Councillor Sarah Williams, Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning (Deputy Leader), approved the variation of existing contracts for fire safety works and excluded the press and public from a discussion on an exempt matter. The contract variations, which apply to three suppliers, are intended to ensure the council meets its statutory obligations and maintains resident safety while a longer-term contract is procured.

Variation of Contracts for Fire Safety Works

Councillor Sarah Williams approved the variation of contracts with three suppliers to ensure the continuation of fire safety works. Each of the three existing contracts will be varied by 167%, increasing their value from £499,999 to £833,333.

The council is legally required to undertake fire safety works in residential buildings, as identified through fire risk assessments, to comply with regulations such as the Fire Safety Order (as amended) 2005¹, the Building Safety Act 2022², the Fire Safety Act 2021³, the Housing Acts 1994, 2004⁴ and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974⁵.

The report that was considered stated that:

It is essential to maintain continuity to complete actions from the fire risk assessments, as stopping this for any period, will increase the number of actions, as we continue to carry out fire risk assessments in accordance with our statutory obligations and will further increase risk of them becoming overdue and putting resident safety at risk.

The council also has a commitment to the Regulator for Social Housing⁶ to reduce high-risk overdue actions.

Several alternative options were considered and rejected, including:

• Do nothing: This was rejected because it would lead to an accumulation of unallocated actions from fire risk assessments.
• Utilise the Direct Labour Organisation (DLO): This was rejected because the DLO is already under pressure to deliver the Responsive Repairs Service and lacks the resources and competencies to meet the required standards.
• Procure new contracts without first varying existing contracts: This was rejected because it would not maintain delivery while the new contract is being procured.
• Utilise an external framework to make a direct award to a separate contractor: This was rejected by Strategic Procurement due to the need to maintain internal control over the procurement process.

The contracts were initially put in place in 2024 to reduce overdue actions from fire risk assessments, as reported to the Regulator for Social Housing. The contract period commenced in March 2025 and is in place until March 2026.

Exclusion of Press and Public

The press and public were excluded from item 8 on the agenda, which concerned an exempt variation of contracts for the delivery of fire safety works. This exclusion was made because the item contained exempt information as defined in Section 100a of the Local Government Act 1972[^8], specifically paragraphs 3 and 5, relating to the financial or business affairs of particular persons and information subject to legal professional privilege.