After putting its tenants at risk of ‘serious detriment’, Kirklees Council has made strides to improve their homes.
Last March it was revealed that the local authority had breached health and safety requirements in its homes and had self-referred to the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) – the public body that regulates registered providers of social housing in England. The local authority was aware of a “considerable” backlog of works, with the RSH finding it had put tenants at risk of ‘serious detriment’.
Among the regulator’s discoveries were 20,000 overdue fire safety actions, 200 of which were considered “high risk”, and 1,500 damp and mould repairs that had not been completed in tenants’ homes. The council had also told the RSH that it has had a “consistently high number” of homes with unresolved cases of damp and mould since December 2022.
Somewhat reassuringly, the RSH gave assurance the local authority understood its responsibilities and was taking action to complete the overdue fire safety actions and address reports of damp and mould. The two bodies began working together to remedy the breach going forward, with the council set to invest £117m in fire safety in its housing stock by 2031.
Now, the progress of this work is showing, with a report to be presented to Cabinet next Tuesday (July 8). From an initial backlog of more than 1,800 damp, mould and condensation cases in March 2024, the open caseload has been reduced to 532 cases on 16 June 2025.
As for fire safety, by 16 June, a total of 505 out of 860 (59%) Fire Risk Assessments had been completed since November 2024, from which 4,724 fire safety actions have been identified, with remediation works ongoing. Fire safety improvements have also recently been made to Harold Wilson Court, and more planned for low-rise homes.
Improvements have also been made to governance, recruiting more staff, investing in new IT systems which will provide better, more joined-up experiences for Homes & Neighbourhoods tenants, and engaging new external partners to support delivery. The council says its key focuses continue to be tenant safety and managing a more responsive and cost-effective repairs service.
Councillor Moses Crook, Deputy Leader of Kirklees Council and Cabinet Member for Housing, said: “Self-referring to the Regulator was an important step in getting us back where we needed to be, after bringing our Homes & Neighbourhoods service back in house. Since then, the changes we’ve made for the better have been transformative, but I want to be completely transparent about the fact that there’s still improvement needed and work to be done.
“In the long run, we don’t just want to meet the basics for those who live in our homes and neighbourhoods. We want to be providing people with an excellent place to live – somewhere they can feel safe and comfortable and use as a springboard for the rest of their lives. I’m pleased with how far we’ve come in the last year, but I also know we’re all completely committed to delivering far better services for all of our tenants in the future.”
