Regulator finds ‘serious failings’ in Northampton's social housing as council told ‘significant improvement’ needed

In a judgement published today (Wednesday November 27), the Regulator of Social Housing has graded Northampton Partnership Homes (NPH) - the council’s housing provider - as C3, which is the second worst rating available.

According to the regulator, a C3 grading states: “Our judgement is that there are serious failings in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and significant improvement is needed.”

The inspection came about after West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) referred itself to the regulator in September, after a review process found that NPH was not managing and maintaining properties in line with safety and quality standards, including a lack of safety inspections. The review also found that NPH presented incorrect data on how many of its properties were ‘non-decent’. Read more about the specific failures here.

Councillor Adam Brown, leader of WNC, said: “Everyone deserves safe, high-quality housing and we recognise that this is not being delivered to some of our tenants. This is simply not good enough and we are sorry that standards have fallen short of what the council and tenants should expect. We accept this judgement and welcome the regulator’s input and transparency, as this will help us drive forward the urgent improvements required together.

“Since identifying these failings and submitting a self-referral, we have taken immediate action, prioritising safety concerns and working closely with NPH to ensure robust processes are in place. We have also strengthened oversight by appointing additional directors and housing experts to the board to guide and support the recovery process.

“Our priority is to restore confidence among our tenants by delivering safe, secure, and high-quality homes, and we are fully committed to meeting the regulator’s standards.”

Prior to today’s report from the regulator, the council had begun implementing a series of measures to make improvements, including adding directors to the board and working on a shared action plan with NPH. The council now says checks of all 11,500 NPH properties will be completed by the end of December.

Councillor Wendy Randall, leader of West Northamptonshire’s Labour group, added: “Though expected, the findings of the Social Housing Regulator that WNC’s social housing has serious failings and significant improvement is needed is deeply shocking. Particular concerns touch on the council’s inability to assure health and safety checks are completed, especially around fire, electrical, water, and smoke alarms.

“Whilst it is good that action to remedy the situation is already underway, alongside support from the regulator, there has been a serious fault of communication and responsibility that could have risked lives. The regulator is not using its power of enforcement now, but they could still if good progress isn’t made.

“It is unfortunate that WNC did not see fit to investigate its own stock until its responsibilities changed back in April. These failings are not recent and should have been noticed and investigated much earlier.

“Lessons need to be learned, priorities rethought, and safeguards put in place to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”

According to the council, the regulator will work with WNC to improve the service and if necessary, will ask for specific further actions to address any other concerns.