Decision

Melton Borough Council (31UG) Regulatory Judgement: 14 August 2024

Published 14 August 2024

Applies to England

Our Judgement

	Grade/Judgement	Change	Date of assessment
Consumer	C2 Our judgement is that there are some weaknesses in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed	First grading	August 2024

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for Melton Borough Council (Melton BC) following an inspection completed in August 2024.

This regulatory judgement confirms a consumer grading of C2. 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 there are some weaknesses in Melton BC delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed, specifically in relation to outcomes in our Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a C2 grade for Melton BC.

How we reached our judgement

We carried out an inspection of Melton BC to assess how well Melton BC is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards, as part of our planned inspection programme. During the inspection 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 the first meeting of Melton BC’s Landlord Assurance Board, a meeting of the Scrutiny Committee which included a tenant workshop, and a meeting of Your Choice, Melton BC’s residents’ panel. We also met with engaged tenants, officers, key stakeholders and a number of councillors. We also reviewed a wide range of documents provided by Melton BC.

Our regulatory judgement is based on all the relevant information we obtained during the inspection, as well as analysis of information received from Melton BC through routine regulatory returns and other regulatory engagement activity.

Summary of findings 

Consumer – C2 – August 2024

The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard includes the requirement for landlords to provide information so tenants can use landlord services, understand what to expect from their landlord, and hold their landlord to account. It also requires landlords to ensure complaints are addressed fairly, effectively, and promptly.

Through our meeting observations and other inspection activities, we saw evidence that Melton BC has a focus on the tenant experience and that this is supported by a range of processes. Melton BC demonstrates a commitment to treating tenants with fairness and respect. We identified that there is scope for it to develop a more reciprocal approach to engagement, supported by improved collection and use of tenant information, which will strengthen Melton BC’s ability to demonstrate outcomes for tenants.

Improving the extent and quality of the information Melton BC holds about the diverse needs of its tenants will enhance its ability to proactively tailor services to tenants’ individual needs. The meetings we observed as part of the inspection showed some good interaction between staff and tenants and we have assurance that Melton BC is committed to building on its existing arrangements to support tenants in influencing and scrutinising its policies and services.

There was evidence that Melton BC provides information that enables tenants to access landlord services and that it can demonstrate progress in developing the transparency of both service and performance information. However, scope remains to enhance performance information and reporting directly to tenants around landlord health and safety and complaints performance.

Melton BC’s approach to complaints handling is accessible and publicised and broadly aligns with the requirements of the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard. Melton BC recognises that it needs to improve its IT systems to manage complaints more effectively and improve reporting. This in turn will enhance the information made available to tenants and facilitate learning from complaints. Melton BC recognises the need for improvements in these areas and is already taking steps to address the identified weaknesses.

The Safety and Quality Standard requires landlords to have an accurate record of the condition of their homes at an individual property level based on a physical assessment of all homes and ensure that homes meet the requirements of the Decent Home Standard. The inspection has provided us with assurance that Melton BC is delivering these service outcomes. Melton BC has an accurate and up to date understanding of the condition of its homes, based upon a comprehensive programme of physical surveys. It is currently reporting that 95% of its homes meet the Decent Homes Standard and has costed plans in place to achieve 100% by 2028.

We have assurance that overall Melton BC is meeting its landlord health and safety obligations. Outcomes across all key areas of health and safety compliance are good and performance is actively monitored by senior officers and councillors.

The Neighbourhood and Community Standard states that landlords must work in partnership with appropriate local authority departments, the police and other relevant organisations to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour and hate incidents in the neighbourhoods where they provide social housing. We saw evidence that Melton BC works in partnership with the police and other relevant organisations to seek to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour, but some improvements are needed in its approach towards case management to facilitate improved reporting and enhance Melton BC’s ability to identify trends and scrutinise outcomes for tenants.

In relation to the Tenancy Standard, we saw evidence that Melton BC’s Housing allocation policy 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. Melton BC operates a choice based letting system and the inspection provided assurance about the work Melton BC does to support tenants to sustain their tenancies.

Melton BC demonstrated through the inspection that it understands where it needs to make improvements and we have assurance that it is addressing the areas of weakness identified.

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

Melton BC owns around 1,780 social housing homes.

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