Agenda item

Report of the Chief Executive on the Independent Compliance Review

The Executive Member of Housing and Climate Change again gave an apology to all the tenants and leaseholders for failings which led to the self-referral to the Regulator for Social Housing in May 2021. The Executive Member stated the compliance issue was being tackled.

The Chief Executive also reiterated her apologies to all the tenants and leaseholders. She stated that a new team had been employed to fix the housing compliance issue and gave thanks to all officers working on fixing the issue.

Report of the Chief Executive which outlined the commission of Eversheds Sutherland independent review.  Phil Crosbie, Principal Associate, of Eversheds Sutherland presented the report which was to investigate a systemic failing system. The review looked into how the Council got into that position, what were the controls and why it failed. The review process gathered information from a range of documents and interviews with individuals, only those that were still employed by the Council.  The review found three main areas of focus:

-        The reintegration of the Housing Trust,

-        Who knew about the failings and who should have known,

-        Why the BDO report was not reacted to.

From the review several root causes were identified:

-        Unnecessary focus on gas safety

-        Lack of complete records

-        Reliance of exception reporting

-        Missed opportunities

-        Covid causing operational challenges

-        High staff turnover

-        Job descriptions being too broad or inaccurate

-        Risk & Resilience team being independent

-        Lack of health & safety resource in the Council

-        Multiple systems not linking up for compliance

-        Not sharing or collaborating between teams. Silo working

-        Focus on the visible aspects rather than unseen (fire/asbestos)

-        Staff reluctance to come forward over issues

The principal associate stated the compliance issues would get better if the root causes were addressed and that it appears the Council were taking the appropriate next steps. However, for the issue to be rectified then the motivation and enthusiasm needed to be maintained.

The following points were raised and discussed:

·       Members expressed thanks for the independent review.

·       A Member voiced concern that the measures in place would not keep residents safe and there was a lack of health & safety imbedded into the organisation’s culture, as the focus was on the 6 main areas of compliance. The Principal Associate stated there was a legal obligation of compliance in the 6 main areas, and health & safety measures should be undertaken when practicable.

·       Members felt that health & safety was an issue that needed investigating.

·       Member queried if the management response was seen by members prior to it being agreed at Cabinet.  It was confirmed that this was sent to all members prior to the meeting.

·       A Member expressed fear that the management response was not sufficient, and the council would make the same mistakes if the culture and approach to health and safety was not changed. The chief executive stated that part of the rationale of the restructure of senior management was to tackle silo working.  The proposed structure was currently in consultation and would try to bring housing compliance, health and safety, and risk & resilience together.

·       Members felt the root causes were important to investigate and these were identified in the report.

·       The Executive Member stated that the Council needed to look forward and address the issues highlighted by the root causes for the tenants and leaseholders and that the management response sought to address these.

·       Members agreed that the tenant’s safety should be a priority.

·       Members raised concern over silo working issue and staff turnover. Members asked if CMT had the tools it needs. Officers stated there were challenges on recruitment and were looking at ways to address the problem.

·       Members asked for a paper on how compliance and health & safety would work together.

·       Members felt concern that officers may experience burnout when tackling the compliance issues. Officers stated they had support from across service teams and processes were in place to make sure people stayed on track.

·       Members expressed appreciation to the work that Officers were doing.

          RESOLVED

          (8 in favour, 2 against)

The Panel noted the contents of this report.