The Regulator of Social Housing has today issued a C4 grading to Northumberland County Council, after an inspection uncovered “very serious failings”.

During the inspection, RSH found:

• The council only has up to date information on the condition of around 3% of its homes
• Limited evidence that health and safety assessments are accurately recorded or routinely monitored, or that actions are being addressed within appropriate timescales
• The council does not respond to all complaints in a timely way
• A lack of meaningful opportunities for tenants to scrutinise performance and influence services
• Serious failings in meeting the outcomes of the tenancy standard.

RSH said Northumberland CC had been “engaging constructively”.  “It now needs to develop a comprehensive improvement plan urgently and share it with tenants,” it added.

Kate Dodsworth, Chief of Regulatory Engagement at RSH, said: “These failings are unacceptable and the council urgently needs to develop a full understanding of the root causes of these issues and the current risks to tenants.

“We will engage intensively with the council while they put things right and our priority will be that they ensure that risks to tenants are properly managed and mitigated.”

In a statement, Northumberland County Council Leader Glen Sanderson, said: “We’re disappointed by the report but of course, we accept it.

“We take these findings very seriously because we always strive for excellence in all we do and we know our tenants are amongst the most satisfied in the region with our housing services.

“Going into the inspection, we were already carrying out a stock condition survey which would give us an up-to-date assessment across all our housing.

“However inspectors want us to go faster on this and I’ve instructed our officers to deliver the plan at pace to ensure all of our stock is surveyed by the end of next year, and we have the right resources in the right place to ensure our health and safety data is fit for the future.

“We’ll also ensure oversight of our housing service is strengthened as well as learning from our partners in the social housing sector.

“Officers have already progressed a number of proactive measures and I will be looking to introduce a cross-party Housing scrutiny committee which I would like to have chaired by an opposition member.

“In the meantime, I can assure our tenants they will continue to receive high-quality service they expect in repairs and maintenance of their homes.

“I’m extremely proud of our very high levels of satisfaction amongst our housing tenants – we know we’re doing lots of the right things.”

“Recent tenant satisfaction survey results found that the council’s tenants are the most satisfied local authority tenants in the North East and 99% of repairs are completed within timescale, with 99% of repairs fixed first time.

“We’re spending around £25m per year on our housing stock – that’s £11m capital per year improving our homes, plus £14m on repairs, maintenance, voids and issues like damp and mould.

“And during the next five years we have allocated proactive spending of £56m on replacement roofs, windows and doors, bathrooms, re-wiring and new kitchens.”

Meanwhile, RSH has placed Aves Housing on its gradings under review list while it investigates matters which may indicate serious failings in the landlord delivering outcomes of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard and the consumer standards.