Agenda item

A report of the Chief Executive outlining the management actions in responding to the root causes of the issues identified in the Independent Housing Compliance Review report.

(1)   Cabinet noted the contents of the report, in particular, the progress in meeting full compliance as detailed in paragraph 3.3 of the report and the Independent Compliance Review report produced by Eversheds Sutherland.

(2)   Cabinet noted the management response as outlined in paragraph 3.7 of the report to all the root causes identified in the Eversheds Sutherland report.

(3)   Cabinet noted the conclusion made by Eversheds Sutherland that changes made during 2021/22 had put the Council in a much stronger position and that there was now a transparency and frankness around matters of compliance as highlighted in paragraph 3.8 of the report.

(4)   Cabinet noted that monthly Housing Compliance meetings would continue to take place with the Leader of the Council, Cabinet Member for Housing and Climate Change, Chief Executive and Housing Compliance Manager.

A report of the Chief Executive outlining the management actions in responding to the root causes of the issues identified in the Independent Housing Compliance Review report.

Following issues found in the way that housing compliance was managed, the Council made a decision to make a self-referral to the Regulator for Social Housing in May 2021.

The Regulator issued a notice to the Council but they decided against taking statutory enforcement action thus far on the basis of that the issues were being remedied.  The Council also wrote to all tenants and leaseholders about the compliance issues and the Council’s plan to achieve full compliance as quickly as practicably possible.  The Executive Member for Housing and Climate Change issued a public apology at the time and reiterated their apologies to tenants and leaseholders who were let down by the failures in the Council’s compliance programme.

Since the issue came to light, the Council’s Housing Compliance Manager has made significant improvements in the way the Council manages the compliance service, the latest update in all the six compliance areas were summarised in paragraph 3.3 of the report and this was a much-improved position compared to the situation in May last year.

The Executive Member for Housing and Climate Change had also worked with the Council’s Chief Executive to commission Eversheds Sutherland to carry out an independent review in order to provide further assurance that historic concerns had been identified and that the remedial measures that were being put in place by the Council would be effective.  A copy of Eversheds report was shown in Appendix A.

It was fundamental for the Council to understand the root causes that lead to the housing compliance issue so that remedies would be put in place to prevent similar occurrences in the future. 

The Chief Executive provided a summary of the management response to the root causes identified.

The Chief Executive apologised to the tenants and leaseholders that had been let down by the Council over the housing compliance issue. 

Since the issue came to light, the Council put in a new management team to oversee the Housing Property service as the Corporate Director and Head of Service were no longer employed by the Council.

The independent review had identified twelve root causes and the Chief Executive highlighted a selection of actions that were going to be put in place.  The details were contained in paragraph 3.7 of the report.

•   There is more transparency on the sharing of compliance data.  The Council’s Housing Compliance Manager sends out compliance statistics covering all six compliance areas to senior management every fortnight.  The Cabinet Housing Panel has also received an update on housing compliance in every meeting since November 2021.  Both the Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing also received a monthly briefing.

•   The Council now has a comprehensive record of the properties for which they are responsible for in terms of housing compliance.  The Council has also put procedures in place to ensure the record would continue to be kept up to date.

•   The Council’s governance framework on the corporate reporting of Health and Safety matters had been strengthened, in particular there is a direct reporting line to the Corporate Governance group which is chaired by the Chief Executive.  This ensures that significant health and safety issues are flagged to senior management at the earliest opportunity.

•   A new asset system is due to go live in April 2022, which will create a centralised asset register in the housing property team.

•   There is now a greater focus corporately on compliance matters.

•   The proposed senior management structure, which is currently subject to staff consultation, will reduce silo working on health and safety matters.  Once the structure is in place, there will be a comprehensive review and reset of the Council’s organisation values and the Chief Executive will continue to hold regular staff briefings to nurture and develop an open and honest culture within the Council.  The fact that the Council has decided to publish Eversheds report in the public domain showed the openness and transparency that the Council wants to develop.

The Council has also been meeting with the Regulator for Social Housing to keep them up to date with the progress on housing compliance.  It was noted that the Council met with them on the 1 March 2022 together with Eversheds to discuss the findings of the independent review.  They were pleased with the Council’s progress so far and no concerns have been raised to date.

The Chief Executive thanked everyone involved in dealing with the housing compliance matters, it has been a very tough ten months.  It was through great teamwork and with the support from Cabinet that the Council had managed to turnaround the service.

The Executive Member for Housing and Climate Change was assured by the Eversheds report, which states that the changes made during 2021/22 have put the Council in a much stronger position. The changes have created a sustainable solution to achieve compliance whilst also recognising the resource pressures and other challenges that exist in local government. There is now a transparency and frankness around matters of compliance that appeared to have been missing.  The Executive Member for Housing and Climate Change was confident that the actions that officers are putting in place would put the Council in a much stronger position going forward.

Subject to agreement of the recommendations, it was agreed officers would circulate a copy of the report to the Cabinet Housing Panel members.

RESOLVED:

(unanimous)

(1)   Cabinet noted the contents of the report, in particular, the progress in meeting full compliance as detailed in paragraph 3.3 of the report and the Independent Compliance Review report produced by Eversheds Sutherland.

(2)   Cabinet noted the management response as outlined in paragraph 3.7 of the report to all the root causes identified in the Eversheds Sutherland report.

(3)   Cabinet noted the conclusion made by Eversheds Sutherland that changes made during 2021/22 had put the Council in a much stronger position and that there was now a transparency and frankness around matters of compliance as highlighted in paragraph 3.8 of the report.

(4)   Cabinet noted that monthly Housing Compliance meetings would continue to take place with the Leader of the Council, Cabinet Member for Housing and Climate Change, Chief Executive and Housing Compliance Manager.