The Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee of Northumberland Council is scheduled to meet on Thursday 4 June 2026. The meeting agenda includes the establishment of the committee itself and a review of the council's housing landlord functions. A significant focus is expected to be placed on the draft Regulatory Compliance Improvement Plan, which addresses findings from an inspection by the Social Housing Regulator.

Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee Draft Terms of Reference

The committee is scheduled to discuss and comment on its draft Terms of Reference. These terms aim to provide oversight of the council's housing landlord services, ensuring compliance with the Regulator of Social Housing's Consumer Standards, the Building Safety Act 2022, and the Fire Safety Act 2022. A key objective is to monitor progress on the Regulatory Compliance Improvement Plan, scrutinise reporting on regulatory assurance, financial resilience, risk management, and performance, and review tenant satisfaction measures. The committee would also receive evidence of assurance, including resident feedback and learning from complaints.

Housing Overview

A significant portion of the meeting is planned to be dedicated to a review of the council's housing landlord role and function. This includes a presentation on the background of Northumberland County Council's (NCC) landlord responsibilities. Members are also scheduled to receive an overview of current performance and a presentation on the draft Regulatory Compliance Improvement Plan.

The Regulatory Compliance Improvement Plan details areas of current weakness identified by the Social Housing Regulator following an inspection in November 2025. The report highlighted that while physical and key health and safety issues were met well, serious problems were identified in other areas. A notable weakness was the absence of a comprehensive and systematic stock condition survey of all properties, which the Regulator considered a significant issue.

The plan outlines a range of activities underway to improve data collection, reporting, performance, assurance, tenant involvement, and governance arrangements. Future meetings of the committee are intended to monitor the progress of this improvement plan, receive reports on specific projects, and consider a root cause analysis of the identified weaknesses.

The plan details specific actions to address weaknesses across several regulatory standards:

• Safety and Quality Standard: Actions include procuring an external company to conduct a full stock condition survey, developing a five-year rolling programme for investment and maintenance, and implementing a new Asset Management Software. There are also plans to improve health and safety reporting, develop an internal audit programme, and recruit a Compliance and Assurance Manager. The plan also addresses repairs, damp, and mould, aiming to embed a robust approach to identification, tracking, and reporting, and to ensure compliance with Awaab's Law.
• Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard: This section focuses on understanding and addressing the diverse needs of tenants, including those with protected characteristics, to ensure services are appropriate, accessible, and fair. Actions include undertaking a get to know you phase, embedding training for staff on updating profile information, and ensuring all frontline services use a central system for a unified customer view. The plan also addresses tenant engagement, aiming to define the role of tenants in governance, agree clear routes for accountability, and produce regular information for tenants on various platforms. Furthermore, it aims to improve the accessibility of performance information, with plans to refresh the council's website and establish a dedicated housing dashboard for tenants.
• Complaints Management: The plan acknowledges low performance in responding to complaints, particularly at stage two, and the need to meet the Housing Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code. Actions include managing the complaints team under the Assurance & Compliance Manager, recruiting additional complaints officers, and developing a lessons-learned process. There is also a commitment to embedding a culture of learning from complaints and introducing a You Said We Did section on the website.
• Tenancy Standard: The council is working to address the lack of an approved tenancy policy and an outdated tenancy agreement. Plans include launching a new Tenancy Agreement and policy, developing methods for monitoring and reporting on tenancies, and creating a new NCC allocation policy that will be visible to tenants.
• Neighbourhood and Community Standard: The plan addresses weaknesses in the council's oversight and assurance arrangements for anti-social behaviour (ASB) and hate incidents. Actions include developing an ASB module within the Northgate system for data extraction and reporting, and ensuring regular reports on ASB and hate incidents are provided to scrutiny committees and tenant panels.
• Governance/Assurance: This includes establishing a Housing Assurance & Compliance Board and the Housing Scrutiny Committee, implementing data-led performance monitoring, and establishing a suite of regular performance and monitoring reports.
• Staff Competency Requirements: The plan outlines a review of training requirements for staff within the Housing Service and the rollout of a programme to embed the Competence and Conduct Standards.

Reports of the Scrutiny Officer

The committee is also scheduled to note decisions taken by Cabinet since the latest Forward Plan of key decisions. Additionally, the committee is to consider its work programme in light of discussions and action points from its inaugural meeting. A Forward Plan of forthcoming Cabinet Key Decisions to September 2026 was also provided, detailing upcoming reports on financial performance, specific projects like the Berwick Maltings Theatre and Blyth Sports Centre, the Northumberland Cultural Strategy, and the adoption of the North Pennines National Landscape Management Plan.