Haringey Council is set to invest £5 million in housing safety audits over the next five years, aiming to improve the quality and safety of its social housing stock. The investment addresses a need for improvements in compliance management, particularly regarding the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 (DSEAR), and to undertake safety inspections of rising and lateral electrical mains in residential blocks, which are not currently covered by the Electrical Inspection Condition Reports (EICR) programme.
The investment, approved by Councillor Sarah Williams, Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning (Deputy Leader), will fund a contract with Bidder A for technical audits and quality assurance of regulatory safety inspections. The contract also includes support for in-house teams and contractors working on repairs, maintenance, design, and installation of mechanical and electrical services and safety systems within Haringey's Council Housing stock. The decision was made during a Cabinet Member Signing meeting on Thursday, 24 July 2025, and is subject to the completion of a Section 20 consultation with leaseholders.
The contract will operate on a call-off basis and also provide advice, guidance, and expertise on standards and specifications for Haringey's Employers Requirements for new developments, major works, and corporate buildings where required.
The council outlined several reasons for the decision, including the need to keep up with new technologies like heat pumps and energy networks and systems, supplement in-house teams who lack specialist skills available in the market for Haringey to recruit and retain, mitigate the loss of expertise, ensure value for money, and provide independent assessment. According to the Third Party Technical Audit Support report, external specialist consultants bring awareness and agility in adopting changes in the Regulatory framework and bring training opportunities for staff, as well as learning and best practice from other clients.
Alternative options considered but rejected included doing nothing, extending a non-existent contract, and undertaking all the work in-house, which was deemed not currently viable due to a lack of specialist skills.
The investment aligns with the 'Homes for the future' theme of the Corporate Delivery Plan 2024-2026, which aims to ensure everyone has a safe, sustainable, stable, and affordable home and to improve the quality of social housing and landlord services. The services provided will also ensure new developments comply with the latest standards and regulations for energy efficiency. The award will also ensure that detailed technical assessments can be undertaken to help shape and improve proactive planned maintenance and timely repair and replacement of equipment to ensure optimum operating efficiency.
The estimated annual cost is £883,000, with £150,000 attributable to revenue and £733,000 to capital. The revenue requirement can be accommodated within existing Mechanical & Electrical (M&E) budgets, and the capital allocation has been identified and captured within the major works capital budgets.
The approval is provisional and subject to the next stage of the Section 20 Leasehold consultation process. The Assistant Director for Repairs & Compliance has been delegated the authority to implement the award upon completion of the Section 20 consultation, provided that all representations are suitably responded to and do not result in any significant issues. The final stage of the S20 procedure can only take place once it has been determined which is the most economically advantageous bidder and that provisional approval for an award by the Cabinet has been confirmed. First stage S20 consultation was carried out and all representations were appropriately addressed with no significant amendments required.