Creative Support provides housing for tenants with learning disabilities and mental health needs.
Inside Housing has reported that:
The regulator found that a “significant proportion” of the provider’s homes did not have a valid gas safety certificate at some point between January 2016 and March 2017 and the association failed to tell the regulator.
The regulator noted most of the certificates had been overdue for a “relatively short period”. “Ineffective systems” had caused a failure to schedule and book gas inspections “in a timely manner”.
The regulator has concluded Creative Support has breached the government’s Home Standard, which requires all providers to meet health and safety legal requirements. Government regulations require a gas safety check to be carried out on an annual basis and a record of the check must be kept for at least two years.
The regulator said: “Although the certificates were typically overdue for a relatively short period of time, the number of homes affected was high, and represented a significant proportion of Creative Support’s stock with gas fittings. Further, this had been caused by inadequate policies and systems.”
The report added: “This is evidence of a breach of the statutory obligation to carry out gas servicing and thus of the Home Standard. Creative Support did not report this to the regulator in a timely way once it came to light internally.”
The regulator said that taking into account the number of homes affected and the potential risk to tenants, including vulnerable tenants, “the breach of the Home Standard exposed tenants to the risk of serious harm”