As a social housing landlord, Wigan Council is committed to providing safe, high-quality housing services for our tenants. We must meet the Consumer Standards set by the Regulator of Social Housing. These standards set out what tenants should expect from their landlord and cover areas such as the safety and quality of homes, listening to tenants, responding to complaints, and supporting well-managed neighbourhoods.
Who is responsible?
The Council's Housing Service is led by Kathryn Perry, Director of Housing.
Kathryn has overall responsibility for ensuring that Housing Services comply with the requirements of the Regulator of Social Housing and that tenants receive services that meet the Consumer Standards. This includes ensuring that:
- Homes are safe and well maintained
- Repairs and maintenance services are effective
- Tenants are listened to and can influence decisions
- Complaints are handled fairly and promptly
- Neighbourhood issues, including anti-social behaviour, are addressed appropriately
- The council continuously monitors and improves its housing services
While Housing Services are delivered by many teams across the council, ultimate accountability for compliance with the Consumer Standards sits with the Director of Housing.
What are the Consumer Standards?
The Consumer Standards are the national standards that all social housing landlords must meet. They focus on the things that matter most to tenants and are used by the Regulator of Social Housing when assessing landlord performance.
The standards cover:
- Safety and quality
- Making sure homes are safe, well maintained and meet required standards
- Transparency, influence and accountability
- Providing clear information, listening to tenants, acting on feedback and handling complaints effectively so tenants can hold their landlord to account
- Tenancy
- Supporting tenants to sustain their tenancies and ensuring homes are allocated and managed fairly
- Neighbourhood and community
- Working with residents and partner organisations to help create safe and well-managed neighbourhoods, including addressing things like anti-social behaviour
How we are held accountable
The Regulator of Social Housing carries out inspections and assessments of social landlords, including councils, to make sure they are meeting the Consumer Standards. The regulator also reviews information about repairs, complaints, tenant satisfaction and housing safety.
We welcome tenant feedback and scrutiny as an important part of ensuring our services continue to improve and meet the standards our residents deserve.
For more information on the Regulator for Social Housing and how they monitor landlords, visit regulatory standards for landlords (external link).