Regulatory Notice: London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (17 February 2022)
Published 17 February 2022
Applies to England
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RSH Regulatory Notice
- Provider: London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
- Regulatory code: 00AB
- Publication date: 17 February 2022
- Governance grade: N/A
- Viability grade: N/A
- Reason for publication: Consumer Standards
- Regulatory route: Reactive Engagement
Other providers included in the judgement
None
Regulatory Finding
The regulator has concluded that:
a) London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (LB Barking and Dagenham) 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 LB Barking and Dagenham’s tenants.
The regulator will work with the LB Barking and Dagenham as it seeks to remedy this breach.
The Case
As a registered provider, LB Barking and Dagenham 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.
Following a self-referral, the regulator has concluded that LB Barking and Dagenham does not have assurance that it has complied with statutory health and safety requirements in relation to fire, electrical, asbestos, gas, water and lift safety.
In respect of fire safety, LB Barking and Dagenham has a statutory duty[footnote 1] to regularly assess the risk of fire and to take precautions to prevent the risk of fire. The regulator has learned that more than one hundred properties did not have a fire risk assessment (FRA) in place, and for more than a thousand properties, the Council did not have a clear record of whether an FRA was required. LB Barking and Dagenham is in the process of validating its fire safety data, however, at the time of the referral, it was unable to provide assurance that all properties requiring an FRA had one in place.
LB Barking and Dagenham is required to ensure that electrical installations are in working and safe condition both at the start of any tenancy and maintained throughout that tenancy.[footnote 2] The Council has reported to us that for more than sixteen thousand of its domestic properties and more than two thousand communal areas, it either did not have a clear record of whether a current electrical installation condition report was required or could not evidence that such a check had previously been completed.
For asbestos safety,[footnote 3] the evidence provided to the regulator showed that LB Barking and Dagenham did not have clear records for whether more than a thousand properties with communal areas should be included on the asbestos survey programme. Similarly, for gas safety,[footnote 4] the evidence provided by the Council highlighted that almost three thousand individual properties and two thousand communal areas required data validation to establish whether they should be included on the gas safety programme.
In terms of lift safety, the regulations[footnote 5] require all equipment used for lifting purposes to be subject to periodic examination. LB Barking and Dagenham had over a hundred communal assets on the lift safety programme; around a quarter of these did not have an up-to-date inspection. For water safety,[footnote 6] the Council told us it had no assurance of whether more than a thousand properties needed to be included in its water safety compliance programme.
For these reasons, the regulator has concluded that LB Barking and Dagenham has breached the Home Standard, and that, as a consequence, there was the potential for serious detriment to tenants.
The Regulator’s Findings
The regulator considered the case as a potential breach of part 1.2 of the Home Standard and has concluded that LB Barking and Dagenham did not have an effective system in place to allow it to meet its statutory health and safety responsibilities across a range of areas, and to demonstrate that it was compliant across these areas.
Complying with statutory health and safety requirements is a fundamental responsibility of all registered providers because of the potential for serious harm to tenants. LB Barking and Dagenham has demonstrated to the regulator that it understands the work it needs to undertake to ensure the required statutory checks and relevant safety actions are completed. However, taking into account the seriousness of the issues, the durations for which tenants were exposed to risk, and the number of tenants potentially affected, the regulator has concluded that the Council has breached the Home Standard and that there was a risk of serious detriment to tenants during this period.
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).
As LB Barking and Dagenham has assured the regulator that it fully understands the work that is needed to rectify these failures, we will therefore not take enforcement action at this stage. The regulator will work with the Council 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.’
Key to Grades
Governance:
- G1 (Compliant): The provider meets our governance requirements
- G2 (Compliant): The provider meets our governance requirements but needs to improve some aspects of its governance arrangements to support continued compliance
- G3 (Non-compliant): The provider does not meet our governance requirements. There are issues of serious regulatory concern and in agreement with us the provider is working to improve its position.
- G4 (Non-compliant): The provider does not meet our governance requirements. There are issues of serious regulatory concern and the provider is subject to regulatory intervention or enforcement action.
Viability:
- V1 (Compliant): The provider meets our viability requirements and has the financial capacity to deal with a wide range of adverse scenarios.
- V2 (Compliant): The provider meets our viability requirements. It has the financial capacity to deal with a reasonable range of adverse scenarios but needs to manage material risks to ensure continued compliance.
- V3 (Non-compliant): The provider does not meet our viability requirements. There are issues of serious regulatory concern and, in agreement with us, the provider is working to improve its position.
- V4 (Non-compliant): The provider does not meet our viability requirements. There are issues of serious regulatory concern and the provider is subject to regulatory intervention or enforcement action.