In regulatory notices published today (Thursday 14 December), the Regulator of Social Housing has concluded that Wigan Council and Woking Borough Council have both breached the consumer standards.
Through its engagement with each council, RSH has confirmed that they failed to meet a range of health and safety requirements in a number of their tenants' homes.
Wigan Council did not carry out annual gas safety inspections in over 1,000 homes (the council has since reduced this to around 700). It had installed around 16,000 carbon monoxide detectors in its tenants' homes, but failed to install them in another 10,000. It also reported that around 275 homes did not have valid electrical inspection certificates and that over 150 high-risk fire safety actions were overdue.
Woking Borough Council had completed fire risk assessments for the majority of blocks requiring them, but RSH found there were more than 400 overdue safety actions from the assessments. In addition, the council was unable to confirm whether smoke detectors are installed in over a quarter of its tenants' homes.
Wigan Council and Woking Borough Council have both put programmes in place to address these issues. RSH will continue to monitor each council as they carry out this work.
Kate Dodsworth, Chief of Regulatory Engagement at RSH, said:
Wigan Council and Woking Borough Council both failed to meet our consumer standards and need to put things right promptly for tenants.
It is vital that all social landlords have accurate, up-to-date health and safety data and use it to ensure their tenants' homes are safe. As well as our ongoing investigations, we will be out on the front foot from next April inspecting landlords to make sure they are providing good-quality homes and services.
Notes
- RSH promotes a viable, efficient and well-governed social housing sector able to deliver and maintain homes of appropriate quality that meet a range of needs. It does this by undertaking robust economic regulation focusing on governance, financial viability and value for money that maintains lender confidence and protects the taxpayer. It also sets consumer standards and may take action if these standards are breached. RSH's remit on consumer issues is expanding and from April 2024 it will begin carrying out regulatory inspections of social landlords.
