A C4 grading has been issued to a district council in West Sussex following “serious failings” relating to fire safety across its social housing

A planned inspection of Arun District Council (DC) by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) identified nearly 1,000 overdue fire risk assessment remedial actions, with more than 700 of these actions categorised as high or very high risk and overdue for more than 12 months.

In its regulatory judgement, RSH found:

  • Around 2,500 open and overdue repair cases
  • Nearly 1,000 overdue fire risk assessment remedial actions 
  • Over half of its homes do not have smoke detectors, and it does not expect to reach compliance in this area until May 2027
  • A lack of meaningful opportunities for tenants to scrutinise performance and influence services
  • A lack of evidence that it is taking prompt and appropriate action in response to anti-social behaviour cases and hate incidents.

In respect of fire safety, the regulator said that Arun DC “could not demonstrate that it is adequately managing and mitigating fire safety risks to tenants”.

It added: “Arun DC self-referred this matter to us at the beginning of the inspection. Arun DC does not have approved plans in place to address the outstanding fire remedial actions and is unable to provide evidence of how it is mitigating fire safety risks.”

RSH acknowledged that although Arun DC had “indicated a willingness to address the issues”, the regulator had seen “limited evidence that it understands and is acting upon urgent concerns around health and safety and has the capability to do so”.

“Fundamental changes are required to the service to improve outcomes for tenants,” the regulator added.

As reported by Inside Housing, a spokesperson for the council said the outcome was “not the result we had hoped for” and that the council was “treating this matter with the seriousness it deserves”.

“We are fully committed to addressing all areas highlighted in the judgement. Rectifying these issues is our top priority, and we are taking immediate steps to ensure our tenants are safe and living in satisfactory housing conditions.

“We are developing a comprehensive plan to drive fundamental change across all of the identified areas, with dedicated people and financial resources. This will be shared with the regulator, elected members, and with tenants.”

The council added: “While the judgement is deeply disappointing, it presents a clear opportunity for us to improve and deliver better outcomes for our tenants.

“Our staff are dedicated, hard-working professionals, who will give their full commitment to this important work. We remain committed to transparency, accountability, and above all, the safety and well-being of our tenants.”

Regulatory judgements were published by RSH for seven social landlords, including the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which received a C3 grading.

Commenting on the decisions, Kate Dodsworth, Chief of Regulatory Engagement at RSH, said:  

“Social landlords need to have a strong understanding of their tenants’ homes and ensure that all homes are of a decent standard. Equally, boards must maintain oversight and robust financial governance in order to provide good quality homes and services to tenants.  

“We will continue to keep social landlords under close scrutiny through our inspection programme and wider regulatory engagement. We continue to reinforce the importance of self-referrals by landlords, which enables issues to be resolved more quickly.”