Decision

Withdrawn Regulatory Notice: Newark and Sherwood District Council (26 October 2022)

Updated 19 March 2024

This decision was withdrawn on

The issues giving rise to Newark and Sherwood District Council’s Regulatory Notice have been resolved.

Applies to England

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/newark-and-sherwood-district-council/regulatory-notice-newark-and-sherwood-district-council-26-october-2022

Withdrawn on 19 March 2024: The issues giving rise to Newark and Sherwood District Council’s Regulatory Notice have been resolved.

RSH Regulatory Notice

  • Provider: Newark and Sherwood District Council

  • Regulatory code: 37UG

  • Publication date: 26 October 2022

  • Reason for publication: Consumer Standards

  • Regulatory route: Reactive Engagement

Other providers included in the judgement

None

Regulatory Findings

The regulator has concluded that:

a) Newark and Sherwood District Council (Newark and Sherwood DC) has breached part 1.2 of the Home Standard; and

b) As a consequence of this breach, there was the potential for serious detriment to Newark and Sherwood DC’s tenants.

The issue

Newark and Sherwood DC made a self-referral to the regulator in August 2022 as it had identified a failure to meet statutory health and safety requirements in relation to gas safety. Newark and Sherwood DC told us that at that time more than 700 gas safety checks had become overdue.

Our investigation

As a registered provider, Newark and Sherwood DC is required to comply with the consumer standards, including the Home Standard. The Home Standard requires registered providers to have a cost-effective repairs and maintenance service and to meet all applicable statutory requirements that provide for the health and safety of tenants in their homes.

In respect of gas safety, Newark and Sherwood DC has a statutory duty [footnote 1] to complete gas safety inspections annually for all relevant properties with inspections carried out by a gas safe engineer. Our investigation found that more than 1,000 properties had not received a gas safety inspection within the statutory timeframe. Although the inspections were typically overdue for a relatively short period of time almost 20% of Newark and Sherwood DC’s homes were affected.

The regulator considered the case as a potential breach of part 1.2 of the Home Standard and concluded that Newark and Sherwood DC did not have effective controls in place to allow it to meet its statutory health and safety responsibilities in relation to gas safety.

Complying with statutory health and safety requirements is a fundamental responsibility of all registered providers because of the potential for serious harm to tenants. Newark and Sherwood DC has demonstrated to the regulator that it understands and is completing the work it needs to undertake to ensure the required statutory checks are completed. However, taking into account the seriousness of the issues and the number of tenants potentially affected, the regulator has concluded that Newark and Sherwood DC has breached the Home Standard and that there was a risk of serious detriment to tenants during this period.

Our engagement

Section 198A of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 (as amended) states that the regulator’s regulatory and enforcement powers may be used if a registered provider has failed to meet a consumer standard. In order to use regulatory or enforcement powers, as well as the failure to meet the standard, there should also be reasonable grounds to suspect that the failure has resulted in a serious detriment to the provider’s tenants (or potential tenants) or that there is a significant risk that, if no action is taken by the regulator, the failure will result in a serious detriment to the provider’s tenants (or potential tenants).

Newark and Sherwood DC notified the regulator as the issue emerged and has put in place a programme to rectify these failures and is reducing the number of overdue gas certificates. The regulator will therefore not take statutory action at this stage, as it has assurance that the breach of the standard is being remedied. The regulator will work with Newark and Sherwood DC as it continues to address the issues which have led to this situation, including ongoing monitoring of how it delivers its programme.

About our Regulatory Notices

Regulatory notices are issued in response to an event of regulatory importance (for example, a finding of a breach of the Rent Standard or of a consumer standard that has or may cause serious harm) that, in accordance with its obligation to be transparent, the regulator wishes to make public. More detail about Regulatory notices is set out in Regulating the Standards.

  1. Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 ↩

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