Improving our housing services

Let's Talk Housing Swindon

Find out about the improvements we’re making to our housing services, ask questions and share what matters most to you.

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The Council manages over 10,300 homes and is currently delivering a programme of significant improvements to the services we provide tenants and leaseholders.

The Social Housing (Regulations) Act 2023, which came into force on 1 April 2024, introduced four new consumer standards, which apply to all registered providers of social housing, including local authorities.

The four new consumer standards are:

  • the Safety and Quality Standard, which requires landlords to provide safe and good-quality homes for their tenants, along with good-quality landlord services
  • the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard, which requires landlords to be open with tenants and treat them with fairness and respect so they can access services, raise concerns when necessary, influence decision making and hold their landlord to account
  • the Neighbourhood and Community Standard, which requires landlords to engage with other relevant parties so that tenants can live in safe and well-maintained neighbourhoods and feel safe in their homes
  • the Tenancy Standard, which sets requirements for the fair allocation and letting of homes, as well as requirements for how tenancies are managed by landlords

In January 2024, we commissioned an independent third-party to assess our current performance against these standards. This led to the Council referring itself to the Regulator of Social Housing for advice on how we could improve.

In May 2025, the Regulator of Social Housing published a regulatory judgement following its first inspection of how Swindon is performing against the above four consumer standards.

Read our frequently asked questions on this process.

The Regulator confirmed there are serious areas that need improvement. At the same time, they recognised our commitment to making things right and the work we have already started.

In November 2024, we established a Housing Improvement Board that brings tenants, councillors and officers together every month to oversee our improvement plan and scrutinise housing performance data.

Some of the key steps we are taking include the following:

  • Investing in homes: Through our Housing Asset Management Strategy 2025-2030 (PDF), we are committing £250 million over the next five years - 78% more than in the previous five years - to improve and refurbish council homes. This includes upgrades to roofs, kitchens, bathrooms and windows.
  • Improving safety: Since September 2024 we have started a £10.5m programme to install new alarms in council homes that detect heat, smoke and carbon monoxide
  • Supporting tenants better: Our ‘Behind Every Door’ programme has seen us visit 380 tenants so far, listening to their needs and offering practical support where it’s needed
  • Better systems: We are introducing a new online housing system to make it easier for tenants to manage their tenancy and access services

We will be publishing a full improvement plan later in 2025, shaped by tenant feedback and the Regulator’s findings.

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