Council welcomes ‘positive’ judgement by housing inspectors – Latest News – News Updates

Published: Wed 8th July, 2026

Charnwood Borough Council has welcomed the judgement of an inspection by the Regulator for Social Housing (RSH).

The RSH has graded the Council as C2, the second highest of four gradings available and means while there are areas to improve, there are no serious failings.

All local authority landlords are subject to RSH inspections which assess their compliance with four ‘consumer standards’, designed to drive improvements in social housing nationwide.

The areas covered by the standards are ‘safety and quality’, ‘transparency, influence and accountability’, ‘neighbourhood and community’ and ‘tenancy’.

It is the first time the Council, which has around 5,400 homes, has been inspected under the system.

Councillor Jennifer Tillotson, Lead Member for Housing, said: “I welcome this positive judgement from the inspectors, and I am pleased the Council is compliant with all four of the consumer standards.

“We have worked hard to improve our services, and the grading has recognised many strengths including in how we have a positive culture of fairness and respect towards tenants and how we have improved our repairs service.

“Clearly, there are also areas which we need to improve on, and there are plans in place to take us forward.

“We’re committed to providing good quality, safe homes for our tenants and this judgement reflects we are doing that. We will continue to invest in homes and work with tenants to improve services.

“I would also like to say well done and thank you to all the staff, councillors, tenants and stakeholders involved in the inspection. It is an intense process, but a worthwhile one to drive standards higher.”

Some key points of the judgement are summarised below.

Safety and Quality Standard

The Council:

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• meets all legal requirements relating to the health and safety of tenants in homes and communal areas
• provides an effective, efficient and timely repairs service with 92% of emergency and non-emergency repairs completed within target timescales at the time of the inspection 
• has completed stock condition surveys for 87% of homes in the past five years, with a programme in place for the remainder
• has plans to ensure all homes meet the Decent Homes Standard. Currently 3.85% do not.

Neighbourhood and Community Standard

The Council:

• works with agencies including police and multi-agency groups to manage anti-social behaviour (ASB), but improvements are needed on monitoring, reporting and using information to help identify service improvements.

Tenancy Standard

The Council:

• offers tenancy types which are appropriate to the purpose of its homes and needs of tenants and has arrangements in place to help people sustain tenancies.

Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard

The Council:

• demonstrates a positive culture of fairness and respect towards tenants. Tenants are treated respectfully and their views are valued. There are opportunities for tenants to engage and influence services, including formal governance arrangements such as the Housing Management Advisory Board and tenant panels, as well as wider consultation and engagement activities.
• uses tenant feedback to improve services, including changes to repairs and communication
• should improve its knowledge about the protected characteristics of tenants. A tenant census is underway and a customer insight strategy is being developed.
• needs to ensure that tenant scrutiny groups, such as the Tenant Voice Panel and Charnwood Residents’ Housing Forum, are representative of the wider tenant population
• handles complaints effectively but needs to better analyse data alongside tenant characteristics to assess accessibility or identify disproportionate outcomes

Following the judgement, the Council has plans in place to improve on the areas identified by the RHS. It will continue to work with tenants on these improvements, particularly through its tenant representative groups including the Housing Management Advisory Board, Tenant Voice Panel, the Charnwood Housing Residents’ Forum, Senior Citizens’ Forum and the Editorial Panel.

Read the full judgement