Council’s housing failures have thrown up ‘significant risks’, say auditors

The Housing Ombudsman last year found the council’s housing department guilty of ‘severe maladministration’. Photograph: Islington Council

Islington Council continues to deal with the fallout of a damning review of its housing service – with auditors identifying risks arising from the Town Hall’s failings.

A speical investigation last September by the Housing Ombudsman found that the local authority was guilty of frequent “severe maladministration” over residents’ complaints.

Rashpal Khangura, a director at consultancy giant KPMG, told Islington’s audit and risk committee that his team was scrutinising the council’s management in light of the watchdog’s findings.

While “broadly happy” with their assessment of the systems the council has in place to deal with risks, the firm has been quizzing the housing team over the extent of the issues, how much they knew, and what safeguards have been put in place since.

Mr Khangura noted that despite the Ombudsman acknowledging the Town Hall’s progress following last year’s heavy criticism, he was still obliged to look at the council’s management across the entire year.

In the auditors’ draft report, two of the criteria (‘domains’) used to determine value for money — ‘Governance’ and ‘Improving economy, efficiency and effectiveness’ — have been marked amber, with a “significant risk” identified for each.

The first criteria covers how the council is making decisions and managing its risks, while the other measures how information about its performance and costs is being used to boost the management and delivery of council services.

Mr Khangura reassured members that although the Ombudsman report had driven the auditors’ risk assessment, there was “nothing obvious” that flagged any problems with the Town Hall’s financial sustainability, the third criteria.

He qualified that if the report identified a financial liability, such as backlog maintenance, “we’d have to go back and reassess”.

“If there were performance indicators indicating significant failings, but no corrective actions being taken, that would show a weakness of arrangements.

“We need to really get into the bottom of what was happening in terms of management oversight […] to see if it meets the threshold of significant weakness.

“It sounds quite judgmental […] but [the review] needs to be substantial,” the director said.

Cllr Paul Convery, committee chair, said it was “very reassuring” that financial sustainability was not a concern for the auditors, who noted the council’s healthy reserves.

“I’ve lived my life in fear of auditor’s reports. It’s a reputational death-knell and a lot of hard work but my hunch is that there’s nothing in our financial arrangements that would justify a qualification.

“We’ve got our eyes on the ball,” he said.

The Ombudsman’s special report on the Town Hall’s housing services last year found that its mismanagement was four times worse than the national average.

Serious issues underlying the council’s failings included a “disjointed” approach to complaints and a “lack of clear ownership” of problems.

The watchdog had upheld at least one aspect of each resident’s complaint, and in almost half of cases found “severe maladministration”.

In one case, a disabled resident was unable to use their ground floor wet room for months due to a lack of repairs.

Another resident’s complaint was stuck in the landlord’s system for three years.

In the wake of the report, Islington’s housing services have restructured the complaints team, who have also received Ombudsman training.

The council has assured it has also met with contractors to avoid delays and to ensure they follow up with residents, while also bringing on more staff where necessary and increased “preventative investment” around damp, mould and leaks.

Housing has been a critical challenge for the council, as it faces not only increased scrutiny over its failings as a social landlord but also a spike rise in demand for homelessness support by 35 per cent.

Earlier in the meeting, resources director David Hodgkinson reminded the committee that, common to many councils, Islington still faces a “major challenge” in dealing with temporary accommodation in the borough.