City councils handed C3 grade over ‘serious failings’

The council had more than 850 overdue fire safety remedial actions and had failed to do a stock condition survey in over a decade.

The regulator found the council had insufficient information to understand the diverse needs of its tenants, along with a lack of an up-to-date domestic abuse policy.

The council self-referred to the RSH over 16 compliance gaps it identified with the Rent Standard and consumer standards following a review of its housing services.

Issues included a lack of an up-to-date stock condition survey, domestic abuse policy, allocations policy and assurance on its Decent Homes Standard data.

At the time, the council found it was “potentially overcharging” tenants for rent. These issues have since been addressed, according to a more recent report.

The local authority launched the review following the closure of Your Homes Newcastle, its arm’s length management organisation.

Many of the gaps were the responsibility of the council, not the ALMO, including the allocations policy, stock condition surveys, domestic abuse policy and rent-setting.

The regulator’s planned inspection of Nottingham City Council found a lack of accurate, up-to-date data of its stock quality and decency. Almost 40% of its homes had not been surveyed for more than 10 years.

The council had nearly 1,000 live disrepair cases and issues around data integrity.

The regulator found “weaknesses in its approach to capping gas supplies when it could not gain access to complete gas safety checks and monitoring of compliance with smoke and carbon monoxide detection requirements”.

It also found that tenants were not being meaningfully involved in decision-making by the council or able to challenge decisions. 

Kate Dodsworth, chief of regulatory engagement at the RSH, said: “Having an effective repairs service and keeping accurate data are both vital for keeping tenants safe in their homes, especially when it comes to serious issues such as fire safety as well as damp and mould.

“It is positive that our planned inspections continue to bring issues to light earlier than they might otherwise.

“However, it is essential that landlords self-refer to us. As well as being a requirement in our standards, it shows us that they understand their responsibilities and take accountability.”

Vicky McDermott, director of housing and communities at Newcastle City Council, said: “This was the first time that the Regulator of Social Housing has issued us with a consumer grade and, whilst extremely disappointing, the C3 grading that we have received was expected.

“It’s important to note that the regulator carried out [its] assessment in October, and we have already seen a significant improvement in several areas highlighted in [its] report.”

A Newcastle council report earlier this month outlined the progress the local authority is making towards compliance, along with actions it is taking.

These include a stock condition survey of all its homes, which it expects to complete in 2027, and visits to all of its 26,000 residents.

Ms McDermott said she would like to assure residents “that the safety and quality of our homes is our priority”.

“We are committed to creating an environment where we listen to what our residents say, make sure their voices are heard and act accordingly.

“We want to be knowledgeable about our homes as well as the needs of our residents and we take accountability for any failings,” she said.

The council made a formal self-assessment to the regulator against the consumer standards, setting out its gaps and recovery plan to ensure it “tackles any compliance issues quickly”.

“We know change can’t happen overnight, but bringing all our housing services together in our new housing and communities directorate has helped us to provide more joined-up services to help enable better outcomes for residents and to offer better-value services for tenants and leaseholders,” Ms McDermott said.

The council is also reviewing its working practices to “ensure we are able to provide a timely and right-first-time resolution to repairs”, with a particular emphasis on a long-term plan to help to resolve the issues around damp and mould.

Ms McDermott said: “We’ve already reduced the number of overdue repairs since the assessment by over 10% and have now carried out electrical safety tests in over 90% of all communal blocks, with all high-rise block testing completed.

“We will soon be launching a new repairs policy which will provide residents with a clear service outline and timeframe to expect their repairs to be completed.

“We know we have a long way to go, but together, working with and listening to our residents, and with the ongoing support of the regulator, we can make a difference and improve council housing in the city.”

Jay Hayes, executive member for housing and planning at Nottingham City Council, said: “We have been aware of the need to significantly improve our housing services since we brought the ALMO back in-house, so this judgement does not come as a surprise.

“We proactively engaged with the regulator in January 2024 and shared our improvement plans then.

“Resident safety and the delivery of our housing services in line with tenant aspirations are a key priority, and we’re committed to making sure that the money we’re investing in addressing some of the failings in the report is spent where it will have the most impact.”

Nottingham is investing £20m to improve frontline services and plans to survey all of its 25,000 council-owned homes over the next 18 months.

The council is employing more tradespeople and working with contractors to tackle outstanding repairs and reduce waiting times for new repairs requests.

It also plans to employ a dedicated team to address issues with damp and mould, to clear the backlog.

It is developing a set of service standards “so that residents can hold us to account” and restructuring services to focus on frontline service delivery and “changing in response to the feedback from our tenants”.

“We have also established a new housing assurance board, made up of tenants whose role it is to scrutinise services, make recommendations to help us to improve and make sure we keep our promises, and a new executive housing oversight board, made up of tenants and senior councillors whose role it is to scrutinise services and make sure we continue our journey of continuous improvement,” Mr Hayes said.