Dudley Council failed on thousands of home safety checks

The council could not evidence what proportion of its homes met the decent homes standard, the social housing regulator said

Thousands of health and safety failings in council properties will be put right within months, the leader of Dudley Council has insisted.

The authority was found to have breached government standards on social housing in April 2023.

It had failed to complete gas, fire, electrical and asbestos checks in thousands of homes, inspectors said.

"Things clearly weren't right, changes have completely turned that around", said leader councillor Patrick Harley.

Mr Harley's pledge came after the council reported itself to the Regulator of Social Housing (RoSH), an investigation found a series of problems that amounted to "the potential for serious detriment to tenants".

Remedial electrical work

On Monday, he told a meeting of the council's audit and standards committee on Monday he expected the authority to be in the "all clear" in the next few months and "off the naughty step."

Among the failings identified were overdue gas inspections in 300 properties and 500 overdue asbestos inspections.

A total of 4,000 domestic properties had not had an electrical inspection in 10 years, and 300 properties needed remedial electrical work which had not been carried out.

"Dudley MBC told us it could not evidence what proportion of its homes meet the decent homes standard as it does not hold full or accurate data in this area," the report from RoSH added.

The regulator's conclusions were highlighted in the latest audit of the council which was discussed by the committee.

In its report, auditor Grant Thornton said: "The council must seek to settle the requirements of the regulatory notice. The council has failed to manage its service delivery obligations and therefore failed to achieve economy, efficiency and effectiveness."

Regulatory notice

The council began a 100 percent stock condition survey following the regulator's report in April, with that survey expected to be complete within 12 months.

An RoSH spokesperson said: "We published a regulatory notice for Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council after it breached our consumer standards.

The authority remained under scrutiny, and the notice would remain in place until it resolved the issues identified, they added.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.