Westminster Council awarded highest possible grade for its housing

Westminster City Council has become the first London local authority to be granted the highest rating by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH).

The RSH praised the Labour-run council’s work in areas including repairs management, its lettings policy and compliance with health and safety requirements across its stock of around 12,000 homes.

The rating is the first the RSH has issued for the council following an inspection earlier this month.

Cllr Liza Begum, cabinet member for housing services, said the C1 grading is an “important validation” of the progress made by the council.

Last year the RSH was granted additional powers and enforcement to ensure social housing landlords, such as councils, are following consumer standards.

The RSH’s inspection included observing a committee meeting and three tenant meetings, as well as speaking with 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 it 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.

Currently 95 percent of its homes meet the Decent Homes Standard, the report continued, with a plan detailed to meeting 100 percent.

The council’s repairs and maintenance service was also highlighted as meeting requirements, as was its ability to work with partners to tackle issues such as anti-social behaviour (ASB).

“There is evidence of Westminster CC 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.”

Cllr David Harvey, the opposition Conservative group’s lead on housing, said under the Tories the council had been evaluated by the former Audit Commission as “one of the top housing authorities in the country”. The Audit Commission was closed in 2015.

He congratulated council officers “who have maintained this standard”, adding: “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.”

Cllr Begum said the local authority welcomes the RSH report, “which demonstrates the significant progress we’ve made in improving our housing services over recent years”.

She continued: “This C1 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.

“Our improvement plans are still underway, and we will continue to work closely with residents, tenant management organisations and partners to drive continuous improvement.

“We’re committed to listening to residents and acting on their feedback to ensure all our tenants have a safe, secure and well-maintained home.

“Thank you to all the residents, staff, and partners who contributed to the inspection process. The feedback that we have received has been key in helping us deliver better homes, and services across Westminster.”

This week the regulator published judgements for 11 social landlords. Westminster Council was one of only two landlords which received the top rating. The other was West Lancashire Borough Council.

The London Borough of Wandsworth, Central Bedfordshire Council, and Anchor Hanover Group all failed to meet the outcomes of RSH’s consumer standards and each received C3 gradings. 

Kate Dodsworth, chief of regulatory engagement at RSH, said: 

“As we approach the end of the first year of our programmed inspections, we are continuing to see a broad spectrum of gradings — though it is still too early to draw concrete trends. 

“While our engagement is the most intensive with landlords that fail to meet the outcomes of our standards, even landlords that receive a C1 grading have room for improvement.  

“Along with our consumer regulation, our scrutiny of governance and financial viability remains as important as ever. Landlords must have rigorous oversight of strategic risk and continue to stress test their financial plans. Without strong governance, landlords will not be able to deliver more and better social homes for tenants.  

“We can confirm that we have placed Anchor Hanover Group on the gradings under review list. The outcome of the investigation will be confirmed in a regulatory judgement, once completed.”

Regulator of Social Housing, decision: City of Westminster, Regulatory Judgement, 26 February 2025.

Additional reporting by Linus Rees.

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