Crawley Borough Council (45UE) - Regulatory Judgement: 30 July 2025
Published 30 July 2025
Applies to England
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Our Judgement
| Grade/Judgement | Change | Date of assessment | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer | C2 Our judgement is that there are some weaknesses in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed. |
First grading | July 2025 |
Reason for publication
We are publishing a regulatory judgement for Crawley Borough Council (Crawley BC) following an inspection completed in July 2025.
The regulatory judgement confirms a consumer grading of C2. This is the first time we have issued a consumer grade in relation to this landlord.
Summary of the decision
From the evidence and assurance gained during the inspection, we have concluded that there are some weaknesses in Crawley BC delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards, and improvement is needed, specifically in relation to the outcomes in our Safety and Quality Standard and Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a C2 grade for Crawley BC.
How we reached our judgement
We carried out an inspection of Crawley BC to assess how well it is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards, as part of our planned regulatory inspection programme. We considered all four of the consumer standards: Neighbourhood and Community Standard, Safety and Quality Standard, Tenancy Standard, and the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard.
During the inspection we observed a Cabinet meeting, an Overview and Scrutiny Commission meeting, a Crawley Homes Regulatory Compliance Board meeting, a Tenant and Leaseholder Action Panel (TLAP) meeting and a TLAP complaints evaluation meeting. We also met with involved tenants, officers, and councillors, including the leader of the council, the cabinet member for housing and the cabinet member for public protection. We also reviewed a wide range of documents provided by Crawley BC.
Our regulatory judgement is based on all the relevant information we obtained during the inspection, as well as analysis of information received from Crawley BC through regulatory returns and other regulatory engagement activity.
Summary of findings
Consumer – C2 – July 2025
The Safety and Quality Standard requires landlords to have an accurate record, at an individual property level, of the condition of their homes based on a physical assessment of all homes and ensure that homes meet the requirements of the Decent Homes Standard (DHS). During the inspection, Crawley BC provided evidence that it understands the condition of its homes, however, it is currently in the process of updating the information it holds. It is monitoring the delivery of its ongoing stock condition survey programme and has plans to ensure that physical surveys of the condition of all its homes are undertaken by March 2026. Crawley BC is looking to accelerate this programme to complete in December 2025. The council is currently reporting that 98% of its homes meet the DHS and plans are in place to achieve 100%. We found some evidence of effective oversight of this process, however, Crawley BC has plans in place to improve reporting, and we will continue to engage with the council to monitor progress with its stock condition survey programme and its oversight of decency.
The Safety and Quality Standard also requires landlords to identify and meet all legal requirements that relate to the health and safety of tenants in their homes and communal areas. Crawley BC provided evidence to show that it has appropriate systems in place to manage its health and safety responsibilities, although improvement is needed in the reporting and oversight of health and safety compliance, which was found to be limited. Crawley BC is also undertaking work to address weaknesses in its water safety programme, as well as further work to migrate its health and safety compliance data into its new housing management system and to introduce more thorough and detailed reporting. We will continue to engage with Crawley BC to monitor its progress and obtain assurance that it is addressing these weaknesses.
Through the inspection, we saw evidence that Crawley BC is delivering an effective, efficient and timely repairs service, however, there are some weaknesses in its approach. Tenants report good levels of satisfaction with the repairs service, and we saw evidence of learning from feedback and complaints, as well as a transactional approach to tailoring service delivery to meet tenants’ diverse needs. However, we found there is no overall reporting in place that draws together repairs performance across contractors, preventing the council and tenants from seeing a clear overall picture of performance, and impacting the ability of tenants to hold the council to account. Crawley BC has acknowledged this weakness and has plans in place to introduce new performance management reporting.
The Neighbourhood and Community Standard states that landlords must work in partnership with appropriate local authority departments, the police, and other relevant organisations to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB) and hate incidents in the neighbourhoods where they provide social housing. We saw evidence that Crawley BC deals effectively with ASB and hate incidents in line with its policy and procedures and in partnership with relevant organisations, delivering positive outcomes for tenants in neighbourhoods where it provides homes.
In relation to the Tenancy Standard, we found evidence that Crawley BC is offering tenancies or terms of occupation that are compatible with the purpose of the accommodation, the needs of individual households, the sustainability of the community, and the efficient use of their housing stock. We saw evidence that Crawley BC has a tenancy strategy, tenancy policy and an allocations policy that sets out its approach to ensuring all properties are let in a fair and transparent way and considers the needs of tenants and prospective tenants. Through the inspection we also obtained assurance that Crawley BC supports residents to sustain their tenancies.
The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard sets out the outcomes landlords must deliver about being open with tenants and treating them with fairness and respect, so that tenants can access services, raise complaints, influence decision making and hold their landlord to account. Landlords must also take action to deliver fair and equitable outcomes for tenants and, where relevant, prospective tenants. Through the inspection, we saw evidence that Crawley BC is treating tenants and prospective tenants with fairness and respect, but that there are weaknesses in the council’s approach. Although tenant data is collected, Crawley BC was unable to provide evidence of how it is using this information to consistently tailor its services to meet tenants’ diverse needs. Crawley BC has plans in place to improve the extent and quality of the information it holds on the diverse needs of its tenants which will enhance its ability to proactively tailor services to tenants’ individual needs.
The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard also includes the expectation that landlords take tenants’ views into account in their decision making about how landlord services are delivered and communicate how tenants’ views have been considered. During the inspection, we saw evidence of weaknesses in how the council is delivering these outcomes. Crawley BC was able to demonstrate how tenants’ views from its Tenant and Leaseholder Action Panel, and the wider cohort of tenants, have been considered in its decision making about how landlord services are delivered. However, there are weaknesses in how meaningful the tenant-led activities are able to be, as tenants are not provided with the assistance or information needed to allow them to effectively scrutinise and influence council services and activities. Crawley BC has recognised the need to improve resident engagement and is currently carrying out a review to provide additional information and support to involved tenants.
Landlords must provide information so that tenants can use landlord services, understand what to expect from their landlord, and hold their landlord to account. Through the inspection, we saw that Crawley BC provides information to tenants through various mechanisms such as face-to-face engagement, a newsletter and through its website. However, there are weaknesses where tenants are not consistently provided with communication on progress and next steps, following service requests. This inconsistent communication was identified as a driver for complaints, which the council has taken action to improve, particularly within its reactive and planned repairs.
In respect of performance information, landlords must collect and provide information to support effective scrutiny by tenants of their landlord’s performance. We saw evidence that Crawley BC provides performance information to tenants online, however those without digital access have limited opportunities to view it, thereby limiting their ability to effectively scrutinise performance and hold their landlord to account. Additionally, the performance information does not include targets and service standards, meaning tenants are unaware of the standards of service to expect, limiting their ability to challenge poor performance.
The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard further states that landlords must ensure complaints are addressed fairly, effectively, and promptly. Through the inspection, we saw evidence that Crawley BC addresses complaints fairly, effectively and promptly. Crawley BC provided assurance that it has oversight of its complaints performance, and it is actively and effectively learning from the complaints it receives.
Crawley BC has engaged constructively with us throughout the inspection process, has demonstrated that it understands the issues it needs to address, and is already taking action towards rectifying the weaknesses identified. Whilst early in the delivery, there is positive evidence of progress being made in some areas and we have assurance that there is strong organisational commitment to ensuring improved outcomes for tenants. We will continue to engage with Crawley BC as it continues to address the issues set out in this judgement. During our engagement we will seek assurance that Crawley BC is making sufficient change and progress, including ongoing monitoring of how it delivers its improvement programme.
Background to the judgement
About the landlord
Crawley BC is a district authority in the county of West Sussex. Crawley BC owns and manages around 8,100 social and affordable rent homes, the majority of which are general needs, with 560 supported housing properties.
Our role and regulatory approach
We regulate for a viable, efficient, and well governed social housing sector able to deliver quality homes and services for current and future tenants.
We regulate at the landlord level to drive improvement in how landlords operate. By landlord we mean a registered provider of social housing. These can either be local authorities, or private registered providers (other organisations registered with us such as non-profit housing associations, co-operatives, or profit-making organisations).
We set standards which state outcomes that landlords must deliver. The outcomes of our standards include both the required outcomes and specific expectations we set. Where we find there are significant failures in landlords which we consider to be material to the landlord’s delivery of those outcomes, we hold them to account. Ultimately this provides protection for tenants’ homes and services and achieves better outcomes for current and future tenants. It also contributes to a sustainable sector which can attract strong investment.
We have a different role for regulating local authorities than for other landlords. This is because we have a narrower role for local authorities and the Governance and Financial Viability Standard, and Value for Money Standard do not apply. Further detail on which standards apply to different landlords can be found on our standards page.
We assess the performance of landlords through inspections and by reviewing data that landlords are required to submit to us. In Depth Assessments (IDAs) were one of our previous assessment processes, which are now replaced by our new inspections programme from 1 April 2024. We also respond where there is an issue or a potential issue that may be material to a landlord’s delivery of the outcomes of our standards. We publish regulatory judgements that describe our view of landlords’ performance with our standards. We also publish grades for landlords with more than 1,000 social housing homes.
The Housing Ombudsman deals with individual complaints. When individual complaints are referred to us, we investigate if we consider that the issue may be material to a landlord’s delivery of the outcomes of our standards.
For more information about our approach to regulation, please see Regulating the standards.