Regulator of Social Housing names and shames trio of councils for failing to meet consumer standards
The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has handed three councils C3 grades requiring them to make significant improvement towards meeting its consumer standards.
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Reading Borough Council and Winchester City Council were each found to have failed to meet the required outcomes.
According to the RSH, Tower Hamlets:
- does not have an accurate understanding of tenants’ homes, with only 47% of individual property surveys carried out within the last five years;
- has thousands of homes that do not meet the Decent Homes Standard (23% of around 11,000 total homes);
- has around 2,500 overdue fire safety actions, 1,400 overdue communal electrical safety actions and 750 overdue water safety actions.
Reading Borough Council meanwhile:
- failed to provide an effective and timely repairs service, with around 1,600 overdue repairs at the time of the inspection;
- only surveyed around half of its tenants’ homes over the past five years;
- failed to provide meaningful opportunities for tenants to scrutinise its performance, and did not give all tenants access to a fair and effective complaints process.
Winchester City Council:
- does not have up-to-date information about the majority of tenants’ homes, with its last stock condition survey completed more than 10 years ago;
- is unable to provide assurance that it is completing required health and safety checks for all homes and communal areas – including those for fire, electrical and water safety;
- has not been able to demonstrate that it provides all tenants with accessible information.
The gradings were among 18 judgements published by the RSH following inspections of social landlords and ongoing responsive work.
In the other judgements, the RSH found – following a self-referral by the local authority – that Mid Devon District Council had overcharged rent for more than 1,200 tenants and undercharged over 1,600, therefore failing to meet the outcomes of the rent standard.
Mid Devon has not been issued with a grade as it is in the ‘responsive engagement’ stage but is continuing to investigate the issues. The council has advised the Regulator that it will confirm the refunds due to individual tenants.
The RSH’s inspections meanwhile found weaknesses in how the Community Housing Group and Richmond Housing Partnership are managing their strategic risks, leading to downgraded G2 gradings for governance as a result.
Conversely, Islington and Shoreditch Housing Association and Watmos Community Housing have each been upgraded to G1 following improvements in their governance.
RSH has removed a previous regulatory notice for the London Borough of Croydon as the landlord has delivered the required improvements.
Kate Dodsworth, RSH’s Chief of Regulatory Engagement, said: “We continue to take action on a wide range of issues when landlords fail to meet our standards.
“Our judgements show the importance of good governance in driving improvements for tenants and ensuring landlords are on top of their strategic risks. A clear theme is the need for accurate, up-to-date information about key risks – whether they are financial or relate to tenants’ health and safety."
She added: “Through our regulation we will continue to support a sector that is well run and financially viable. This is the foundation for providing good-quality homes for tenants and building new homes for the future.”
Responding to the C3 grading, Lutfur Rahman, Executive Mayor of Tower Hamlets, said: “It was clear to me that many residents were not being provided with the high quality and well-maintained homes they deserve, which is why I was determined to bring Tower Hamlets Homes in house after my election, to enable the council to take charge of the situation. I also introduced a record £140 million investment to upgrade existing council homes, while also investing to build 4,000 new affordable homes.
“Following this decisive action to insource the service and the independent reviews we commissioned, we decided to self-refer to the Regulator of Social Housing. We have agreed a clear and well-resourced improvement plan, as the Regulator acknowledges, which is already making significant improvements.”
Simon Hendey, Strategic Director at Winchester City Council, said: ‘The Regulator’s response has confirmed what we realised when we referred ourselves to them in January.
“We took it very seriously then and we’re taking it very seriously now. We put in place an action plan as soon as we knew where we stood: almost all safety checks are now complete. The remaining few assessments will be completed by the end of August. The stock condition survey is on track and underway.”
Matt Yeo, Lead Councillor for Housing at Reading Borough Council, said: “While an obviously disappointing inspection outcome, its findings were largely in line with the council’s own Improvement Plan and the areas we had already identified for attention, in particular the need to improve the responsiveness of our housing repairs service, which has already been moving in the right direction.
“We welcome the additional input and assistance from the Regulator for Social Housing on the steps we are already taking to make further improvements for our tenants. The Regulator has acknowledged in its report that we have already embarked on that journey, but not sufficiently far enough at this time to provide a higher grading."
He added: “I’m confident that the steps we have already put in place, and strengthened following the inspection report, will get us to where we, and the Regulator, want us to be. We additionally welcome the continued and regular dialogue with the RSH planned for the future to ensure we can deliver a more efficient and responsive service to our tenants in the shortest time possible."
Harry Rodd
