Council leader issues apology after Southwark housing shortcomings are flagged up

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Report

‘Serious failings’ in the service provided by London’s biggest council landlord were uncovered by the government’s social housing watchdog.

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) gave Southwark council, which owns about 36,800 council houses, a grading of C3 (the second worst rating) for consumer standards, and said the local authority needed to make ‘significant improvements’.

Cllr Kieron Williams, Labour leader of Southwark, said: “I want to apologise to tenants who have been let down. We will continue to drive up the quality of our services and homes for you. Whilst we have made progress we know there is much more to do.”

Cllr Victor Chamberlain, leader of Southwark’s Liberal Democrat opposition, called for Cllr Williams to resign – accusing him of ‘losing control’ of the council’s housing department.

He said: “Housing officers have been apologising unreservedly and resigning in droves but it’s the Labour leadership’s position that is no longer tenable. We need to see political accountability now.”

The inspection was the first time that Southwark has been judged under the watchdog’s new standards programme which came into place on April 1. The regulator said it had found evidence that the council was failing to meet legal requirements for health and safety in tenants’ homes and communal areas.

In June, Southwark referred itself to the regulator after finding it hadn’t completed electrical safety tests on all of its properties. The watchdog said that at the time of its inspection, over 50 per cent of the council’s homes had not had an electrical condition test for over five years.

The RSH said that more than 50 per cent of Southwark’s properties were also without smoke alarms, but noted that the council hadn’t alerted it of this problem. Despite this, it noted that the council had developed a programme to complete the overdue electrical safety checks and install smoke alarms in all its homes.

The RSH added  that there were almost 2,000 overdue fire safety issues in properties, of which 100 were categorised as high risk. The council said it had put in place mitigations to manage the problems, but the watchdog said the late actions remained a ‘regulatory concern’.

The inspection was also highly critical of Southwark’s now suspended ‘Annual Lettings Plan’ approved by Cllr Sarah King, cabinet member for housing, in May, which allowed the local authority to make direct offers of properties to households in temporary accommodation – outside of the published choice-based lettings system.

The RSH said the policy amounted to a ‘serious failure in the delivery of the tenancy standard’ and prevented prospective tenants from bidding on some available homes.’

Despite this, the RSH praised the council for ‘dealing effectively’ with anti-social behaviour in line with its policy and procedures and in partnership with relevant groups.

Cllr Williams said Southwark was investing over £250 million into its housing stock over the next three years and was improving its approach to repairs, complaints and housing allocation through a new housing management board, which included tenants.

He added: “We’ll also be continuing our work with the government and councils across the country to tackle the £2.2 billion black hole in our national council housing finances, so together we can secure the long-term funding settlement needed to fully lift council homes across the country up to modern safe, healthy and green standards.”

Pictured top: Cllr Kieron Williams (Picture: Southwark council)