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Regulator downgrades Essex council to C4 over tenant safety failings
An Essex council has been downgraded from a consumer grade of C3 to C4 by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) for “very serious failings” around risks to tenants, including fire safety.
In its latest judgement, the English regulator said Castle Point Borough Council had not provided sufficient evidence that it “understands the potential risks to tenants” and had the “ability to put matters right”.
The RSH gave Castle Point a C3 grade in September after finding it had failed to collect tenant satisfaction measures (TSMs).
But after an inspection in December, the RSH said it had not seen proof that “prompt action” to make sure tenants were safe had been taken, despite the council’s willingness to address the failure.
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“The issues identified during the inspection include a failure to demonstrate it is meeting landlord health and safety legal requirements and Castle Point Borough Council does not have an accurate understanding of the condition of its homes,” the RSH said.
The council “could not demonstrate that it is effectively managing and mitigating fire safety risks in its homes”.
It also “provided inconsistent health and safety information, and its accuracy could not be evidenced”. More than 40% of its communal areas were found to lack an up-to-date electrical condition test, and the regulator added that it had concerns over the accuracy of this data.
The council also had “significant gaps” in its data on stock condition. More than 99% of homes have not been surveyed within the past five years.
The RSH found that Castle Point could not show how it responds to reports of hate crime or how it recognises and deals with cases of domestic abuse.
The regulator also found the council “did not take tenants’ views into account in its decision-making” and provided “no meaningful opportunities for tenants to influence and scrutinise landlord services or hold their landlord to account”.
Though the council submitted TSM management data, it was “unable to provide assurance on the integrity of the data submitted” and the information was excluded from the RSH’s recent report on TSM results.
Fundamental changes were needed in relation to outcomes against the Safety and Quality Standard and the Transparency, influence and Accountability Standard, the regulator said.
“Our engagement with Castle Point Borough Council will be intensive and we will seek evidence that gives us the assurance that sufficient change and progress is being made,” it said.
Dave Blackwell, leader of Castle Point, said: “We are sorry that the council has not met the expectations of our tenants, or of the regulator. We remain committed to ensuring that our homes provide safe and warm places to live for our tenants.
“We accept and recognise that, in the past, the council hasn’t got everything right, and we are fully committed to making the necessary improvements. Nothing is more important to us than our tenants’ well-being and safety, and this will remain our priority even after all issues have been addressed.”
Mr Blackwell said the council had already implemented some changes to address the issues, including investing £438,000 into improvements, launching a tenant survey and publishing a housing improvement programme.
It is also planning to survey the majority of its 1,500 properties in the next 10 months and appoint new contractors to speed up remedial works.
This is the second C4 grade the regulator has handed out, after the London Borough of Newham received the grade in October.
The regulator found 9,000 overdue fire safety remedial actions and a failure to self-refer.
In spite of this, Newham also achieved the highest TSM score of all London local authorities in 2023-24.
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