Significant improvements required at Sandwell social housing service as watchdog finds string of fallings

Sandwell Council has been slapped with a C3 grading by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) for failing to meet health and safety standards and poor record keeping.

The inspection by the RSH found the council was facing a huge backlog of 14,000 repairs – with more than 90 per cent still to be assigned. Accurate and up-to-date information was only available for just five per cent of the council’s homes, the RSH said, and asbestos surveys and re-inspections had been carried out on only two per cent of its 28,000  homes. 

Sandwell Council had made “serious failings” and “significant improvements” were needed, the regulator said. It is the first time the local authority has been graded following the introduction of the new consumer standard regulations in April.

The safety and quality standards set by the RSH require Sandwell Council to provide an “effective, efficient and timely repairs, maintenance and improvements service.”

The RSH said: “A C3 grade means that there are serious failings in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards, which the landlord’s current arrangements are not strong enough to put right. This will be significantly impacting on service outcomes for tenants and/or accountability to tenants. 

“We expect the landlord to develop a plan that will drive significant change and to share that with tenants. 

“Our engagement with the landlord will be intensive and we will seek evidence that gives us the assurance that sufficient change and progress is being made.”

There were more than 14,000 overdue repairs for its social housing according to Sandwell Council – with 90 per cent still to be assigned. A ‘relatively small’ number of the overdue repairs were ‘emergency’ or ‘urgent’ repairs and up to 12 months overdue according to the RSH. The RSH said 

Sandwell Council was only able to prove that asbestos management surveys and re-inspections had been carried out on just two per cent of its homes. The council also failed to show how it monitored repairs after electrical safety inspections. 

Sandwell reported that it had completed electrical safety inspections for 96 per cent of its homes but could not monitor or report on what it had fixed and what needed reinspecting. 

The council said it had carried out asbestos surveys in 2022 and 2023 for all required buildings but had not re-inspected them since. It also did not have a register of which buildings needed re-inspected. The council was made aware of this in September 2023 but no action was taken, the RSH said. 

The gaps in information mean the extent and significance of the problems were not clear to Sandwell Council or the RSH, the regulator added, and the Black Country local authority was unable to mitigate against the risks posed to tenants by the outstanding works. 

When asked, the council only had up-to-date information on the condition of just five per cent of its homes and could not even say how many of its homes met a ‘decent homes’ standard. The social housing regulator said it “could not be assured” that Sandwell Council was providing decent quality homes to its tenants.

Councillor Vicki Smith, cabinet member for housing at Sandwell Council, said: “We accept the findings of the regulator. We are taking their findings very seriously and we are very sorry that we’ve fallen below the expected standards. “We want to ensure all of our tenants live in good quality, safe homes and we are committed to making improvements as quickly as possible.

“We provided information to the regulator earlier this year regarding our performance and have been engaging with them directly since.

“We’re taking urgent action to address these findings and will continue working with the regulator until we have satisfied their concerns and achieved full compliance with the standards expected for our tenants.”