Health and Safety: Falling short of the consumer standards

On 9 July, the Regulator of Social Housing published a number of regulatory judgments for social housing landlords; the first tranche of consumer gradings since the Regulator expanded its remit in April.  The key focus of four of those judgments is a failure to meet the Regulator’s new consumer standards, introduced this year on 1 April and, more specifically, a failure to meet the safety and quality standard.  The new standards for social housing landlords, which are the result of the landmark Social Housing Regulation Act, are designed to protect tenants and improve the service they receive.

Following investigations, the Regulator found that four of those landlords had significant failings relating to health and safety, including:

• Lack of evidence to demonstrate carbon monoxide safety requirements;
• No up-to-date electrical condition reports;
• Overdue or lack of evidence to demonstrate completed fire safety actions;
• Disrepair cases outstanding for extended periods of time;
• Open damp and mould cases;
• Lack of up-to-date data about the condition of tenant’s homes; and
• Failure to hold complete and accurate records of safety inspections.

As a result, those four social housing landlords were each given a C3 grading by the Regulator.  These gradings mean there are “serious failings” identified and “significant improvements” required. 

In our experience, these types of health and safety failings are not uncommon in the sector.  However, we know that the Regulator is carrying out planned inspections of all large social landlords (those with over 1,000 homes) over a four-year cycle, so we can expect to see more scrutiny of the health and safety arrangements in place and serious consequences where things are not compliant. 

The new safety and quality standard requires registered providers to hold detailed records for all of their homes in order to:

• Have an accurate, up to date understanding of the condition of their homes;
• Ensure the homes meet the Government’s Decent Homes Guidance;
• Take all reasonable steps to ensure the health and safety of tenants in their homes;
• Provide effective and timely repairs, maintenance and planned improvements; and 
• Assist tenants seeking housing adaptations.

Being able to evidence that health and safety requirements are met is not new and is also critical for compliance with the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974, as well as the new consumer standards.  Failure to comply with health and safety law also bring serious consequences for landlords - from both a reputational and legal perspective -  with successful prosecutions by the Health and Safety Executive frequently now attracting fines running into the millions of pounds. 

We would strongly urge all social landlords to review the data they hold for health and safety inspections and to put plans in place to address any outstanding actions.  Particular focus should be on the core statutory compliance areas of gas, electrical, fire, water and asbestos, as well as damp and mould.  If not done so already, all actions should be RAG rated to ensure the highest priority issues identified during inspections are addressed first.  Accurate record keeping in this regard will also help to inform the overall condition of the property portfolio.  

In reality, this may involve a review of internal policies, procedures and IT systems to assess whether data is being captured and stored effectively and efficiently; specific attention should be paid to review dates to ensure these are not missed.  It may also mean initiating procurement processes and/or recruiting additional resource to support certain areas of compliance.  Arrangements with external contractors who carry out statutory checks should be reviewed to ensure the requisite standards are being met and that actions are being completed within the recommended timescales.  Where serious concerns are identified then, like those landlords discussed in this article, due consideration should be given to the need to self-refer to the Regulator in line with legal advice.