Hackney Council has approved a £2.2 million contract to tackle a significant backlog of essential electrical safety tests in residents' homes, aiming to mitigate the risk of putting residents in danger.
The Hackney Procurement Board met on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, to award the contract to Supplier A. The agreement, which includes an option for a one-year extension, aims to address a growing deficit in mandatory safety checks, a commitment made to the Housing Regulator.
At the time of the report, there were around 15,000 electrical inspections that required action, a number that has risen since the original business case was developed. The council is committed to recovering the domestic electrical testing and inspections over the next two years. The current contract with Supplier A is for one year with an option to extend for a further year, making a total contract period of two years. It is anticipated that both the council's Direct Labour Organisation (DLO) and external providers will run programmes concurrently over this two-year period to address the outstanding inspections. The council has acknowledged that an additional external contract will be required to deliver the remaining tests.
These programmes of work will also ensure compliance with the current edition of BS7671, The Electrical Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2022, and The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989.
Historically, these tests were conducted by the council's DLO, which currently undertakes around 1,300 tests annually. This capacity is insufficient to address the backlog, as it is only enough to maintain the current programme and does not allow for recovery. The plan is to increase the DLO's annual testing to 7,000, with an additional 11,000 tests to be outsourced. This new contract will cover 5,000 of those outsourced tests, with a further external contract anticipated to be required for the remaining inspections.
Several options were considered, including increasing in-house provision, which was deemed too resource-intensive for a temporary need, and undertaking an open tendering exercise, which would have taken too long. The option of taking no action was rejected due to the risk it posed to residents.
Supplier A was selected following a mini-competition on the Fusion 21 framework. The evaluation criteria prioritised quality (35%), social value (15%), and commercial offer (50%). The quality criteria focused on assessing each bidder's understanding of the LBH project specific requirements and risks, and how they would best manage these to ensure successful delivery. Social Value was evaluated against the established Fusion 21 framework criteria, considering the level of credits offered, the social value and sustainability outcomes offered, and a detailed delivery plan to provide further assurance that the offer could be delivered, with further detail around setting agreed timescales, routes for delivery, and management and monitoring processes.
Supplier A emerged as the highest-scoring bidder, noted for its extensive experience in social housing and its existing work with Hackney Council. The contract includes provisions for sustainability, aiming to minimise environmental impact. Supplier A is expected to deliver social value benefits including: prioritising hiring operatives and engineers from within the borough to support local employment; retaining current local engineers and appointing a Hackney-based Contract Manager; delivering two mentoring sessions over the 12-month contract; providing two volunteer days to support community activities; delivering two employability sessions; offering short workplace visits for small groups of residents; and donating decommissioned laptops and iPads. Success will be measured through Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as 'Social Value' reported quarterly, and specific metrics detailed in the social value offer, such as the number of local hires, mentoring sessions delivered, volunteer days, employability sessions, workplace visits, and the value of donated materials. The contractor is also required to pay the London Living Wage.
Key Performance Indicators will be monitored throughout the contract, with oversight from the Electrical Contract Manager. The decision to award the contract is classified as a Key Decision and will take effect five working days after its publication, unless called in by councillors. Further details can be found in the Decisions Tuesday 26 May 2026 Hackney Procurement Board.