A major technical failure at Islington Council led to hundreds of social housing complaints being lost in a digital black hole for most of 2024, an internal audit has revealed. The same period saw significant delays to crucial asbestos inspections across the borough's housing stock.
Hundreds of Complaints Lost in System
The council has admitted that approximately 270 complaints from residents were effectively hidden within its case management system, Casetracker, due to a configuration error. The software, installed in January 2024, failed to correctly reroute grievances to the appropriate teams for action.
These issues remained masked and unresolved until an audit finally uncovered them in January 2025. Consequently, the council spent the first half of this year dealing with this substantial backlog while managing ongoing high volumes of new casework. The council confirmed the underlying technical problem is still not fully resolved.
In a statement, the authority said it had done "a lot of work" with its service provider to improve Casetracker and expects to solve the lingering issues by January 31, 2026. Officials clarified that of the 270 complaints discovered, only 50 required action, as others were duplicates or errors. Two of the complaints related to asbestos.
Regulatory Failures and Asbestos Delays
Further investigations showed the Casetracker system was non-compliant with social housing regulations for a full year, from April 2024 to April 2025. New rules introduced by the Regulator of Social Housing required councils to categorise complaints by whether they were resolved on time or granted an extension. However, Casetracker "failed to provide any management reports" on performance throughout this period.
Separately, the council's woes were compounded by severe delays to planned asbestos inspections. A report published on December 18, 2025 showed the council was late in providing contractors with its annual list of properties requiring checks for the carcinogenic material.
Contractors did not receive the list until late November 2024, giving them just four months to inspect 64 housing blocks and 172 street properties – a year's worth of work. The council attributed the internal delay to staff shortages and an internal restructure that moved the asbestos team into a new building compliance department.
Council Response and Ongoing Scrutiny
Islington Council assured residents that the asbestos inspection delays only affected communal areas and street properties, not individual homes. "No tenants were subject to prolonged exposure to asbestos," a spokesperson said, confirming all outstanding inspections were completed by June 1, 2025.
At a council meeting, housing chief John Woolf stated that asbestos check performance was now "absolutely exemplary". On the complaint handling failure, he added: "We are committed to continuous improvement in service quality and regulatory compliance."
The Housing Ombudsman's office told reporters it had not been formally notified of the situation at Islington Council and declined to comment further. Residents with issues are directed to contact Tenancy Services or the Housing Needs team, with a 24/7 line available for emergencies.
