Housing regulator recognises strong performance, good progress and plans for further improvement through proactive inspection regime

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) sets the standards which social landlords, including local authorities, must deliver to ensure tenants experience high quality homes and services. 

The RSH has issued a Regulatory Judgement for Melton Borough Council, following one of the first planned inspections in the country against the new Consumer Standards, which took effect on 1st April 2024. C1 is the very best achievable with C4 the lowest. 

Following the inspection, the council has been awarded a C2 grade which confirms that the council has provided assurance that it meets the consumer standards in many areas, but for one of the standards, there are areas where the council is at an earlier stage and needs to further develop to ensure consistently strong outcomes for tenants.  

During the inspection, the regulator considered all four of its consumer standards: Neighbourhood and Community Standard, Safety and Quality Standard, Tenancy Standard, and the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard. The regulator gathered information through reviewing a wide range of documents and data, and by observing meetings, including the first meeting of the Landlord Assurance Board, a meeting of the council’s Scrutiny Committee with a tenant workshop, and a meeting with tenant representatives. The inspection team also met with engaged tenants, council officers, councillors and key stakeholders including those who work closely with the council, including police, fire and county council colleagues. 

In its judgement, the regulator recognised that the council:

• Is meeting its health and safety obligations, and outcomes across all key areas of compliance are good.
• Has an accurate record of the condition of tenants' homes and that a high percentage of homes meet the Decent Homes Standard, with costed investment plans in place.
• Has a focus on tenant experience and that this is supported by a range of processes, with good interactions observed between staff and tenants.
• Demonstrates a commitment to treating tenants with fairness and respect.
• Demonstrates a commitment to build on existing arrangements to support tenants in influencing and scrutinising policies and services.
• Publicises its approach to complaints and that this is accessible.
• Works in partnership with relevant organisations to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour.
• Uses its housing stock effectively and supports tenants to sustain their tenancies.    

Areas requiring further development and improvement within the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard are set out in the regulatory judgement. This also confirms that the council understands where it needs to make improvements, and that the regulator was assured that the council already had plans in progress to deliver them.

Specifically, the areas identified, and which the council is focussed on improving further are:

• Developing a more reciprocal approach to tenant engagement, so as to ‘turn up the volume’ on tenant voice.
• To improve the collection, quality and use of tenant information to strengthen the Council's ability to proactively tailor services to tenants’ needs and to more clearly demonstrate outcomes for tenants. 
• To increase the visibility of performance information for tenants. 
• To strengthen IT systems to support complaints reporting and monitoring. 
• To improve the case management systems used to monitor and report on ASB trends and outcomes for tenants. 

Commenting on the regulatory judgement, Cllr Pip Allnatt, Leader of the Council said: 

“We are pleased with the outcome of this process, and that our commitment to housing improvement and the hard work from members and officers over a number of years has been recognised through this Regulatory Judgement.  

"Back in 2019, the Council referred itself to the Housing Regulator due to challenges demonstrating sufficient grip on health and safety compliance, whilst at the same time establishing a comprehensive housing improvement plan. With commitment and momentum maintained ever since, it is particularly pleasing that the areas of most importance and concern back then are now recognised as areas of real strength, and that the inspection confirms we are keeping our tenants safe and consistently improving the quality of their homes. We recognise that there is more work to be done and reassuringly we were already working on the improvement areas identified prior to the inspection commencing. With our strong track record of improvement, we are confident of further progress and remain fully committed to delivering the best possible outcomes for our tenants.  

"I am very grateful to our staff for the huge effort and time they have put in to turn our housing services around and their determination to continue a journey of improvement. I also wish to thank the inspection team for their courtesy and objective assessments”. 

The Council’s Cabinet will formally receive and consider the Regulatory Judgement and the council’s response and action plan at their meeting on 11th September 2024. 

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Additional information:

1. In April 2024, the Regulator for Social Housing assumed new powers arising from the Social Housing (Regulation) Act, to proactively inspect all local authority landlords as part of a continuing effort to drive up standards within the social housing sector. All social landlords with over 1,000 homes (including local authorities) will be subject to proactive inspection every four years and Melton Borough Council (MBC) became one of the first councils in the country to go through the new process. The specific focus for the inspection regime is compliance with the new Consumer Standards which took effect from April 2024. The proactive inspection regime will lead to a ‘Regulatory Judgement’ for each social landlord, which will be published by the Regulator for Social Housing. 
2. MBC inspection considered all four of the consumer standards:
   • Safety and Quality Standard – which includes stock quality, repairs and maintenance, as well as landlord health and safety.
   • Neighbourhood and Community Standard – which includes tackling anti-social behaviour.
   • Tenancy Standard – which includes housing allocations, and tenant sustainability
   • Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard – which includes treating tenants with fairness and respect, engagement, and providing information which enables them to hold the council to account, as well as processing complaints effectively.
3. Summary of key findings from the Melton Borough Council inspection
   The judgement can be found at: Regulatory judgements and enforcement notices, and gradings under review - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). 

For more information please contact: communications@melton.gov.uk