Decision

West Lancashire Borough Council (30UP) - Regulatory Judgement: 26 February 2025

Published 26 February 2025

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	February 2025

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for West Lancashire Borough Council (West Lancashire BC) following an inspection completed in February 2025.

This regulatory judgement confirms a consumer grading of C1. This is the first time we have issued a consumer grade for West Lancashire BC.

Summary of the decision

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

How we reached our judgement

We carried out an inspection of West Lancashire BC to assess how well it is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards, as part of our planned regulatory inspection programme. We considered each of the 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 meetings of West Lancashire BC’s Landlord Services Working Group, the Tenant and Leaseholder Advisory Group and the Tenant Voice panel. In addition, we spoke to involved tenants, held meetings with councillors and officers from West Lancashire BC, 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 West Lancashire BC through its regulatory returns and other regulatory engagement activity.

Summary of findings 

Consumer – C1 – February 2025 

West Lancashire BC meets the outcomes of the Safety and Quality Standard by demonstrating compliance with statutory health and safety requirements. During the inspection, West Lancashire BC 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. We found that outcomes across key areas of health and safety compliance were good and that performance is monitored effectively by senior managers, West Lancashire BC’s Policy and Resources Committee and the Landlord Services Working Group.

West Lancashire BC has an accurate record of the condition of its homes. It undertakes a comprehensive programme of physical surveys that encompass the Housing Health and Safety Rating System and, at the time of the inspection, was reporting 94% coverage. West Lancashire BC also demonstrated that its understanding of the quality and safety of its tenants’ homes informs the decisions it makes on future investment. West Lancashire BC reports that 95% of its homes meet the Decent Homes Standard and its current investment plan includes provision to achieve 100% decency in 2025 and to maintain ongoing compliance.

West Lancashire BC’s repairs and maintenance service meets regulatory requirements. At the time of the inspection, 97% of emergency repairs were being carried out in accordance with agreed timescales and 87% of non-emergency repairs. There is, however, a backlog of overdue routine repairs and evidence that some tenants are dissatisfied with their experience of the service. We saw evidence that West Lancashire BC is focussing on improving outcomes for tenants in this area. Following the commission of an external review, it has made improvements to the service by strengthening communication with tenants and increasing capacity in the repairs service.

In relation to the Neighbourhood and Community Standard, West Lancashire BC has an effective approach to dealing with anti-social behaviour (ASB). In 2022, it established a dedicated specialist team that works in partnership with other agencies, particularly the police, to deter and tackle ASB. West Lancashire BC has acted upon the recommendations of an external review of the service by enhancing data collection and strengthening communications with tenants.

In relation to the Tenancy Standard, we saw evidence that West Lancashire BC 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. We saw evidence that tenancies are allocated fairly via the council’s choice-based lettings system and that West Lancashire BC provides additional support for tenants and prospective tenants who require it.

We gained assurance that West Lancashire BC is committed to treating tenants with fairness and respect. In our fieldwork and meeting observations, including meetings with engaged tenants, we saw a respectful, fair and positive culture towards tenants from officers and councillors. West Lancashire BC provides a mix of formal and informal engagement opportunities including tenant scrutiny, a digital platform, mystery shopping and a commitment to regular activities in the community to increase the number of people with whom it engages. We saw evidence that tenants have opportunities to review policies, challenge data, question senior managers and identify topics for scrutiny investigations.

West Lancashire BC is almost two years into a three year transformation programme to which understanding tenants and shaping services around tenants’ needs is central. It commissioned a survey of all tenants to collect household data, needs and vulnerabilities and we found evidence of how it has used this information to enhance and tailor service provision, for instance by addressing damp and mould issues more proactively for tenants with asthma and improving the energy efficiency of properties for older residents. This is part of wider work to deliver equitable outcomes for tenants which includes offering tenants access to language and sign interpreter services and ensuring services are accessible to tenants who cannot access online services.

The quality and extent of information that West Lancashire BC makes available to tenants meets regulatory expectations. West Lancashire BC publishes a range of performance information, including repairs and compliance data, as well as strategies and action plans, and it makes this information available in different formats so that it is available to tenants without access to the internet.

West Lancashire BC provides an accessible complaints process. Tenants can raise complaints in person, by post or phone or via an online portal. We saw evidence that West Lancashire BC uses complaints to learn and improve, triangulating the intelligence from complaints with other evidence to inform service changes and prioritisation. Complaint numbers and themes are reported on a quarterly basis to senior leaders and we found evidence that remedial action is taken to address the underlying causes of complaints where patterns are identified.

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

West Lancashire BC owns around 5,800 homes. It is one of 12 district councils in Lancashire. The borough comprises rural areas together with the town of Skelmersdale and the smaller towns of Ormskirk and Burscough.

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

Related documents

• Decent Homes Standard