Bury Metropolitan Borough Council received its first C3 consumer grade after England’s housing regulator found more than 2,800 overdue fire remedial actions and cited gaps in safety assurance and tenant participation.
The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) classified the findings as serious failings under its Safety and Quality and Transparency, Influence and Accountability standards. It also found weaknesses under the Neighbourhood and Community Standard. Bury is a local authority in Greater Manchester.
More than 2,800 fire remedial actions were overdue at the time of the inspection, which was completed in November. Most had been assessed as medium or low risk, but RSH said it could not determine how long they had been outstanding. The regulator said reported health-and-safety compliance was good in most areas, while noting that Bury could not provide sufficient assurance about the accuracy of its compliance information. RSH also lacked assurance that the council was meeting legal timelines to investigate, identify and fix hazards such as damp and mould.
Physical assessments had brought records up to date for around 85% of Bury’s homes at the time of inspection. RSH found that the council’s use of those records to guide maintenance planning was inadequate. Bury owns around 7,600 homes; Springs Tenant Management Cooperative manages around 300.
The council had not met technical and survey requirements for Tenant Satisfaction Measures. RSH also said Bury had not shown how its engagement arrangements let tenants influence or scrutinize services, and questioned whether residents who do not use digital channels could access accurate service information. RSH Deputy Chief Executive Kate Dodsworth said landlords should give tenants “meaningful opportunities to scrutinize their performance.”
Bury was missing repair-timeliness targets, including for aids and adaptations. Historical data-quality problems prevented the council from assuring the accuracy of previously reported repairs performance. The overdue-repairs backlog was falling and further improvements were planned, but RSH said Bury had not demonstrated consistently better tenant outcomes. The regulator also identified weaknesses in complaints, responses to tenants’ diverse needs, and support for people affected by anti-social behavior and hate incidents.
RSH said it would monitor Bury’s improvement plans intensively. It is not proposing enforcement at this stage, but will keep that position under review.
