Tower Hamlets Council is facing concerns over a significant backlog in housing repairs, with one resident experiencing an eight-to-nine-month wait for a critical repair.
During a Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Sub Committee meeting on Monday, 20 July 2026, Councillor Wai highlighted the issue, detailing a case where a resident's repair took nearly nine months to resolve. Stephen Platt, Director of Housing, Property and Asset Management, acknowledged that historical underinvestment had put pressure on the repair service. He outlined plans to review the contract with Mears Group, explore insourcing options, and introduce a dedicated resource for leaks. The contract with Mears Group is coming for a potential extension next summer, 27
and Mr Platt is bringing a paper to Councillor to look at those options and including insourcing or an element of insourcing.
This suggests that the review and exploration of insourcing options are planned for the period leading up to summer 2027.
The committee also received an update on the council's response to a Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman investigation. The Ombudsman had identified serious failings
in the council's handling of Section 21 homelessness cases, which had negatively impacted residents. These failings included failure to comply with statutory duties, including inadequate assessment of eligibility and priority need,
inconsistent and incorrect advice
given to applicants, and a failure to assess whether accommodation was reasonable to occupy at key stages of the possession process.
Furthermore, the council was found to have failed to provide interim accommodation where there was reason to believe a household may be eligible, homeless and in priority need,
leading to delayed or absent statutory decisions, resulting in applicants losing access to review and appeal rights.
Poor or incomplete record-keeping and indicators of gatekeeping, including delay or discouragement in accepting homelessness applications
were also cited. The direct negative impacts on residents included avoidable evictions, financial hardship and loss of rights, with some households reaching bailiff eviction without appropriate support.
Significant steps taken by the council include reviewing over 600 cases, clearing a substantial backlog, and issuing over 100 formal decisions. The council has also strengthened its quality assurance, staff training, and management oversight.
However, the committee requested a follow-up report in six months to provide further assurance on compliance audit results, homelessness decision timeliness, interim accommodation performance, workforce metrics, and resident outcomes. This reflects ongoing concerns about the capacity and effectiveness of the housing department to address the backlog and ensure sustained improvement. The council's strategy for preventing future backlogs and ensuring sustained improvement in housing repair services includes reviewing the Mears Group contract, exploring insourcing options, and introducing a dedicated resource for leaks. Mr Platt stated, We want to improve the repair service but we want to be able to have buildings that are themselves better performing so there's less pressure on the repair service.
He also mentioned real active things we're doing as well as investing millions of pounds in the actual infrastructure.
A report on the LGSCO investigation notes that improvements are not yet fully embedded, and risks remain in relation to demand, workforce capacity and system limitations. While these risks are being actively managed and are considered to be reducing, continued scrutiny and oversight will be essential to ensure sustained improvement and maintained assurance.
More information on the committee's discussions can be found in the Public reports pack for the meeting.
