Thurrock Council has welcomed the findings of the Local Government Association’s Social Housing Peer Challenge and an external review of its 30‑year Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Business Plan.
The peer team recognised the dedication of housing staff, the progress already being made through our improvement programme, and the renewed focus on putting tenants at the heart of decision‑making.
The review noted that the service is already implementing a detailed programme of improvements across departments and is strengthening tenant and resident engagement.
Our Resident Panel, which is made up entirely of residents, has established working groups to help shape priorities including complaints handling and repairs. Monthly tenant feedback shows improving sentiment around being kept informed and treated with respect, and we will continue to build on this progress.
While much of the feedback is encouraging, the peer team also set out areas where we must go further and faster. It highlighted the need to strengthen governance, assurance and scrutiny as well as clarifying and making more consistent the roles of councillors, tenants and officers.
It found that our Decent Homes baseline has relied on cloned stock data and that EPC (energy performance certificates) information is incomplete, so a credible plan is required to achieve and sustain 100 per cent decent homes. The team also recommended updating our damp and mould policy to reflect Awaab’s Law and increase external assurance of compliance to avoid 'marking our own homework'.
What we are doing now
The council has begun a programme of actions, including:
- a full gap analysis against the Regulator’s consumer standards, which has now been completed
- completing a survey of all our homes
- a review of the governance and assurance framework
- commissioning of an external compliance audit
- implementation of a health and safety compliance software system
- a refreshed 30‑year HRA Business Plan with annual stress testing
- plans to enhance tenant scrutiny across budgets, procurement and service commitments
- an updated damp and mould and inspections policy to reflect Awaab’s Law, which has been drafted and will shortly be implemented
We have shared the findings and proposed actions with the Regulator of Social Housing and have invited early, voluntary engagement. Our improvement plans are scheduled for Cabinet consideration in January 2026.
Cllr Mark Hooper, Cabinet Member for Health, Wellbeing and Social Housing, said: “I am delighted that the peer group highlighted the hard work of our housing officers and teams. They are at the forefront of delivering our programme of improvements and ensuring we respond to new legislation such as Awaab’s Law regulating how we now deal with mould and damp in our homes.
“The number of tenants satisfied with the service they receive is growing, but we won’t stop until everyone is happy with the support they receive in their homes.”
The peer group report concludes: “The housing service is well-positioned to succeed, but this will require decisive leadership, strengthened governance, strategic investment, and a unified organisational commitment to consumer standards. The next phase is about ensuring that tenants remain at the heart of everything the council does.”