One year on: our five-point action plan on damp and mould

A year ago, we set out our five-point action plan to tackle damp and mould in council homes. 

Twelve months on, while there’s still more for us to do, we’ve made good progress including: 

1. Contacting everyone who reported damp and mould in the last three years to make sure the issue is resolved 
2. Investing more than £2m in extra staff and more ventilation and insultation to stop damp and mould developing 
3. Introducing compulsory damp and mould training for all housing staff, so everyone can spot the signs and give advice 
4. Creating a damp and mould action team with a dedicated phone line and email address, and making more than 3,300 home visits 
5. Meeting regularly with our health and social care partners to share information and coordinate our response.  

On top of this we’ve rolled out a boiler testing scheme and started trialling remote sensors, so we can stop problems before they develop and offer advice on tackling condensation, damp and mould. 

We also know there’s more for us to do on damp and mould, and across our housing services. 

Over the next year, we’ll be focussing on making sure we respond to damp and mould concerns quickly and using data from this winter to target more investment in preventing damp and mould. 

Improving our housing services 

In November, we also published our plan to deliver the Housing Ombudsman’s recommendations on improving our housing services. Our tenants and leaseholders deserve a high-quality service and I'm truly sorry we haven’t always delivered this in the past.  

We’ve already been working to put things right and raise standards in customer service, repairs, anti-social behaviour and complaints over the next two years. 

One of the most important changes will be a new, localised approach based on where people live, so tenants have a single point of contact and staff take ownership of their patch. 

We’ll also be improving communication around repairs and reducing delays, redesigning our anti-social behaviour services and completing our complaints service transformation. 

Critically, we want to give residents more power in how we run our services. We’re looking for people to join a new Resident Service Improvement Group to help do this and if you're a council tenant or leaseholder, we’d love to hear from you.  

I’m determined that by working together and being honest with you – about the changes we’re making and the challenges we face – we can live up to our ambition of being a landlord residents trust. 

Advice on condensation, damp and mould 

For information and advice on how to tackle condensation, damp and mould please visit our website.  

If you aren’t a council tenant or leaseholder, please contact your housing provider or landlord to report damp and mould.  

Private renters can find out more about their landlord's responsibilities around tackling damp and mould, and support available, on our private sector housing webpages.