Hackney Council has admitted that its attempt to restructure its housing department has led to a stark increase in overdue safety inspections of its social homes. The council confirmed to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that over 11,000 social homes in the borough still lack electrical safety certificates required by law, despite a watchdog warning the council nearly two years ago.
Regulator's Warning and Restructure
In 2024, the Regulator of Social Housing found serious failings with the council’s gas, fire, asbestos, water, and lift safety checks. The local authority self-reported that 15,000 of its properties were not certified as having safe electrics, while 7,000 property systems had never been inspected. Following the report, the council launched a restructure of its housing department, partly to address gaps in safety compliance. However, this reorganisation has indirectly frustrated the council's efforts to clear its backlog of routine checks.
Backlog Rise and Current Status
In a council meeting report on Tuesday (May 26), officers revealed that the 15,000 overdue electrical inspections had now "risen significantly" to 18,000, "largely due to the restructure and the impact this has had on delivery." The LDRS understands the restructure has yet to be finalised. Since 2024, Hackney’s teams have only been able to conduct 1,300 checks a year—enough for the new five-year inspection cycle but not enough to clear the backlog.
Plans to Clear the Backlog
The council has now agreed to spend £2.2 million on "specialist" contractors to carry out 5,000 checks in two years, and will outsource a further 6,000 inspections over the same period. Hackney's internal teams will carry out the remaining 7,000 reviews. After the watchdog report in 2024, Hackney Council said some properties were treated as lacking electrical safety certificates because the council had lost data on its homes in a 2020 cyber attack. The Town Hall also blamed the Covid pandemic for delaying its inspection cycle, which used to be 10 years but has now halved to five years in line with national regulations.
Council's Response
Speaking to LDRS, a Hackney Council spokesperson said the council had now achieved 100 per cent compliance in fire safety checks and over 99 per cent compliance on gas safety. "We have agreed a timeline with the Regulator of Social Housing to achieve electrical compliance by the end of March 2027 and are looking to bring in a specialist contractor to help our in-house team to further speed up the carrying out of these inspections," the spokesperson said. "This supports the wider reorganisation of our housing service to ensure it is fit for purpose and delivers a culture that is performance and resident-led. Like many social landlords, we also face challenges in being able to access homes to carry out these and other important works. We are actively looking at new ways to tackle this, and we will continue to work closely with our tenants as we accelerate this safety programme."
