Item 12 Appendix 1 - Scottish Social Housing Charter - Regulation of Social Housing in Scotland Progress Report

Page 1

28 October 2022 
West Dunbartonshire Council Annual Assurance Statement 
We confirm that we comply with the regulatory requirements set out in Chapter 3 of the Scottish
Housing Regulator's Regulatory Framework. This includes meeting the standards and outcomes in the
Scottish Social Housing Charter, meeting all relevant legislative duties associated with housing and
homelessness services, tenant and resident safety and equality and human rights. In relation to the
latter, we are taking forward plans to gather data across all protected characteristics based on current
guidance and look forward to the future publication of a briefing on the right to housing that is being
worked on by the SHR in conjunction with the Scottish Human Rights Commission. 
We comply with all of the above requirements with the exception of the area we set out below. 
Scottish Social Housing Charter Performance 
We achieve all but the following standards and outcomes in the Scottish Social Housing Charter: 
Charter Outcomes 4 - Quality of Housing 
tenants’ homes, as a minimum, meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) when they are
allocated; are always clean, tidy and  in a good state of repair; and also meet the Energy Efficiency
Standard for Social Housing (EESSH) by December 2020. 
This year has seen an increase in our SHQS failures. The key contributing factor is due to the Electrical
Installation Condition Reports (EICRs) programme not being completed as planned by the end of March
2022. The programme has been delayed due to Covid-19 restrictions and the wider consequences of these
impacting on internal and external resource availability to deliver the programme as planned. Whilst we
have since secured additional resource to deliver the programme as early as possible, this did not
significantly reduce SHQS failures before 31st March 2022. 
We recognise this is an important issue in terms of tenant and resident health and safety and continue to
take steps to maximize the capacity of the programme, including taking proactive communications with
tenants to minimise any access issues. At present around 43% of our properties have a valid EICR, while we
plan for all properties to have a valid EICR in place by end of this financial we project because of access
issues this will not be achievable until Summer 2023. However, we anticipate at a minimum that we will
meet our wider Scottish Housing Quality Standard compliance projection which was contained with our ARC
submission. 
We have seen and considered sufficient evidence to give us this assurance. 
We will formally approve our Annual Assurance Statement at the meeting of our Housing and
Communities Committee on 23rd November 2022. 
I sign this statement on behalf of the Committee. 
Gurpreet Singh Johal 
Councillor Gurpreet Singh Johal,
Convener, Housing and Communities Committee