Housing Regulator finds ‘serious failings’ in first inspection of Oldham Council

A watchdog has voiced ‘serious concerns’ about the management of social housing in Oldham.

In a first-of-its-kind report, the new Regulator of Social Housing investigated how the local authority is carrying out its landlording duties across the borough. 

The council was pulled up over a limited awareness of its responsibilities as a landlord and ‘serious failings in respect of engagement with tenants’. 

The poor rating is in part due to Oldham’s unique position.

Unlike many other local authorities, most of the council’s housing stock is managed through Private Finance Initiatives (PFIs). 

This means landlording responsibilities are carried out by the PFI management firms, Inspiral and Oldham Retirement Housing, with Oldham Council having a ‘light touch’ involvement in their management up until recently.

But due to a change in housing regulations brought in 18 months ago, the council are now required to have greater oversight over all the social housing in the borough – including those managed through PFI. 

The watchdog report didn’t highlight any issues with the housing itself, finding that on average ‘reported repairs performance is generally good’ and ‘relatively high levels of tenant satisfaction’.

But it found that Oldham Council lacked transparency and accountability, with the local authority sometimes unable to access data held by their management firms, such as complaints and repairs. 

The report read: “The inspection has identified serious concerns in relation to Oldham MBC’s awareness of its responsibilities as a landlord. …

“Oldham MBC does not consistently assure itself that the required outcomes are being delivered for its tenants.

"We observed some areas to be wholly reliant on exception reporting, and others where assurance provided was insufficiently robust.”

It also found that although the council ‘reports that all its homes are decent with construction or significant refurbishment within the last 15 years’, less than half of homes have had an official stock condition survey in the last five years.

The LDRS has been assured that these surveys relate to the general wear and tear of things like kitchen fittings and bathrooms, whereas all the homes have been inspected for general health and safety. 

The report acknowledges the council are taking steps to remedy the issues highlighted in the report.

The LDRS understands this involves growing the social housing management team at the council – which currently consists of three people – so the council can have a greater overview of the work carried out by the PFI managing firms. 

Councillor Elaine Taylor, Cabinet Member for Housing, said: “This is a serious judgement, and we fully accept the findings.

"Residents deserve a housing service where safety and accountability come first. 

“Most of the issues relate to governance and oversight.

"The Regulator recognises that we had already started making improvements, and we will now go further and faster. 

“We are increasing staff capacity, strengthening our checks on safety information, and improving how we monitor the work carried out by our housing partners.

"We will produce an enhanced improvement plan, strengthen our governance arrangements, and work closely with tenants so they can shape the changes being made. 

“Residents living in homes managed on our behalf will receive a direct update explaining what this means for them and how we will work with them in future to ensure better communication as their landlord.” 

The council has been issued with a C3 rating, with the best rating being C1 while the worst is C4.

The watchdog is yet to complete its inspection of all local councils, but so far, four councils have been issued a C1; 18 have been issued a C2; 30 have been issued a C3; and three have been issued a C4 judgement, according to Oldham Council.

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