Harlow District Council has been told it needs to make “significant improvements” after failing to meet “fire safety requirements”, the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has said.
Following an investigation by the RSH, the district council, which is responsible for 9,100 social housing homes, was found to have failed to meet the new consumer standards for social housing landlords.
The council had reportedly carried out fire risk assessments for only 20% of buildings where assessments were required. In addition, more than 500 high risk fire safety remedial actions were overdue alongside 1,500 overdue medium risk actions. The council was given a C3 grading by the regulator, signifying there were “serious failings” requiring “significant improvements”.
Kate Dodsworth, Chief of Regulatory Engagement at RSH, said that it was “unacceptable” that the council had “failed to meet fire safety requirements”.
“Providing safe, decent homes for tenants begins with robust data, and this must include fire risk assessments for every home that needs one,” she said.
“We identified these failings by scrutinising the council’s Tenant Satisfaction Measure (TSM) results. It is the landlord’s responsibility to notify us themselves of material issues.”
It is understood that the council has since employed an external consultant to help prioritise its improvement plan and is working to complete the “outstanding fire risk assessments and resulting actions”. The regulator said it would continue to “scrutinise the council closely”, adding it “must demonstrate…it is reducing risks to tenants as it puts these issues right”.
“Our new proactive approach and expanded consumer remit is helping to bring issues to the surface earlier. We expect all providers to regularly review and evaluate their services to improve outcomes for tenants,” Kate added.
As reported by Inside Housing, Dan Swords, leader of Harlow Council, said: “On nearly every tenant satisfaction measure, Harlow performed well, although we are taking clear steps to drive improvement across the board. However, on one measure – the number of fire risk assessments that had been carried out in our flat blocks – we performed very badly.
“This historic issue has not been dealt with well or quickly enough by the council. For several years, we have not carried out enough fire risk assessments and that is why this moment will be a very clear turning point.
“We are already working closely with the regulator to make specific improvements against these new requirements, and we are making rapid progress to that effect.
“We will also bring forward an action plan which will be considered by the cabinet at the very first opportunity to ensure we are taking every step necessary to right this historic failure.
“I am absolutely confident that as a result of the actions we have already put in place and those which are to be considered by the cabinet, we will resolve this issue and at the next round of review, the council will not be in a C3 position.”
The judgment is part of a set of judgments published by the RSH as part of its ongoing regulatory activity. Other housing providers covered include the Havebury Housing Partnership, Calico Homes, Saxon Weald, and Rooftop Housing Group.
Steven Dennis, chief executive of Saxon Weald, which received a C2 grading, said: “We are pleased with our regulatory judgement, which reflects our effective governance, sound financial management and customer-focused approach.
“We acknowledge that we have areas for improvement and have solid plans in place to address these. In many cases, we have made good progress in the short time since our inspection was completed.
“We look forward to continued engagement with the regulator and aspire to achieving C1 levels of assurance in the near future.”