case of Awaab Ishak, who died in December 2020 from a respiratory condition caused by mould at his home in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.