Issue - meetings

Cabinet discussed proposals for updating five housing policies. These policies needed to be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that they were still working in the way that they were intended and were kept up to date with current legislation or regulations. The reviewed policies were:

·  Gas Safety;

·  Electrical Safety;

·  Passenger Lifts;

·  Water Hygiene;

·  Asbestos.

The fire safety policy was reviewed and adopted in June 2023. This was because of the introduction of the Building Safety Act 2022 and strengthening of fire safety regulations. The changes made to the five policies were in relation to the following:

·  Removal of repetition, thus shortening the policies;

·  Ensuring the policies reflect current legislation, regulation and best practice;

·  Removal of reference to other council departments;

·  Complete review of the reporting regime.

The current policies were reflective of the Council’s performance in landlord health and safety when the service transitioned in-house from The ALMO, East Kent Housing in October 2020. At that time, compliance was poor and the Council was under notice by the Regulator for Social Housing. The current policies were drafted for the Council by a consultant and they supported a very robust monitoring and reporting regime, reflective of the requirements at the time and the need to provide assurance that the Council was improving its position.

Officers had looked to reduce the reporting through these new policies as the compliance workstreams were now operating as business as usual, rather than still being in a recovery position. This meant that much of the reporting was now redundant. Officers would still provide assurance with a high level overview of the compliance position with commentary that would explain any fluctuations in statistics. Any cause for concern would be escalated at the time and dealt with immediately and this would be reflected through performance reports with an explanation in the commentary.

Councillor Bayford spoke under Council Procedure Rule 20.1.

Councillor Everitt proposed, Councillor Keen seconded and Cabinet agreed to:

1.  Adopt the five amended compliance policies;

2.  Delegate authority to the Head of Tenant and Leaseholder Services, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing to make minor operational changes to the policies, as required.

Sally O’Sullivan, Head of Tenant and Lease Holder Services introduced the report and made the following comments:

·  When the service transitioned in October 2020, the Council adopted new landlord compliance policies. These policies were drafted by a consultant and they were very robust due to the position that the Council was in regarding being under notice by the Regulator for Social Housing;

·  Policies need to be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure they are still working in the way that they were intended and are kept up to date with current legislation or regulations. The polices for that have been reviewed are:

§  Gas Safety

§  Electrical Safety

§  Passenger Lifts

§  Water Hygiene

§  Asbestos

·  The fire safety policy was reviewed and adopted in June 23, following the introduction of the Building Safety Act 2022 and strengthening of fire safety regulations. The changes made to the 5 policies are: 

§  Removal of repetition, thus shortening the policies;

§  Ensuring the policies reflect current legislation, regulation and best practice;

§  Removal of reference to other council departments; 

§  Complete review of reporting regime.

·  The Tenant and Leaseholder Services (TLS) team provided reports to enable the Council to monitor its programmes, taking appropriate action where necessary and giving assurance. At the point of transition, it was important that the services provided robust reporting with early warning systems in place;

·  The team had looked to reducing the reporting through these new policies as the compliance workstreams were now operating as business as usual, rather than recovery. This meant that much of the reporting was now redundant;

·  The service could still provide assurance with a high level overview of the compliance position with commentary that would explain any fluctuations in statistics;

·  Any cause for concern would be escalated at the time and dealt with immediately and this would be reflected through performance reports with an explanation in the commentary.

The Panel asked questions and made comments as follows:

·  How often were these policies reviewed?

·  Did tenants groups make any recommendations for consideration by the Council?

·  Should these policies not be reviewed annual as part of best practice?

·  The Panel thanked the tenant and leaseholder services team and said that officers had worked hard to correct some of the problems that tenants experienced during the time when council housing stock was under East Kent Services;

·  Ward Councillors were now fewer referrals from residents.

Sally O’Sullivan responded to the Panel’s questions and comments as follows:

·  Policies were reviewed every two to three years;

·  Tenants group did not forward any recommendations for the reviewing policies;

·  In 2020 one of the reasons for bringing the service in-house was the issue of compliance;

·  The health and safety statutory including gas safety compliance were the main issues of concern;

·  Thanet District Council self-referred itself to the Regulator for Social Housing Landlords. The Council took part in monthly meetings with the Regulator as part of progress monitoring;

·  The Council worked through this process to the satisfaction of the Regulator  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26