Hackney Council has awarded a £2.2 million contract to Supplier A for domestic electrical testing and inspections, a move designed to tackle a significant backlog and ensure resident safety.
The Hackney Procurement Board approved the contract, which will run for an initial year with an option to extend for a further year, during a meeting on Tuesday, May 26, 2026. This decision is crucial for meeting a commitment made to the Housing Regulator to recover the domestic electrical testing and inspections programme over the next two years.
At the time of the report, there were around 15,000 electrical inspections that required action, a number that has grown since the original business case for the contract was made. To address this, the council plans to increase the capacity of its Direct Labour Organisation (DLO) to 7,000 tests per year, with an additional 11,000 tests to be outsourced to external providers. This new contract with Supplier A will cover 5,000 of those outsourced tests, with a further external contract to be procured separately to deliver the remaining tests.
Ultimately, Hackney Council aims to complete a total of 12,000 tests annually under this new arrangement (7,000 by the DLO and 5,000 outsourced). Historically, the DLO completed around 1,300 tests annually, which proved insufficient to manage the growing backlog.
Several alternative options were considered and rejected. Increasing in-house provision would have required significant interim staffing. An open tendering exercise was deemed too time-consuming. The option of doing nothing
was also rejected, as it would have put residents at risk.
Supplier A was selected following a mini-competition on the Fusion 21 - Heating, Renewables and Electricals Framework. The evaluation criteria were weighted as follows: Commercial Offer (50%), Quality (35%), and Social Value (15%). Supplier A emerged as the highest-scoring bidder, demonstrating strong quality and social value proposals, as well as the lowest commercial cost.
The company has 40 years of experience in social housing and currently undertakes fire safety work for Hackney Council, boasting a proven track record.
The contract includes provisions for sustainability, aiming to minimise environmental impact. Supplier A's social value offer is substantial, including: prioritizing hiring operatives and engineers from within the borough to sustain 3 full-time jobs, employing 4 operatives from within the local authority area, delivering two mentoring sessions for 8 young people, providing 2 days of donation of time to local community initiatives, delivering 2 employability sessions for 8 residents, offering 2 workplace visits for small groups of residents, and donating decommissioned laptops and iPads worth approximately £2,500. The contractor will also be required to pay the London Living Wage.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will be monitored throughout the contract, including customer satisfaction, client handover pass rates, safety inspections, and social value delivery. The decision is classified as a Key Decision and will come into force five clear working days after publication, unless called in by at least five non-executive members. Further details on the procurement of the remaining outsourced tests can be found in the Public reports pack for the Hackney Procurement Board meeting on Tuesday, May 26, 2026.