Liza Begum

WESTMINSTER city has become the first local authority in the capital to get the highest rating by the Regulator of Social Housing.

The regulator praised the Labour-run council’s work in areas including repairs management, its lettings policy and compliance with health and safety requirements across its housing stock.

The RSH – which had been given more powers by the previous government – inspected the council earlier this month.

“There is evidence of Westminster City Council using the information it holds about its tenants to tailor services to meet tenants’ diverse needs and deliver fair and equitable outcomes,” the RSH wrote.

“It has made significant investment in programmes to enhance its understanding of who is living in its homes and how it identifies, logs and responds to additional support needs.

“Clear and accessible information is provided to tenants about Westminster CC’s services and performance, allowing tenants to access information and scrutinise how well Westminster CC is delivering those services.”

David Harvey [westminsterconservatives.com]

The RSH’s inspection included observing a committee meeting and three tenant meetings, as well as speaking to tenants and councillors and reviewing a range of documents.

It found the council provided evidence of systems to ensure the health and safety of tenants in their homes and communal areas plus examples of how the authority had learnt from previous issues.

The regulator also praised the records the council kept of its housing stock, with a full condition survey expected this July.

Councillor Liza Begum, cabinet member for housing services (inset), said: “This rating provides an important validation of the steps we have taken to improve the leadership, governance and performance of our housing services and reflects the achievements so far.

“However, we know that there is still much to do to ensure residents receive the best possible service, and we fully acknowledge that this result does not mean we always get everything right.”

David Harvey, the opposition Conservative group’s lead councillor on housing, said: “But Westminster’s Labour administration also needs to acknowledge that there are still far too many individual cases that are not dealt with properly, which can be seen by the all too frequent rulings from the Housing Ombudsman.”