Decision

Salford City Council (00BR) - Regulatory Judgement: 13 May 2026

Published 13 May 2026

Applies to England

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	May 2026

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for Salford City Council (Salford CC) following an inspection completed in May 2026.

This regulatory judgement confirms a consumer grade 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 Salford CC delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed, specifically in relation to outcomes in our Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard and Neighbourhood and Community Standard. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a C2 grade for Salford CC.

How we reached our judgement

We carried out an inspection of Salford CC to assess how well it is delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards as part of our planned regulatory inspection programme. During the inspection, 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.

Our inspection covered all the homes owned by Salford CC. These homes are managed by Pendleton Together as part of a Private Finance Initiative (PFI). During the inspection we observed Salford CC’s Growth and Prosperity Scrutiny Panel, Customer Voice Group, Building Safety Group, and a PFI contract meeting. We spoke with tenants, held meetings with the city mayor and deputy city mayor (who is also the lead member for housing) and interviewed staff. We also reviewed a wide range of documents provided by Salford CC.

Our regulatory judgement is based on a review of all the relevant information we obtained during the inspection as well as analysis of information supplied by Salford CC in its regulatory returns and other regulatory engagement activity.

Summary of findings  

Consumer – C2 – May 2026

The Safety and Quality Standard requires landlords to have an accurate, up to date and evidenced understanding of the condition of their homes at an individual property level based on a physical assessment of all homes, and to ensure that homes meet the requirements of the Decent Homes Standard. Salford CC refurbished most of its homes to meet the Decent Homes Standard around ten years ago. Salford CC began a full stock condition survey in 2025 and has now surveyed most of its homes. The information obtained to date indicates that it continues to meet the Decent Homes Standard. It is working to access the remaining homes on the programme and to update its energy performance certificates. We will continue to monitor progress and gain assurance that Salford CC is delivering against this programme.

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. We have assurance that Salford CC is meeting these obligations however, it needs to improve the reporting of health and safety compliance to ensure that councillors and tenants have effective oversight of performance. This includes reporting on the completion of remedial actions and the installation of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Salford CC has regular safety meetings with Pendleton Together but there was no recent audit of health and safety compliance. Salford CC is already making improvements in this area, and we will continue to engage with it to ensure that this remains a focus.

The inspection identified that Salford CC is delivering an effective, efficient, and timely repairs service. It also takes a proactive approach to identifying, responding to, and resolving damp and mould within its homes. Salford CC continues to drive improvements and is largely meeting its performance targets in these areas.

The Neighbourhood and Community Standard requires landlords to work in partnership with relevant organisations to promote positive outcomes to tenants. Whilst we have some assurance that Salford CC works effectively with its partners to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour, we have identified some weaknesses around the reporting of hate incidents. We saw limited information for tenants on Pendleton Togethers’ website about how they can report hate incidents. This may affect its tenants’ ability to raise concerns and seek support. Salford CC has acknowledged this weakness, and Pendleton Together has updated its website alongside other changes, including introducing hate crime ambassadors to encourage the reporting of hate crimes. Whilst Salford CC took prompt action to address this issue, we will continue to monitor the changes until these are embedded.

In relation to the Tenancy Standard, we saw evidence that Salford CC offers tenancies or terms of occupation that are compatible with the purpose of its accommodation, the needs of individual households, the sustainability of the community and the efficient use of its housing stock. We saw evidence that Salford CC regularly visits tenants during the initial 12 months of their tenancy, with subsequent visits continuing every two years.

The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard requires landlords to provide accessible information so that tenants can use landlord services, understand what to expect from their landlord and hold their landlord to account. It also requires landlords to take tenants’ views into account when making decisions about the delivery of landlord services. We identified some weaknesses in this area. At the time of the inspection, we saw some evidence of tenants’ scrutiny of landlord services, however Salford CC needs to do more to ensure that scrutiny reviews are tenant led and that feedback of the outcomes of reviews is provided promptly. Whilst some recent progress has been made in this area, Salford CC does not yet have the evidence to demonstrate that these improvements are embedded. We will continue to engage with Salford CC as it addresses this weakness.

The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard also sets out the outcomes that landlords must deliver, including being open and treating tenants with fairness and respect so that tenants can access services. During the inspection we gained assurance that Salford CC is committed to treating tenants and prospective tenants with fairness and respect. However, whilst Salford CC collects information about its tenants at tenancy signup, this information is incomplete and not routinely updated. We also saw limited evidence of how Salford CC was using the information it holds to assess whether the housing and landlord services deliver fair and equitable outcomes for tenants. Salford CC has plans to improve its collection and use of tenant information and we will continue to monitor these plans through our continued engagement with Salford CC.

We gained assurance that Salford CC ensures that complaints are addressed fairly, effectively, and promptly and that its approach is simple, accessible, and well publicised. However, there are improvements Salford CC could make including greater analysis of the information it collects. We will monitor these improvements through our ongoing engagement with Salford CC.

Salford CC is working constructively with us and has demonstrated self-awareness throughout the inspection; there is positive evidence of progress being made to address the areas of weakness. We will continue to work with Salford CC to seek assurance that it is addressing these issues.

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

Salford CC owns 1,203 homes, all of which are managed under a PFI contract by Pendleton Together, though Salford CC remains the responsible landlord.

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. 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.

Further information

• Regulating the standards
• Regulatory standards for landlords

Related documents

• Decent Homes Standard