Decision

Stoke-on-Trent City Council (00GL) - Regulatory Judgement: 29 July 2026

Published 29 July 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	July 2026

Reason for publication

We are publishing a regulatory judgement for Stoke-on-Trent City Council (Stoke- on-Trent CC) following an inspection completed in July 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 Stoke-on-Trent CC delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed, specifically in relation to outcomes in our Safety and Quality Standard and Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard. Based on this assessment, we have concluded a C2 grade for Stoke-on-Trent CC.

How we reached our judgement

We carried out an inspection of Stoke-on-Trent 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.

During the inspection we observed Cabinet meetings, a briefing for the Housing Cabinet Member, the Tenant Voice Panel, Customer Experience Tenant Scrutiny Group, the Responsive Repairs Tenants’ Meeting and the Housing Board. We also met with tenants, senior leaders, the leader of the Council and the councillor who is the portfolio holder for housing, and reviewed a wide range of documents provided by Stoke-on-Trent CC.

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

Summary of findings  

Consumer – C2 – July 2026

The Safety and Quality Standard requires landlords to have an accurate, up‑to‑date, and evidenced understanding of the condition of their homes to inform the delivery of safe, good quality and well-maintained homes that meet the requirements of the Decent Homes Standard. Stoke-on-Trent CC has provided assurance that it has an accurate, up-to-date and evidenced understanding of the condition of its homes with 94.5% of its homes having been surveyed within the last five years. It has plans in place to complete the remaining surveys. Stoke-on-Trent CC reports that 3.3% of its homes are non-decent. However, while reporting on programmes to improve its homes is established at an operational level, there is limited councillor oversight which reduces assurance over strategic prioritisation and delivery of investment programmes. This is an area of weakness in Stoke-on-Trent CC’s arrangements for ensuring effective oversight of investment in its homes and compliance with the Safety and Quality Standard.

Through the inspection, we saw evidence that Stoke-on-Trent CC is delivering an effective, efficient and timely repairs service, however, there are some weaknesses in its approach. Stoke-on-Trent CC does not currently report on the timeliness of damp and mould inspections, written assessment reports or completion of remedial works so is unable to assure its councillors that the legally required timescales and processes to inspect and repair significant and emergency hazards like damp and mould are being met. Stoke-on-Trent CC is aware of this weakness and already has plans in place to address this. We also gained assurance that Stoke-on-Trent CC is meeting the outcomes of the Safety and Quality Standard in relation to adaptations.

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 Stoke-on-Trent CC is meeting its obligations in relation to landlord health and safety, and performance against legally required landlord health and safety testing is generally strong. However, Stoke-on-Trent CC uses a variety of systems and information, with limited quality assurance processes in place and this is a weakness in its delivery of the outcomes of the standard. While improvements to systems and reporting are underway, these arrangements are not yet fully embedded. There is also limited evidence of scrutiny and challenge of health and safety performance.

The Neighbourhood and Community Standard requires landlords to work with appropriate partners to deter and tackle anti-social behaviour and hate incidents in the neighbourhoods where they provide social housing. We gained assurance that Stoke-on-Trent CC works effectively in partnership with relevant organisations to address anti-social behaviour and support tenants, with appropriate oversight arrangements in place and evidence of positive outcomes for tenants.

The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard requires landlords to take tenants’ views into account in their decision making, enable tenants to scrutinise and influence how landlord services are delivered, and communicate how tenants’ views have been considered. Stoke-on-Trent CC is providing a range of meaningful opportunities for tenants to influence and scrutinise policies and service delivery. Stoke-on-Trent CC needs to ensure that tenants are supported to be able to effectively scrutinise health and safety performance information, as this has only recently been shared with tenants.

During the inspection, we gained assurance that Stoke-on-Trent CC is committed to treating its tenants with fairness and respect, and we observed a positive culture towards tenants in our observations. We found some evidence that Stoke-on-Trent CC considers tenants’ individual diverse needs when delivering services, however there are weaknesses in the extent of the information it holds on its tenants and in how it uses this information to ensure fair and equitable outcomes are delivered for tenants. We have also seen evidence that Stoke-on-Trent CC provides tenants with a range of information about its service and performance.

The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard requires landlords to ensure that complaints are addressed fairly, effectively and promptly. Stoke-on-Trent CC delivers a simple, accessible, and publicised complaints service. However, there are weaknesses in the timeliness of complaint responses, due to Stoke-on-Trent CC using response extensions for a high volume of complaints. This weakens its ability to provide timely responses and effective accountability to tenants. We also identified weaknesses in the accessibility of information for tenants and in the reporting of complaints.

In relation to the Tenancy Standard, we saw evidence that Stoke-on-Trent CC meets the required outcomes in relation to tenure and has clear tenancy arrangements and proactive tenancy management in operation, with plans to improve tenancy management performance oversight.

Our engagement with Stoke-on-Trent CC provided assurance that it understands the areas where improvement is required and is taking steps to address these weaknesses. While improvement activity is evident across several areas, some changes are not yet fully embedded. We will continue to engage with Stoke-on-Trent CC to ensure sustained improvements for tenants.

Background to the judgement

About the landlord

Stoke-on-Trent CC is a unitary authority located in Staffordshire in the West Midlands. Stoke-on-Trent CC owns and manages around 17,500 homes representing around 16% of the local housing stock. These are mainly social rent general needs homes, with a small number of affordable rent homes and supported housing.

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