Swindon Borough Council has been deemed by the Regulator of Social Housing to have failed to meet its consumer standards and has been given a C3 grading.
An inspection was brought forward by the RSH after the council made a self-referral over health and safety issues and its repairs service.
The inspection found that Swindon Borough Council:
- Was unable to report accurately on the presence of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
- Was unable to track or monitor faults from electrical safety checks.
- Has more than 800 overdue fire safety actions, the majority of which were overdue by more than a year.
- Was not actively tracking, monitoring or reporting open damp and mould cases, though there was evidence that reports are followed up effectively.
- Was unable to demonstrate how tenants’ views have been considered in its decision-making, with no evidence of actively encouraging participation from under-represented groups.
Swindon Borough Council has demonstrated that it understands the issues and is taking action towards rectifying the failures identified. The RSH will continue to engage with the landlord to ensure it makes the necessary improvements.
Separately, three housing associations – Housing 21, Torus62 and Sovereign Network – received C2/G1 gradings following inspections. This means that they meet the RSH’s governance requirements but there are some weaknesses in their delivery of the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed.
All three housing associations meet the viability requirements with Housing 21 and Torus62 retaining V1 gradings, and Sovereign Network Group retaining its V2 grading.
While both V1 and V2 landlords meet the viability requirements and have the financial capacity to deal with a reasonable range of adverse scenarios, V2 landlords need to manage material risks to ensure continued compliance.
RSH also published interim G1/V1 gradings for Bromford Flagship, after Flagship Housing Group became a subsidiary of Bromford Housing Group in February this year.
Kate Dodsworth, chief of regulatory engagement at RSH, said: “We take health and safety very seriously and expect all landlords to make sure tenants are not at risk in their homes.”
“We also want to see better data management from landlords, to demonstrate they understand their homes and tenants. Self-referrals are a good indicator that a landlord not only understands our requirements, but that they are taking accountability.”
“Lastly, our scrutiny of housing associations’ governance and viability remains vital for delivering more and better homes for tenants.”
