Decision

North East Derbyshire District Council (17UJ) - 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 North East Derbyshire District Council (North East Derbyshire DC) 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 North East Derbyshire DC delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed, specifically in relation to outcomes in our Safety and Quality Standard.  Based on this assessment, we have concluded a C2 grade for North East Derbyshire DC. 

How we reached our judgement

We carried out an inspection of North East Derbyshire DC to assess how well North East Derbyshire DC is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards, as part of our planned regulatory 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 spoke with North East Derbyshire DC’s tenants, senior officers and its Leader for the Council (who is also the portfolio holder for housing). We also reviewed a wide range of documents provided by North East Derbyshire DC. 

In 2006 North East Derbyshire DC set up a wholly owned company called Rykneld Homes Limited (RHL). RHL is an arms-length management organisation which mainly provides housing services on behalf of North East Derbyshire DC. We also spoke with senior officers of RHL and observed a meeting of RHL’s board and a meeting of its tenant-led Operational Group Board. 

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

Summary of findings 

Consumer – C2 – August  2024

In relation to the Safety and Quality Standard, North East Derbyshire DC provided evidence-based assurance that it has appropriate systems in place to manage its health and safety responsibilities and to ensure the health and safety of tenants in their homes and associated communal areas. We have seen evidence that the landlord is managing the risks associated with damp and mould and that it has resourced and prioritised remedial works. It recognises that it needs to adopt a more planned approach to managing this risk.  

The Safety and Quality Standard requires landlords to have an accurate record at an individual property level of the condition of their homes based on a physical assessment of all homes and ensure that homes meet the requirements of the Decent Home Standard. North East Derbyshire DC does not currently have records at an individual property level of the condition of all its homes. It has provided evidence of its plans to ensure that it delivers this outcome and is monitoring the delivery of its ongoing stock condition survey programme. North East Derbyshire DC has a number of homes that are failing to meet the Decent Homes Standard and it has demonstrated that it has sufficient resource to carry out the necessary works. We will continue to engage with the landlord while it takes action to ensure that it has an accurate and up to date understanding of the condition of its homes. 

Through our inspection, we gained assurance that North East Derbyshire DC is delivering an effective, efficient and timely repairs service. We saw evidence that the repairs and maintenance performance is in line with its targets and that tenants’ views have been sought on how the service is designed and delivered.  

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. North East Derbyshire DC has demonstrated effective oversight of the number of anti-social behaviour cases and hate incidents in the neighbourhoods where they provide homes, and provided assurance that it provides prompt and appropriate action in response to anti-social behaviour and hate incidents reported, working in partnership with relevant organisations. It uses a multi-agency software system to deliver a victim-centred approach, which it also uses to identify vulnerable tenants and those subject to repeat incidents. 

In relation to the Tenancy Standard, we saw evidence that North East Derbyshire DC was offering tenancies or terms of occupation which were 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. We gained assurance that North East Derbyshire DC allocates and lets its homes in a fair and transparent manner that takes into account the needs of tenants and prospective tenants. North East Derbyshire DC further demonstrated that it supports tenants to maintain and sustain their tenancies.  

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. During the inspection we observed a respectful approach to tenants and saw evidence that North East Derbyshire DC understands the diverse needs of tenants when delivering housing services to deliver fair and equitable outcomes for tenants.  

We gained assurance that North East Derbyshire DC offers a range of opportunities for tenants to hold it to account. Tenants we spoke to felt strongly that their involvement was meaningful and their scrutiny reports influenced decision making and we saw evidence of this during our inspection.  

North East Derbyshire DC demonstrated that it regularly provides a range of relevant and accessible information to tenants, including about its performance in delivering landlord services. We saw evidence that complaints are handled effectively and promptly addressed, although volumes are low. The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard requires landlords to provide accessible information to tenants about the type of complaints received and how they have learnt from complaints to continuously improve service. North East Derbyshire DC acknowledges that it needs to improve its transparency on lessons learnt and improvements made as a result of complaints.

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

North East Derbyshire DC owns approximately 7,500 social housing homes, which are predominantly general needs accommodation, with some supported and sheltered housing.  

North East Derbyshire DC has contracted its arms-length management organisation, RHL, to provide day-to-day housing management services for North East Derbyshire DC’s homes on its behalf. 

RHL is also a landlord registered with us, but as a small landlord (a landlord that owns fewer than 1,000 social homes), RHL is not subject to our programmed inspections or gradings. 

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