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Council landlords found wanting at judgement time
Just 40% of local authority housing services meet the regulator’s consumer standards. So where should they focus their efforts going forward?
REGULATION
Jon Slade
Director, Campbell Tickell
Jon Slade
Director, Campbell Tickell
Issue 81 | December 2025
What do the Regulator of Social Housing’s (RSH) regulatory judgements tell us about local authority housing services in England? And where might council landlords yet to be inspected focus their energies? At Campbell Tickell we work with local authorities preparing for inspection and dealing with what comes next. We have worked with authorities ranked from C1 to C4. We have seen what works and what doesn’t.
By the end of November the RSH had inspected 151 housing providers. 94% of inspected housing association Registered Providers are compliant with the Consumer Standards. Only 43% of local authority housing services are compliant. Why the significant difference in performance?
There is of course nothing inherently worse about local authority housing services. Rather it is important to understand that councils have in much of the country had far fewer resources available than other housing providers. For instance, councils that have retained their housing stock and did not set up an ALMO (arm’s-length management organisation) to run it will not have received Decent Homes funding to upgrade the quality of their homes.
If we look at the issues mentioned in regulatory judgements that are not C1 then the top five issues are: stock condition data; repairs and maintenance service; health and safety compliance; performance oversight and; tenant engagement and influence. This list is a good reflection of where the regulator is focusing its efforts.
housing providers inspected by the Regulator of Social Housing by the end of November
of inspected housing association Registered Providers are compliant with the Consumer Standards
of local authority housing services are compliant with the Consumer Standards
Asset management changes
Asset management is at the heart of this. It is how a landlord keeps its residents safe, well and (affordably) warm. It is the housing discipline which has changed the most over the past 10 years.
The combined effect of building safety post-Grenfell Tower; the death of Awaab Ishak; net zero-carbon and; quality of life and cost in use for residents has given every landlord the challenge of developing new skills, methods, data and ways of working, all while managing severely stretched budgets. Many local authorities face significant challenges.
Act on tenant insights
Tenant engagement and influence is about how well a landlord understands its residents and what those residents want. And, crucially, how it translates that knowledge into impact.
You should expect to be asked about the quality of your data about your residents and the use to which you put that data. How does satisfaction differ by age, location, wellbeing etc? And how have you reflected this knowledge in your services?
Piecing together the puzzle
Housing services in local authorities have existed for many years in a very particular dynamic. The housing department is one jigsaw piece within a corporate jigsaw comprising a range of non-housing services, competing for attention with adult social care, education, etc. And, in unitary authorities, housing is a small jigsaw piece.
To further complicate things, the separation between the smaller Housing Revenue Account and the larger General Fund sometimes marginalises the housing service. We often come across housing services obliged to use the General Fund contact centre and struggling to modernise the housing service offering via that crucial contact channel.
Governance gulf
Service governance is another significant challenge for local authorities. Housing associations are able to dedicate far higher levels of people, time and money to governing service delivery whether that means at board, board sub-committees, customer committees, resident scrutiny panels, online resident engagement, etc.
Those involved in governance in housing associations are solely focused on the housing task – unlike elected members who need to balance the wider needs of local communities, voters and other council departments. It is clear that new models of housing governance are needed in local authorities.
“It is clear that new models of housing governance are needed in local authorities.”
Housing Improvement Board
One interesting local authority initiative that we have proposed, implemented and supported in action is a Housing Improvement Board (HIB). This has oversight of the content and implementation of an improvement programme designed to bring about a compliant housing service.
Members of the HIB include external non-executive director-level expertise in housing and housing governance. The application of external expertise can help to:
- Build awareness and understanding of regulatory issues
- Bring about a proportionate improvement plan
- Enable skills transfer
- Exemplify the type of governance activity and interactions that the RSH expects to see
Looking ahead
Perhaps the greatest cause for optimism is that compliance with the Consumer Standards is demonstrably achievable. It is being achieved by housing associations and local authorities which differ in size, intent, delivery model and geographical spread. Historically the challenge has been transferring successes in one delivery mechanism into another.
There is one issue coming up on the rails that we expect to feature ever more strongly in future inspections: complaint handling. This is an essential barometer of service, resident by resident.
Getting ahead of the issue requires a simple complaints process, effective complaints management and ensuring that lessons are both learned and applied. While it is important to effectively manage complaints, it is equally important not to create complaints as the best viable route to achieving service outcomes for residents. You need an effective housing service and an effective complaints process.
These are severely testing times for local authority housing services. Every local authority will face its own unique combination of challenges. There is much to be learned from the aggregated total of regulatory engagement which can help each local authority to prioritise their work to achieve and maintain compliance with the Consumer Standards.
This article originally appeared in Social Housing on 2 September 2025
“There is one issue coming up on the rails that we expect to feature ever more strongly in future inspections: complaint handling. This is an essential barometer of service, resident by resident.”
