Plan approved to improve council homes and services for tenants

The plan, which has been informed by extensive engagement with residents and stakeholders, sets out ongoing and planned actions between now and January 2027.

Delivery of the improvements will be overseen by a Housing Improvement Board which includes tenant and cross-party councillor representation.

The Council is the largest social housing provider in the Borough, owning and managing 10,383 homes, including 31 sheltered housing schemes and four supported housing schemes.

Improvements listed in the plan include:

• Making sure every council home meets the Decent Homes Standard, which means it’s warm, safe, modern, and in good repair
• Surveying every council home at least once every 5 years to check its condition, including kitchens, bathrooms, roofs, windows, and heating
• Aiming to answer all tenant calls and messages within 2 working days and resolve most enquiries within 10 working days
• Publishing performance data on housing repairs every six months, so tenants can see how the Council is performing 
• Publishing a report each year on how many homes have been upgraded
• Contacting tenants within 2 working days to follow up reports of damp and mould, addressing all emergency repairs within 24 hours
• Acknowledging complaints within 2 working days and providing regular updates until they are resolved

The plan is built around six commitments co-produced with tenants at our ‘Let’s talk Housing’ events, along with key actions and delivery dates.

The improvements in the plan address the findings in the regulatory judgement published by the Regulator of Social Housing in May 2025, following its first inspection of how Swindon is performing against national consumer standards.

The plan outlines progress on other improvements, including:

• Providing 2,750 council homes with new alarms that detect heat, smoke, and carbon monoxide as part of a rolling four-year £10.5m upgrade programme
• Investing in a new Property Condition team which supports residents reporting damp and mould
• Appointing a new Senior Management team to lead the improvements to council homes and services for tenants
• Launching a five-year £30m programme of energy efficiency improvements which will see hundreds of council homes benefit from upgrade doors, windows, roofs, gas boilers and for some, solar panels

Earlier this year the Council approved a Housing Asset Management Strategy to spend £250m over the next five years on improving and refurbishing council homes.

To fund this investment, the Council plans to borrow up to an additional £152m between 2025 and 2030. Precise levels of borrowing will be determined based on rental income earned, inflation and as detailed assessments of the Council’s housing stock are carried out.

The remainder of the funding required for this investment will be met through the Housing Revenue Account, which is the budget utilised for managing council-owned properties. The HRA is a ring-fenced budget that the Council holds especially for the rent from council tenants. The rent money collected by the council can only be spent on the management and maintenance of tenants' homes.

Councillor Janine Howarth, Cabinet Member for Housing, said: "Every tenant deserves a safe, well-maintained and decent home. Since taking on this role in May 2023, I’ve met with hundreds of tenants and leaseholders. It quickly became clear that we’ve been falling short in some of our responsibilities as a social landlord.

We are committed to putting this right. This plan outlines the improvements tenants can expect to see - and when - as well as the progress we’ve already made. It’s shaped by the voices of hundreds of tenants who took part in engagement events throughout the year.

We are more than two-thirds of the way through a comprehensive survey of every one of our 10,300 council homes to understand their current condition. Over the next five years, we’re investing £250m - an increase of 78 per cent compared to the previous five years - to improve and refurbish council homes.

"Most importantly, we’re putting tenants at the heart of everything we do. That means making it easier to access services and providing the ability speak to the right person at the right time. That’s why we’ll be writing directly to tenants to invite them to read our full plan, and I am pleased we are now able to give tenants the tools to hold us accountable for delivering on this plan.”