Swindon Council Falls Short of RSH Consumer Standards
The Regulator of Social Housing has today issued five new regulatory judgements.
Swindon Borough Council has failed to meet the outcomes in the consumer standards and has been given a C3 grading from the Regulator of Social Housing, as part of a range of regulatory judgements published today.
An inspection was brought forward after the council made a self-referral over health and safety issues and its repairs service.
RSH’s 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.
RSH is continuing to engage with the landlord to make sure the necessary improvements are made.
Separately, three housing associations – Housing 21, Torus62 and Sovereign Network – received C2/G1 gradings following inspections. This means that they meet the 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 meets 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.”
Notes
ProviderConsumer gradeGovernance gradeViability gradeProcess
Bromford Flagship Limited Not assessed yetG1 (Interim Grading)V1 (Interim Grading)Merger Activity
Housing 21 C2G1V1Inspection
Torus62 Limited C2G1V1Inspection
Sovereign Network Group C2G1V2Inspection
Swindon Borough Council C3–Inspection
RSH regulates housing associations and other private registered providers against its full set of standards. Councils are regulated against the consumer and rent standards only.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/swindon-borough-council-fails-to-meet-rshs-consumer-standards