East Suffolk Council

Posted by on 11 June 2025 | Comments

East Suffolk Council has implemented an improvement programme to address issues following a comprehensive ‘stock condition’ survey of its social housing.

The detailed survey commissioned by the Council has identified that some of the homes fall below expected standards and the Council is now working with the Regulator of Social Housing, to resolve these issues.

The surveys have been undertaken over the last 18 months with all remaining properties due to be inspected by the end of this year. The findings indicate that improvements are required to ensure all homes meet the Decent Homes Standard.

As a result, East Suffolk has now referred itself to the Regulator of Social Housing, and they will now consider the information provided to them by the Council before determining whether any action needs to be taken.

The Decent Homes Standard is a set of minimum standards for the condition of socially rented homes. It ensures that homes are fit for habitation, are in a reasonable state of repair, have modern facilities, and provide a reasonable degree of thermal comfort.

A decent home is one, which should be wind and weather tight, warm and have modern facilities. All of the surveys have included an assessment under the Housing, Health and Safety Ratings System (HHSRS), which sets out that homes should be free from hazards, enabling residents to live in homes, which do not pose a risk to their health and/or safety.

A Category 1 (Cat 1) Hazard means there is something that could cause a serious and immediate risk to a resident’s health and safety and these issues are being addressed as a priority.

A Category 2 (Cat 2) Hazard means there is something that needs to be remedied but it is less serious and immediate.

At present, while a significant number of our homes are classed as ‘non-decent’, 51 properties have been reported with Category 1 hazards out of 4,345 properties. However, as a result of the ongoing remedial work this number is reducing.

Tenants at all 'Cat 1’ properties are aware of the issues and our plans to resolve them. Meanwhile 211 are placed in Category 2. 

A significant amount of work is already underway, to enable East Suffolk to be fully compliant with all standards set out by the Regulator, and the Council is now engaging with its tenants to explain the situation, how this may affect them and the improvements that will now be made.

The action plan, which sets out the steps the Council will be taking to ensure all homes meet the required standards, covers a number of key areas, including the development of a new stock investment plan, improved data collection and reporting systems, and a new process for tracking any cases of Damp and Mould.

Previously, the Council was issued with a Regulatory Notice by the Regulator of Social Housing due to a failure to complete vital Health and Safety Compliance checks.  Significant progress has been made and the current levels of Health and Safety Compliance within our Housing Stock are: 

The Council commissioned an independent external assurance review to assess our compliance levels against these related elements of the Regulatory Notice. The report for this review was received in May 2025, which recognises that progress has been made. However, it is clear from the report that there are improvements that could be made with record-keeping, systems and information management relating to compliance. The report has provided a number of recommendations for further improvement, and these have been incorporated within our wider service improvement plan. 

Councillor David Beavan, Cabinet Member for Housing of East Suffolk Council, said:

"I am disappointed that some of our houses fall below "decent standard".  One of the first things we did as a GLI administration was to restart surveys of our council houses after they had stopped eight years ago. This has uncovered these problems and we are now moving heaven and earth to get this sorted. Category 1 hazard like damp and mould will be sorted as a priority this year.

“We are also upgrading our information systems so that we can better monitor our stock condition. I apologise to our tenants for these failures and assure them that we are, step by step, turning round this housing department after years of neglect." 

The Council has written to every tenant in the district explaining the situation. It has also created a web page which will be updated regularly with new information and answers to any frequently asked questions: www.eastsuffolk.gov.uk/DecentHomesStandard.