Essex council downgraded to lowest C4 consumer grade over ‘extremely concerning’ failings

An Essex council has been downgraded to the lowest possible social housing consumer regulation rating after an inspection found a range of failings in the way it manages its housing stock.

Castle Point Borough Council has become just the second social landlord to be handed a non-compliant ‘C4’ rating, which means there are very serious failings and fundamental changes are needed.

In its regulatory judgement, the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) outlined a range of failings, including not being to demonstrate it is managing and mitigating fire safety risks.

It said the council, which manages 1,500 homes, “had not yet taken remedial action to address issues with Tenant Satisfaction Measures reporting, with no opportunities for tenants to influence and scrutinise its strategies, policies and services.”

It also said it had surveyed less than 1% of its homes in the past five years, did not have an an up-to-date electrical condition test for more than 40% of communal areas and failed to have a domestic abuse policy in place.

The council was handed a ‘C3’ rating in September, but this has now been downgraded a notch further.

RSH said “there is not sufficient evidence that it [the council] understands the potential risks to tenants and of its ability to put matters right, to ensure tenants are safe.”

Responding to the judgement Dave Blackwell, leader of Castle Point Borough Council, said the authority is ‘sorry’ it did not meet the expectation of tenants.

He said the council has put an additional £438,000 into improving its housing and will look to increase this funding in January. It published its housing improvement programme last month.

Blackwell said “We accept and recognise that in the past the Council hasn’t got everything right, and we are fully committed to making the necessary improvements. Nothing is more important to us than our tenants’ wellbeing and safety and this will remain our priority even after all issues have been addressed.

>>See also: Why are councils getting low consumer regulation gradings?

“Money alone will not fix the problems, that have been many years in the making. Therefore, we are looking at our policies, our maintenance and repairs programmes, and crucially, improving our engagement with tenants through a variety of means which enable any tenant to raise issues, concerns and ideas on the service we provide.

Castle Point is the second local authority to be handed a ‘G4’ rating, following Newham Council in October.