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GreenSquareAccord breaches Home Standard after fire safety failings
GreenSquareAccord has breached the English regulator’s Home Standard after it was found that hundreds of its homes do not have a current fire risk assessment and more than 10,000 have never had an electrical inspection.
In a regulatory notice today, the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) said the failings, which also included asbestos safety, meant there is “potential for serious detriment to tenants”.
The RSH received the information after a self-referral by the 25,000-home association, which has apologised for the failings. Following the breach, GreenSquareAccord’s chair Elisabeth Buggins, who only became chair in January, has stepped down.
“The regulator has learned that hundreds of properties do not have a current fire risk assessment (FRA), with a smaller number having never been assessed,” the notice said.
GreenSquareAccord, which was formed in April this year through a merger, told the regulator that some FRAs had become overdue due to COVID-19 restrictions.
All the health and safety failings were found in the former stock of Accord, according to evidence seen by the regulator.
Accord had 13,000 affordable homes across the Midlands, and GreenSquare had around 12,000 homes in Wiltshire, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.
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In 2019, GreenSquare also breached the Home Standard on fire safety and was subsequently given a G2 rating for governance. In 2020, it regained its G1 rating after improvements were made.
On electrical safety, today’s notice said: “GreenSquareAccord has reported to us that more than 10,000 of its properties have never had an electrical inspection. This includes thousands of individual homes and hundreds of housing blocks.”
On asbestos safety, the regulator was shown evidence that no asbestos surveys had been carried out in Accord’s communal areas.
The RSH said GreenSquareAccord has put in place a programme to “rectify” the failures and as a result it will not take enforcement action at this stage.
The notice added: “The regulator will work with GreenSquareAccord as it continues to address the issues which have led to this situation, including ongoing monitoring of how it delivers its programme.
“In the meantime, the regulator is considering the implications of this breach on our view of GreenSquareAccord’s governance grading.”
GreenSquare previously had a G1/V2 rating and Accord had a G1/V1 rating.
In a statement, Ruth Cooke, chief executive of GreenSquareAccord, said: “The health and safety of our customers and their homes is GreenSquareAccord’s highest priority, and when we discovered this breach we self-reported all details to the Regulator of Social Housing.
“Following the merger in April, we have been carrying out thorough data record checks and these have shown that some of the former Accord properties do not have a current fire risk assessment; and for other properties there is no evidence of required asbestos surveys and electrical installation condition reports.
“Our internal investigations have found that some assessments have not taken place, some have expired, and some have not been recorded properly.
“We are genuinely sorry about this breach of standards. We understand that affected customers will feel let down. We are committed to being open and transparent as we work to put this right.
“The GreenSquareAccord team is already working to correct these mistakes. Our teams of internal and external surveyors and engineers are assessing all the properties where we need assurance that assessments are correct and up to date, and we are carrying out any identified remedial work as a matter of urgency.”
M Cooke is the former boss of Midland Heart and spent a brief spell as chief executive of Clarion Housing Group in 2018. She took over at GreenSquare in May 2019 and was appointed as chief executive of the enlarged organisation after the completion of the merger in April this year.
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