Pledge to put right thousands of health and safety failings in council properties within months

The council was found to have breached the Home Standard by the Regulator of Social Housing (RoSH) in April 2023.

The regulator found the council had failed to complete gas, fire, electrical and asbestos checks in thousands of homes and placed the authority under a Regulatory Notice requiring it to meet minimum standards.

On December 18, council leader, Councillor Patrick Harley, told a meeting of the council’s Audit and Standards Committee: “Things clearly weren’t right, changes have completely turned that around.

“I expect within the next few months to be in the all clear and off the naughty step.”

After the council reported itself to the regulator an investigation found a series of problems which amounted to ‘the potential for serious detriment to tenants’.

Among the failings identified were overdue gas inspections in 300 properties and 500 overdue asbestos inspections.

Also, 4,000 domestic properties had not had an electrical inspection in ten years, 300 properties needed remedial electrical work which had not been carried out and 800 properties on the communal testing programme did not have a valid Electrical Installation Condition Report.

In its report the RoSH added: “Dudley MBC told us it could not evidence what proportion of its homes meet the Decent Homes Standard as it does not hold full or accurate data in this area.”

The regulator’s conclusions were highlighted in the latest audit of the council which was discussed by the committee.

In its report, auditor Grant Thornton said: “The council must seek to settle the requirements of the Regulatory Notice.

"The council has failed to manage its service delivery obligations and therefore failed to achieve economy, efficiency and effectiveness.”

After the regulator’s report in April, Dudley began a 100 percent stock condition survey which it expected to be complete within 12 months.

An RoSH spokesperson said: “We published a regulatory notice for Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council after it breached our consumer standards.

“We continue to scrutinise the council and the notice will remain in place until it resolves the issues we identified in our investigation. We cannot comment on regulatory cases while they are ongoing.”