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Newham Council has apologised to tenants after it was given the worst possible rating by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) as inspectors found thousands of outstanding repairs as well as fire safety works that were overdue by more than 12 months.
In a report published by the regulator on Wednesday (16 October 2024), Newham Council was given a ‘C4’ grading after RSH found ‘very serious failings’ which included not carrying out electrical tests on some of its homes in over 11 years.
Earlier this year it was announced that RSH would be given more power and enforcement to ensure social housing landlords are following consumer standards during inspections.
The council, which owns around 16,000 homes in the borough and manages around 14,000 of these, is the first social housing landlord to be given the new ‘C4’ grading following an inspection in May.
Newham Council's chief executive, Abi Gbago, said the council accepts that it has let tenants down and is working on addressing the recommendations that have been outlined in the report.
The council is spending more than £64 million on improvements which are part of a capital investment programme that aims to make sure residents are living in safe and secure homes.
Inspectors found there were 9,000 overdue fire safety remedial actions of which 8,000 were overdue by over a year – while 4,000 were classed as ‘high risk’.
The report said although there were plans in place to complete the overdue remedial actions, the council could not provide ‘sufficient assurance’ that it is effectively reducing fire safety risks for all homes that are currently affected.
The council had a lack of evidence to show that it was meeting the smoke and carbon monoxide alarm requirements and at least 20per cent of its homes did not meet the Decent Homes Standard.
Inspectors also found the council did not have up-to-date stock condition on most of its homes and around 60per cent of its homes had not been surveyed in the last five years.
They went on to say the council’s repairs and maintenance service needs ‘significant improvement’ after it found 5,400 open repairs – of which 49per cent were outside of target dates to complete them. Inspectors said in the report: “We also found limited evidence that [Newham Council] provides a range of relevant and accessible information for tenants about its landlord services, including how it is performing, and we did not see evidence of it keeping tenants informed when things go wrong.
“Through our meeting observations, we did however observe a respectful approach to tenants, we saw some evidence of [the council] taking the diverse needs of tenants into account, and we saw evidence of [the council] ensuring services were accessible to tenants with diverse needs.”
Inspectors found social housing tenants rarely get to influence and scrutinise the council’s strategies, policies and services though there was some evidence that they are sometimes allowed to take part in tenant-led activities and opportunities.
Inspectors said the council lets its homes in a ‘fair and transparent manner’ and offers tenancies that take into account the needs of tenants and prospective tenants.
The report concluded: “[Newham Council] has engaged constructively with us throughout the inspection and has indicated a willingness to address this situation, but we have not yet seen evidence to sufficiently assure us of its ability to put matters right.
"Taking this into account, alongside the breadth and significance of the very material issues, we have concluded that there are very serious failings in how [Newham Council] is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards, and it must make fundamental changes so that improved outcomes are delivered for tenants.”
The chief of regulatory engagement at RSH, Kate Dodsworth, said the findings reveal ‘an unacceptable risk to tenants’ wellbeing’ and said it was ‘extremely concerning’ that Newham Council had failed to refer itself to the regulator over these issues.
Ms Dodsworth said: “We are now engaging intensively with [Newham Council] as they work to resolve these issues. While we are not proposing to use our enforcement powers at this stage, this will be kept under review.”
Since the inspection, the council has written to all tenants who have not had an electrical installation inspection in more than a decade and has offered appointments to them.
Other actions carried out by the council include reducing the number of repairs past their target date and improving opportunities for residents to be involved in shaping policy and service improvements.
Ms Gbago said: “We can and must do better for our tenants. We have long been prioritising actions aimed at keeping residents safe, making many improvements even since the inspectors visited us in May. In line with our culture of openness and transparency, we welcomed the inspector’s review of our how well we are delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards, providing them with opportunities to meet tenants, officers and councillors.”
Councillor Shaban Mohammed, cabinet member for housing services and modernisation, said: “Keeping our tenants safe is our priority – which is why we were one of the first councils in London to take action to remove cladding from high rise blocks following the Grenfell Fire tragedy.
“The regulators have rightly focused on areas where we need to move further and faster – but I am glad they haven’t felt it necessary to take enforcement action against us.”
Cllr Mohammed said he will be closely monitoring the improvement plan and the way the improvement programme is delivered.
