Bury council handed C3 grading by RSH

The regulator has given Bury Metropolitan Borough Council a C3 consumer grade after identifying serious failings in several areas.

The Greater Manchester local authority was found to have serious failings relating to health and safety, engagement with tenants, and service and performance information.

During an inspection, the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) found limited evidence of meaningful opportunities for tenants to scrutinise their landlord’s performance.

It also found that significant improvement was needed to improve the accessibility of information about services and performance.

Bury also failed to meet the technical and survey requirements of the Tenant Satisfaction Measures and was unable to provide sufficient assurance on the accuracy of its health and safety compliance information.

The RSH also identified weaknesses in the council’s repairs service, its approach to anti-social behaviour and hate incidents, and its understanding and response to tenants’ diverse needs and complaint handling.

The regulator said that a “range of improvements” were in process, but that Bury was unable to demonstrate that these had “consistently translated into better outcomes for tenants”.

It did, however, find that the council was reducing its repairs backlog and taking action to improve the quality of its data.

“It’s really important that landlords give tenants meaningful opportunities to scrutinise their performance,” said RSH deputy chief executive Kate Dodsworth.

“They should listen carefully to what tenants say and act on this to improve their services. They also need to have accurate health and safety information to make sure tenants’ homes are safe and carry out repairs promptly when needed.”

Bury Council is responsible for approximately 7,600 council homes, including around 300 managed by Springs Tenant Management Cooperative. Housing services returned to direct council management from Six Town Housing in February 2024.

“Everyone living in our council homes should expect a safe, well-maintained home, reliable services, clear information and a proper say in decisions affecting them,” said Ayesha Arif, cabinet member for housing services at Bury.

“We accept the regulator’s findings and recognise that we haven’t consistently met those standards. I’m sorry that our services have fallen short of what tenants should expect.

“We’ve been working to address longstanding problems since housing services returned to the council, and the regulator has recognised that progress. But we know there is much more to do.

“We will use these findings to focus and accelerate improvements, working closely with the regulator and our tenants. What matters is that tenants see and experience those improvements for themselves.”

The judgement was published alongside 19 stability checks this morning. See table below.