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Further safety issues uncovered at Kent ALMO after gas check saga
Signs of wider safety issues have been discovered at one of the country’s largest ALMOs, which left hundreds of gas safety checks incomplete.
East Kent Housing (EKH), which manages around 17,000 homes on behalf of Canterbury, Dover, Thanet and Folkestone & Hythe councils, admitted last month to failing to keep up to date the gas safety certificates of at least 384 homes.
It has now emerged that “further cases of potential non-compliance with regards to other areas of safety work” have been found, according to a report published yesterday by Canterbury City Council’s chief executive.
An ongoing investigation by the East Kent Internal Audit Partnership has uncovered suggestions of issues with fire, lift, electrical and legionella safety at the ALMO.
Canterbury council, which owns 5,107 homes managed by EKH, is set to consult with its tenants “as soon as practicable on withdrawal from East Kent Housing”, the chief executive’s report said.
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It notes that the cost of pulling out will be higher if the other three councils do not agree to wind up EKH.
Members of the council’s policy and resources committee will consider the report on Wednesday.
A decision about EKH’s future is expected in the autumn, with chief executives of the four councils to commission a further report exploring potential options, including keeping it on with a reformed structure.
The report said the safety issues “are of grave concern” to the authorities.
The four councils referred themselves to the Regulator of Social Housing, following the discovery of the gas-check issues, and are now being investigated against its serious detriment test.
Canterbury’s monitoring officer has issued a report to councillors over potential breaches of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, which require landlords to keep yearly gas safety certificates for all homes.
EKH was established in 2011 and is the only ALMO that manages homes on behalf of multiple councils.
An improvement plan for EKH that included an annual £800,000 cash injection came into effect in April, in response to concerns about its performance in some areas – particularly procurement and contract management.
“It was made clear by each council that this 18-month period was the last opportunity for EKH to improve to an acceptable level of performance,” the council report said.
Serious issues with gas safety checks surfaced less than two months later, after heating contractor P&R Installations Company issued a notice to break off its deal with EKH.
The report stated that P&R had requested an extra payment from EKH, which the ALMO refused. The subsequent breakdown of the contract led to “a rapid decline” in completed gas safety checks.
EKH and the councils are in dispute with P&R over “low levels of performance”, the report added.
Interim contractors have been put in place, with the number of outstanding gas safety certificates reduced to 60 by 28 June, costing Canterbury council £26,000. The backlog of checks is expected to be cleared by 21 July.
“We would like to reassure tenants who are concerned about their safety and can confirm we are working hard with the four councils to make sure the appropriate checks for their properties have been and are being completed,” a spokesperson for EKH said.
“We see this as a good time to carry out this review of East Kent Housing to ensure that we offer tenants a good service in all aspects of the organisation.”
P&R has been contacted for comment.
Update: at 12.28pm, 10/07/19 a comment from EKH was added to the story.
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