Council only doing emergency repairs amid high demand and rising costs

Enfield Council, which made the change at the end of November, said it is focusing on issues that affect the health and safety of residents, including works to manage damp and mould and increased work on electrical safety. Repairs for heating and lifts will be unaffected.

In the online statement, the local authority said: “We have seen rising costs in relation to materials and fuel. 

“To protect the most important works relating to the health and safety of tenants, we are changing the delivery times of routine and non-urgent repairs.

“As is stated in our current repairs policy, we can categorise repairs as ‘planned’ and aim to complete these as packages of work.

“Residents can and should log other repairs. We will be keeping records of all repairs reported to us.”

A spokesperson for Enfield Council told Inside Housing that the authority committed to ensuring that its tenants’ housing is “safe, secure and at a decent standard”. 

They said: “In fact, a recent survey of tenants found satisfaction rates have improved year on year and overall satisfaction in our housing services is above the benchmark versus other landlords.  

“Our day-to-day repairs performance is high, with 94% of repairs being attended to on time, compared to a peer group average of 74%.”

The spokesperson added that this financial year has seen “significant, multimillion-pound investment” in programmes of works to improve the quality of the council’s housing stock, including new kitchens, bathrooms and heating systems.  

However, they said that Enfield, along with most councils, is “facing a perfect financial storm from government cuts, rising demand for our services and stubbornly high inflation”. 

The spokesperson said: “The cost of living crisis has meant more residents are turning to us for assistance, while the costs for delivering our services have increased threefold as a result of inflation. 

“We are having to prudently manage our budgets given the rising costs in relation to fuel and materials and the lack of funding to invest in the maintenance of homes.

“For a short period, we will therefore prioritise emergency repair issues, including those related to damp and mould repair, electrical safety, heating and lifts, which directly impact the health and safety of residents and we will undertake works for vulnerable residents. 

“We will continue to complete all emergency repairs within 24 hours and to robustly tackle damp and mould.”

They added that the council will always fulfil its legal requirements as a social landlord and it is piloting the new response times. 

Enfield Council will also take part in the consultation on Awaab’s Law.