Midlands council breaches Home Standard after 1,000 fire safety issues not fixed

News17.02.2110.37 AM by Dominic Brady

South Kesteven District Council (SKDC) has breached the Home Standard on fire, asbestos and electrical safety and has fallen short on safety of heating appliances, the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has found.

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@southkesteven has breached the Home Standard on fire, asbestos and electrical safety and has fallen short on checking safety of heating appliances, @RSHEngland has found #UKhousing

The English regulator found that more than 1,000 fire safety remedial actions, which were identified in 2017, had not been completed. The RSH also noted that the council failed to ensure solid fuel heating appliances do not pose a risk to tenants, with inspections and cleaning of appliances for some properties not being completed in a timely manner.

SKDC, which manages 6,000 homes, also failed to carry out electrical inspections in any of its communal areas and just under half of all its properties had out-of-date inspections, some of which were more than 10 years old.

It comes after the East Midlands council referred itself to the regulator in September last year after an audit uncovered widespread safety issues.

“For asbestos safety, South Kesteven has reported that nearly 300 surveys of communal areas were overdue and should have been completed in 2019. For these reasons, the regulator concluded that South Kesteven DC has breached the Home Standard and, as consequence, there was the potential for serious detriment to tenants,” the RSH said.

Since identifying the issues, the council has strengthened its senior capacity and a programme of work has commenced. To spearhead the housing service, SKDC has recruited Andrew Cotton as its new director of housing and property. He has more than 20 years’ experience in social housing and is a fellow at the Chartered Institute of Housing.

In the judgment published this morning, the regulator said the council breached part 1.2 of the Home Standard as the council did not have an effective system in place to allow it to meet the RSH’s statutory health and safety responsibilities.

Councils are required to meet the RSH’s consumer standards but do not receive regulatory judgments as it does with housing associations.

In the past couple of years, a growing number of councils and ALMOs have breached the Decent Home Standard. This includes Gateshead Council, which has recently decided to shut its 19,000-home ALMO, which was found in breach after serious fire, asbestos and electrical safety failings were found among its housing stock in 2019.

Lambeth Council was also found in breach of the standard in November 2019 after a “significant number of overdue remedial actions arising from fire risk assessments” were found.

Karen Bradford, chief executive of SKDC, said: “My focus is delivering a housing service that our tenants can be proud of, and I am sorry that in the past our service has fallen short of the high standard they deserve.

“It is, of course, disappointing that the council has received a regulatory notice, although it is encouraging that the regulator outlines the action that we are already taking to improve our service. Going forward we will continue working closely with the regulator and ensuring that our tenants are updated and supported throughout.”