Decision

Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council (00CC) - Regulatory Judgement: 30 October 2024

Published 30 October 2024

Applies to England

Our Judgement

	Grade/Judgement	Change	Date of assessment
Consumer	C1 Our judgement is that overall the landlord is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards. The landlord has demonstrated that it identifies when issues occur and puts plans in place to remedy and minimise recurrence	First grading	October 2024

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council (Barnsley MBC) following an inspection completed in October 2024.

This regulatory judgement confirms a consumer grading of C1. This is the first time we have issued a consumer grade in relation to this landlord.

Summary of the decision

From the evidence and assurance gained during the inspection, we have concluded that overall, Barnsley MBC is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and is making effective use of its systems to identify and address potential issues and areas for improvement. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a C1 grade for Barnsley MBC.

How we reached our judgement

We carried out an inspection of Barnsley MBC to assess how well Barnsley MBC is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards, as part of our planned regulatory inspection programme. We considered all four of the consumer standards: Neighbourhood and Community Standard, Safety and Quality Standard, Tenancy Standard, and the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard.

During the inspection we observed a Barnsley MBC committee meeting and a tenant meeting. We also observed Barnsley MBC’s arms length management organisation, Berneslai Homes Limited (Berneslai Homes), including one of its board meetings and its customer services committee meeting. We spoke to involved tenants, held meetings with Barnsley MBC, Berneslai Homes and their senior leadership teams, and reviewed a wide range of documents.

Our regulatory judgement is based on all the relevant information we obtained during the inspection as well as analysis of data received from Barnsley MBC through their regulatory returns and other regulatory engagement activity.

Summary of findings

Consumer – C1 – October 2024

Barnsley MBC meets the outcomes of the Safety and Quality Standard by demonstrating compliance with statutory health and safety requirements. During the inspection, Barnsley MBC provided evidence-based assurance that it has appropriate systems in place to ensure the health and safety of tenants in their homes and associated communal areas and that performance is monitored, including by Barnsley MBC’s cabinet and involved tenants. Barnsley MBC provided effective examples of how it learns lessons when issues arise and puts plans in place to remedy and minimise recurrence, including tackling root causes. 

Barnsley MBC has an accurate record of the condition of its homes through physical surveys and has plans in place for a process to keep this information up to date. Barnsley MBC demonstrated that it uses its understanding of the quality and safety of its tenants’ homes to make decisions on future investment to maintain and improve homes, and reviews its strategic approach to stock investment using the latest stock condition information.

Barnsley MBC has evidenced that it provides an effective, efficient and timely repairs service to tenants. It has demonstrated that it responds appropriately to the urgency of works and takes into account tenant vulnerabilities. Barnsley MBC takes action to review its repairs and maintenance service and to improve outcomes for tenants when issues occur. 

We gained assurance that Barnsley MBC, together with Berneslai Homes, make effective use of partnership opportunities. Barnsley MBC demonstrated that it works proactively with relevant organisations to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB) in its neighbourhoods, including targeting hotspots through days of action. Barnsley MBC sets out its approach to managing ASB and hate incidents in its ASB policy and has specific targets on ASB performance. As part of its case management processes, Barnsley MBC and Berneslai Homes undertake risk assessments, taking into account tenant needs and signposting tenants to support.

In relation to the Tenancy Standard, we saw evidence that Barnsley MBC offers tenancies or terms of occupation that are compatible with the purpose of its accommodation, the needs of individual households, the sustainability of the community, and the efficient use of its housing stock. Barnsley MBC has a lettings policy that sets out its approach to ensuring all properties are let in a fair and transparent way and takes into account the needs of tenants and prospective tenants.

We gained assurance that Barnsley MBC is committed to treating tenants with fairness and respect. Barnsley MBC gathers tenants’ views in a range of formal and informal ways, and tenants are provided with opportunities for them to influence and scrutinise strategies, policies and services. Barnsley MBC has identified there could be improvements made to its tenant engagement and feedback mechanisms and it is continuing to focus on this. Evidence was provided that feedback and scrutiny provided by tenants has directly and positively impacted service delivery such as in repairs, complaints handling and lettings.

Overall, we found Barnsley MBC ensures complaints are addressed fairly, promptly and effectively. Barnsley MBC provided evidence that it learns from information on complaint types and outcomes and understands the impact on tenants when it gets things wrong, identifying when improvements need to be made and responding accordingly. 

There is evidence of Barnsley MBC using the information it holds about its tenants, to tailor services to meet tenants’ diverse needs and deliver fair and equitable outcomes. Clear and accessible information is provided to tenants about Barnsley MBC’s services and performance, allowing tenants to access information and scrutinise how well Barnsley MBC is delivering those services. Barnsley MBC recognises that this is an area that requires further development, and work is continuing, to review, evaluate and improve how it tailors its services to tenants.

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

Barnsley MBC is a metropolitan borough in South Yorkshire. Barnsley MBC owns around 18,000 homes.

In 2002, Barnsley MBC set up a wholly owned company called Berneslai Homes. Berneslai Homes is an arms length management organisation which provides housing services on behalf of Barnsley MBC.

Our role and regulatory approach

We regulate for a viable, efficient, and well governed social housing sector able to deliver quality homes and services for current and future tenants.  

We regulate at the landlord level to drive improvement in how landlords operate. By landlord we mean a registered provider of social housing. These can either be local authorities, or private registered providers (other organisations registered with us such as non-profit housing associations, co-operatives, or profit-making organisations).  

We set standards which state outcomes that landlords must deliver. The outcomes of our standards include both the required outcomes and specific expectations we set. Where we find there are significant failures in landlords which we consider to be material to the landlord’s delivery of those outcomes, we hold them to account. Ultimately this provides protection for tenants’ homes and services and achieves better outcomes for current and future tenants. It also contributes to a sustainable sector which can attract strong investment.  

We have a different role for regulating local authorities than for other landlords. This is because we have a narrower role for local authorities and the Governance and Financial Viability Standard, and Value for Money Standard do not apply. Further detail on which standards apply to different landlords can be found on our standards page.

We assess the performance of landlords through inspections and by reviewing data that landlords are required to submit to us. In-Depth Assessments (IDAs) were one of our previous assessment processes, which are now replaced by our new inspections programme from 1 April 2024. We also respond where there is an issue or a potential issue that may be material to a landlord’s delivery of the outcomes of our standards. We publish regulatory judgements that describe our view of landlords’ performance with our standards. We also publish grades for landlords with more than 1,000 social housing homes. 

The Housing Ombudsman deals with individual complaints. When individual complaints are referred to us, we investigate if we consider that the issue may be material to a landlord’s delivery of the outcomes of our standards. 

For more information about our approach to regulation, please see Regulating the standards. 

 

Further information 

• Regulating the standards 

• Regulatory standards for landlords