Zero stars for Norwich City Council

Parts of the housing service provided by Norwich City Council are ‘poor’ and have ‘uncertain prospects for improvement’ an independent report released today by the Audit Commission has shown.

On a scale from zero to three stars the Audit Commission gave the inspected areas a ‘poor‘ zero-star rating. The report shows that the Council does not provide an effective housing service for its tenants.

According to the report the council does not know who is accessing its service and what barriers to access might exist. Residents have not been fully involved in setting housing priorities and services are not tailored to needs.

Mark Elsworth, Audit Commission senior manager, said:

"Our inspection covered income management, tenancy and estate management and resident involvement. We found that, although it has effective systems in place for recovering rent arrears and dealing with reports of anti-social behaviour, Norwich City Council cannot be sure that services are flexible enough to meet the needs of all residents.

"Overall, it has not developed its housing provision in a way that ensures all its tenants receive a good service. However, it responded positively to our inspection and is starting to put improvement plans in place.’