Regulator of Social Housing hands C3 consumer grades to two local authorities

Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council and Thanet District Council have been given C3 consumer grades in their first assessments by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH).

RSH said it found “serious failings” in delivery against the consumer standard delivery by the two local authorities and that they both need to improve significantly.

Regarding Nuneaton and Bedworth, RSH called for “significant improvement” across repairs, health and safety, transparency and accountability, citing the local authoritiy’s “failure to communicate material issues to RSH promptly”.

The regulator also identified “weaknesses” in how the landlord meets the diverse needs of residents and handles complaints.

Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council said: “We fully accept the findings of the regulator’s report and apologise to tenants where our services have not met the standards they rightly expect.

“The judgement highlights concerns in a number of areas, particularly around repairs, gas, fire and water safety compliance, complaints handling, performance reporting and the way some issues were communicated to the regulator.

“Improvement work is already underway. Over recent months we have strengthened arrangements for managing building safety, accelerated work to address outstanding compliance actions, introduced recovery plans in key service areas, and are investing in improvements to our housing systems, data and performance management. We are also reviewing policies and processes to ensure we can provide tenants with a more responsive, reliable and transparent service.”

At Thanet District Council, which manages around 3,200 homes, RSH highlighted issues relating to the quality and condition of homes and “not demonstrating timely or appropriate action to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour”.

Helen Whitehead, cabinet member for housing at Thanet District Council, said: “While the outcome from the regulator is highly disappointing, we have already taken focused action and will continue to address every area highlighted. I believe our record shows just how important providing excellent council housing for Thanet residents is to us as a council, and it could not be more important to me.”

RSH’s inspection confirmed the council is meeting standards across core repairs, health and safety, tenancy management and transparency.

The local authority is due to set out a full draft housing improvement plan with actions, targets and timelines before its cabinet this November.

Kate Dodsworth, RSH deputy chief executive, said the body expects “swift and sustained improvement” from the local authorities.

The latest batch of regulatory judgements also saw two housing associations – Greatwell Homes and North Star Housing Group – receive the top C1 grade on their first grading.

Meanwhile, 24,000-home PA Housing was upgraded to C1 from C2.

All three had unchanged G1 governance and V2 financial viability grades.

In addition, Bristol-based Brighter Places, Cornwall Council, First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO), Norfolk-based housing co-op Freebridge Community Housing and Somerset-based NSAH (Alliance Homes) all received a C2 following inspection.

FCHO has retained its G1 and V1 grades, while the other three non-council housing providers have unchanged G1/V2 grades.

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