The Housing and Environment Scrutiny Panel of Ealing Council met on Thursday 16 July 2026 to discuss the council's draft terms of reference and work programme for the upcoming year, and to review the Regulator of Social Housing's Provider Improvement Strategy and associated Improvement Plan. The panel also considered the minutes from their previous meeting on 27 January 2026.

Panel Terms of Reference and Draft Work Programme 2026-2027

The panel was scheduled to consider its draft terms of reference and work programme for the 2026-2027 municipal year. This included a review of the proposed scope of the panel's scrutiny, which is aligned to the Housing and Environment Strategic Directorate. The panel was also to consider the appointment of co-opted members, who would serve as non-voting advisory members, bringing external expertise to the panel's discussions. The draft work programme outlined a rolling plan of items to be addressed throughout the year, with an updated programme to be presented at each meeting.

Regulator of Social Housing Provider Improvement Strategy and Provider Improvement Plan

A significant portion of the meeting was dedicated to reviewing the council's response to the Regulator of Social Housing's (RSH) regulatory judgement, which resulted in a C2 grading. The report detailed the council's Provider Improvement Strategy and Provider Improvement Plan, outlining the progress and areas of focus within the Safety and Quality and Transparency, Influence and Accountability Consumer Standards. The strategy aims to address the identified weaknesses and move the council towards a C1 rating. The report detailed the root causes of the identified gaps, the strategic aims of the improvement plan, and the expected outcomes. The delivery approach, governance, and assurance arrangements for the improvement plan were also to be discussed, highlighting the role of the Housing and Environment Scrutiny Panel in monitoring progress. The plan itself, which was appended to the report, provided a detailed breakdown of projects, milestones, and deliverables aimed at addressing specific areas of concern, including stock quality, health and safety, repairs and maintenance, customer access, resident engagement, and complaints handling.

The report also included a detailed root cause analysis of the regulatory judgement, identifying recurring themes such as governance and oversight, data and systems, people, capability and capacity, and service delivery and execution. The Provider Improvement Strategy itself outlined five strategic aims: ensuring tenants' homes meet decent homes standards and are compliant; enhancing repairs and maintenance services; improving transparency, tenant engagement and accountability; strengthening data integrity and evidence; and improving governance and assurance. The strategy emphasised a risk-based approach, prioritising tenant safety and aiming for demonstrable improvements in outcomes.

The Provider Improvement Plan detailed specific projects and deliverables across various consumer standards, including the Safety & Quality standard, Transparency, Influence & Accountability standard, and cross-cutting areas such as performance information and complaints. For each project, owners, RAG status, start and end dates, dependencies, and assurance/evidence of outcomes were outlined. This comprehensive plan aimed to address the identified weaknesses through a structured approach, with clear accountability and a focus on embedding improvements into business as usual operations once verified by the RSH.

The panel was also provided with materials from a Scrutiny Panel Training Session held on 1 July 2026, which offered an overview of local authority housing regulation, the consumer standards, the regulatory inspection process, and Ealing's improvement journey. This training aimed to equip panel members to effectively scrutinise the council's progress towards meeting the RSH's requirements.