Progress, a commitment to improve, and completing actions in reasonable timescales are just three areas that have been highlighted following an inspection by the Regulator of Social Housing.
Mansfield District Council was inspected by the regulator in November 2024 and has received a C2 grading.
This rating means that while there are some areas of weakness that must be addressed to achieve the top rating of C1, overall, there is a good level of ‘assurance’ that the regulator’s four consumer standards are being achieved.
The purpose of the inspection was to measure the council’s compliance against the four standards—safety and quality, transparency, influence and accountability, neighbourhood and community, and tenancy.
As well as attending meetings of the council’s cabinet and housing executive board, the inspectors reviewed a wide range of documents and evidence as well as meeting with tenants, officers, and councillors.
The judgement report states that:
- Mansfield has appropriate systems in place and provided evidence to show that overall, it is meeting legal requirements that relate to the health and safety of tenants in their homes and communal areas. Risks and actions are identified and completed within reasonable timescales, and performance is actively monitored by senior officers and councillors.
- The council is currently reporting that 89% of its homes meet the Decent Homes Standard and has plans in place to achieve 100%. We saw evidence that Mansfield DC is managing the risks associated with damp and mould and has prioritised remedial works but recognises that it needs to take steps to adopt a more planned approach.
- Mansfield demonstrates a commitment to treating tenants with fairness and respect, and we saw some evidence that tenants’ views have been used to influence how services, such as complaints, are improved.
- During the inspection, we observed positive interaction between staff and tenants, and we have assurance that Mansfield is committed to building on its existing arrangements to support tenants.
- We saw evidence that tenancies are allocated in line with our standard, and the inspection provided assurance about the work Mansfield does to support tenants to sustain their tenancies.
Councillor Anne Callaghan, Portfolio Holder for Housing at the council, said: “As a social housing provider, ensuring that our services meet the needs of our tenants is our top priority. The C2 grade, which is the second highest grade possible, recognises that we are meeting the regulators’ consumer standards in many areas.
“The judgement report does identify some areas where improvement is needed to make sure that we are offering the best possible services for our tenants, and based on the feedback from the regulator, we are already on the journey of transformation to help us achieve this outcome.
“We look forward to working with the regulator on our improvement journey, and we will continue to work directly with our tenants, keeping them updated and involved.”
Figures from the most recent tenant satisfaction survey, published in December 2024 (opens in new window), also showed that overall satisfaction with the council’s housing performance was 68% (out of 651 responses) – up by 7.3% on its first tenant perception survey.
In a commitment to add even more assurance to the regulator as the council moves through its transformation journey, it will be setting up a new housing board in the spring, led by an independent chair who will not work for the council. The aim is to bring additional scrutiny to the housing service and review continuing performance.
Three of the standards were identified as requiring improvement, including transparency, influence and accountability, and neighbourhood and community.
Summary of the decision
From the evidence and assurance gained during the inspection, our judgement is that there are some weaknesses in Mansfield DC delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed, specifically in relation to outcomes in our Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard and the Neighbourhood and Community Standard. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a C2 grade for Mansfield DC.
How we reached our judgement
We carried out an inspection of Mansfield DC to assess how well it is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards, as part of our planned regulatory inspection programme. We considered all four of the consumer standards: Neighbourhood and Community Standard, Safety and Quality Standard, Tenancy Standard, and the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard.
During the inspection we observed the Housing Executive Board, a council cabinet meeting and a Tenant Scrutiny Panel meeting. We met with involved tenants, officers and councillors, including the leader of the council, the mayor and the cabinet member for housing. We also reviewed a wide range of documents provided by Mansfield DC.
Our regulatory judgement is based on all the information we obtained during the inspection, as well as analysis of information supplied by Mansfield DC in its regulatory returns and other regulatory engagement activity.
Summary of findings from Government
Consumer – C2 – February 2025
The Safety and Quality Standard requires landlords to complete all required health and safety checks. Mansfield DC provided evidence to show that, overall, it is meeting the legal requirements that relate to the health and safety of tenants in their homes and communal areas. Risks and actions identified are completed within reasonable timescales and performance is actively monitored by senior officers and councillors.
The Safety and Quality Standard also requires landlords to have an accurate, up to date and evidenced understanding of the condition of their homes at an individual property level based on a physical assessment of all homes and ensure that homes meet the requirements of the Decent Homes Standards (DHS). Mansfield DC currently has records at an individual property level of the condition of around half of its homes. It is monitoring the delivery of its ongoing stock condition survey programme and has plans to ensure that physical surveys of the condition of all of its homes have been undertaken by April 2025. The council is currently reporting that 89% of its homes meet the DHS and plans are in place to achieve 100%. We have seen evidence that Mansfield DC is managing the risks associated with damp and mould and has prioritised remedial works but recognises that it needs to take steps to adopt a more planned approach.
Landlords must provide an effective, efficient and timely repairs, maintenance and planned improvements service for the homes and communal areas for which they are responsible. While emergency and urgent repairs are generally delivered in line with service standards, recognising that improvements are needed, Mansfield DC has recently implemented plans to reduce its non-urgent repair performance times and address a lack of consistency in how tenants are kept informed about repairs.
Through our meeting observations and other inspection activities, we saw evidence that Mansfield DC is delivering the required outcomes of the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard, but there are some weaknesses. The Standard includes the requirement for landlords to provide information so tenants can use landlord services, understand what to expect from their landlord, and hold their landlord to account. It also requires landlords to ensure complaints are addressed fairly, effectively, and promptly.
Mansfield DC provides information that enables tenants to access landlord services. However, scope remains to enhance performance information and reporting directly to tenants around landlord health and safety and complaints performance. Mansfield DC demonstrated a commitment to treating tenants with fairness and respect and we saw some evidence that tenants’ views have been used to influence how services, such as complaints handling, are improved. Mansfield DC uses information it holds on tenants’ individual diverse needs when responding to service requests but could not demonstrate full coverage of information or how its services deliver fair and equitable outcomes for tenants. Improving the extent and quality of the information Mansfield DC holds about the diverse needs of its tenants will enhance its ability to proactively tailor services to tenants’ individual needs.
Mansfield DC’s approach to tenant engagement is developing. The council has plans to work with tenants further to establish and define its approach to tenant engagement, to ensure relevant performance information is shared in a timely manner and to give tenants sufficient meaningful opportunities to influence and scrutinise its services, strategies and policies. During the inspection we observed positive interaction between staff and tenants, and we have assurance that Mansfield DC is committed to building on its existing arrangements to support tenants.
Mansfield DC’s approach to complaints handling is publicised for tenants and broadly aligns with the requirements of the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard. We identified that Mansfield DC’s approach to dealing fairly and effectively with complaints and its approach to learning from complaints was more limited. Mansfield DC needs to strengthen its approach and use information to continuously improve services.
The Neighbourhood and Community Standard states that landlords must work in partnership with appropriate local authority departments, the police and other relevant organisations to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB) and hate incidents in the neighbourhoods where they provide social housing. We saw evidence that Mansfield DC works in partnership with the police and other relevant organisations to seek to deter and tackle ASB. There are numerous ways for tenants to report ASB including online and by telephone and Mansfield DC sets out its approach to deterring and tackling ASB and hate incidents in its ASB policy. We identified weaknesses in Mansfield DC’s approach towards case management, its ability to identify trends and learn from complaints. While Mansfield DC monitors the number of cases, we observed a lack of robust mechanisms for regular performance scrutiny, particularly for hate crime.
In relation to the Tenancy Standard, we saw evidence that Mansfield DC’s housing allocations policy offers tenancies or terms of occupation that are compatible with the purpose of its accommodation, the needs of individual households, the sustainability of the community, and the efficient use of its housing stock. We saw evidence that tenancies are allocated in line with our Standard and the inspection provided assurance about the work Mansfield DC does to support tenants to sustain their tenancies. Mansfield DC failed to report an issue with its mutual exchange programme where it required tenants to pay an annual fee to access mutual exchange services between 2017 and 2023. This was not in line with the Tenancy Standard that was in effect during that period. The council has taken some steps to address this, but we consider this demonstrates that there is weakness in the council’s ability to identify issues when they arise and take appropriate action to address them in a timely manner.
We will continue to engage with Mansfield DC as it develops and delivers its improvement plans and to seek assurance that there are improved outcomes for tenants.
