Arun District Council has received a C4 grading, meaning there are very serious failings and fundamental changes are needed.
During an inspection of the council, RSH found
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Around 2,500 open and overdue repairs cases
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Nearly 1,000 overdue fire risk assessment remedial actions
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Over half of its homes do not have smoke detectors and it does not expect to reach compliance in this area until May 2027
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A lack of meaningful opportunities for tenants to scrutinise performance and influence services
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A lack of evidence that it is taking prompt and appropriate action in response to anti-social behaviour cases and hate incidents
Arun DC understands the issues it needs to address and is taking action to rectify the very serious failures. Arun DC has been engaging constructively with RSH and it is now expected to develop a comprehensive plan that will drive fundamental change across all the areas identified, and to share that with tenants.
RSH also published a regulatory judgement for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC)
RBKC meets the outcomes of RSH’s standards in a number of areas, including health and safety compliance, its repairs process, and the way it engages with tenants.
However, an inspection found that RBKC needs to improve its understanding of tenants’ homes at an individual level, and also undertake required work to ensure tenants’ homes meet the Decent Homes standard. As a result of these issues, RSH has given the council a C3 grade.
The council has engaged constructively with RSH since it self-referred before the inspection. It is already making progress to address the issues identified, and RSH will continue to engage as it delivers its improvement plan.
L&Q and Saxon Weald were both downgraded to G2, meaning that both landlords still meet the governance requirements overall but need to improve some aspects of their arrangements to support continued compliance.
L&Q needs to strengthen its performance reporting to ensure appropriate board oversight and assurance, particularly in relation to delivering its plans for improving outcomes for tenants.
Improvement is also needed in L&Q’s approach to assessing the effectiveness of its governance arrangements, so that it can ensure these continue to support the delivery of the organisation’s aims and objectives.
RSH found evidence of weaknesses in Saxon Weald’s risk and control framework relating to procurement, contract management and some aspects of financial controls. This resulted in an overspend in relation to fire safety actions which was not identified until after costs had been incurred.
RSH also confirmed the removal of the 2023 regulatory notice for the London Borough of Harrow, which found that it had failed to meet statutory health and safety requirements for electrical and water safety, as those issues have now been resolved.
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.
The full list of judgements published today is provided in the table below.
Notes to editors
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On 1 April 2024 RSH introduced new consumer standards for social housing landlords, designed to drive long-term improvements in the sector. It also began a programme of landlord inspections. The changes are a result of the Social Housing Regulation Act 2023 and include stronger powers to hold landlords to account. More information about RSH’s approach is available in its document Reshaping Consumer Regulation.
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More information about RSH’s responsive engagement, programmed inspections and consumer gradings is also available on its website.
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RSH promotes a viable, efficient and well-governed social housing sector able to deliver more and better social homes. It does this by setting standards and carrying out robust regulation focusing on driving improvement in social landlords, including local authorities, and ensuring that housing associations are well-governed, financially viable and offer value for money. It takes appropriate action if the outcomes of the standards are not being delivered.
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RSH publishes gradings for consumer, governance and viability. Local authorities only receive consumer gradings.
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