The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) has learned that Hackney Council failed to renew a major deal for housing repairs for over six years despite internal warnings over the decline of the borough's social homes. The council is obliged to carry out repairs to its roughly 30,000 social homes, including short-term reactive repairs and long-term capital works. It often outsources these jobs to third-party contractors via multi-year deals known as main contractor frameworks. However, the council's last framework expired in 2019, and it repeatedly failed to secure a new one, piling pressure on reactive repairs and causing the council to miss an entire structural repairs cycle, according to insiders.
Watchdog findings and internal warnings
In the nearly seven years since the contract expired, the council was twice hit with damning watchdog findings into its social housing. The Regulator of Social Housing and the Housing Ombudsman found a litany of health and safety issues and deep problems with how Hackney Council handled soaring complaints about disrepair and maintenance. Although the council blamed the lingering impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and a 2020 cyber attack that wiped vital housing data, council records and insider accounts suggest the lack of a contractor framework paralyzed the council's ability to carry out major structural works.
Failed procurement attempts
The council triggered the procurement process for a new £180m contractor framework in October 2025—its third attempt. This followed a doomed effort in 2024 to find a procurement shortcut, which the council pursued despite being warned of legal consequences. The council has refused to disclose how much this failed strategy cost. Interviews with staff suggest the reason behind the inability to replace the deal went beyond the pandemic and cyber attack.
'Like a rudderless oil tanker'
As early as June 2019, the council warned that high turnover of senior staff meant it lacked internal expertise to replace the contractor agreement. Council reports state that many key staff left as the council reabsorbed Hackney Homes. The contract expired in November 2019, though the council could legally use it until August 2020. The pandemic then put major capital works on hold, and the council was granted a one-year extension until August 2021. According to an insider named Max, who joined the Property Services department in 2020, constant personnel churn hobbled the council's ability to secure a new framework. He raised alarm bells in 2023, but senior managers dismissed his warnings. Max described his department as a "rudderless oil tanker" and accused management of ignoring that the absent contractor deal allowed housing stock to deteriorate. He said the £160m housing budget was instead used for reactive repairs, painting over damp and mould rather than tackling the root cause.
Whistleblowing and regulator action
Max lost confidence in senior management and in May 2024 blew the whistle to the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) and the Housing Ombudsman. He highlighted the lack of a main contractor framework, failure to survey housing conditions since 2018, and that 5-10 percent of Hackney's social homes (1,600–3,200) suffered from serious damp and mould. He added that the council relied on Google Sheets after the cyber attack and had not begun procuring a replacement IT system. The RSH confirmed on June 21 it had escalated Max's referral. Hackney Council self-referred to the RSH the same month, but Max claimed the council tried to "take the sting out" of the regulator probe triggered by his revelations. Two months later, the RSH published a report giving Hackney a C3 rating, identifying serious failings. After the judgment, open damp and mould cases rose from 1,422 to 1,967. The council named contractor capacity and management as a key driver, exacerbated by the pandemic and cyber attack. The August 2024 report also revealed over 15,000 homes lacked a current electrical safety certificate (7,000 never had one) and over 400 lacked statutory gas safety inspections.
Ombudsman investigation and improvement plan
On May 22, 2025, the Housing Ombudsman published its special investigation findings, criticizing the council's overly positive approach to skyrocketing complaints. The watchdog later labelled Hackney an "outlier" compared to other boroughs. After the report, the council released its Housing Improvement Plan, stating it would survey its housing stock. Later reports admitted that "delayed or incomplete capital works" contributed to serious failings around leaks, damp and mould. Officers acknowledged "insufficient internal resources for contract management due to restructures or competing priorities."
Botched shortcut and ongoing issues
Following the RSH downgrade, in October 2024 the council attempted a shortcut using a 'Fusion 21' framework for £180m of capital works. Legal advisers warned of risks from leaseholders under the Landlord and Tenant Act, as the council had missed the window to notify them, exposing it to legal action. Six months later, the council abandoned this route, limiting the Fusion 21 framework to internal works only. Council reports from March 2025 showed procurement remained on hold due to "conflicting priorities." Residents in Fellows Court and Pitcairn House have protested, with the latter withholding service charge payments until damp, mould and leaks are addressed.
Council responses and new administration
The LDRS put questions to Hackney Council about why the contract process took over six years. The council refused to answer many queries. In February, Deputy Mayor Guy Nicholson said the council aimed to build a "full integrated back office system" after the cyber attack and held stock condition data on 30% of homes. He said contracts were in place with specialist companies. After local elections delivered a new Green administration, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Safer Homes and Housing Services, Councillor Dylan Law, pledged to "learn from historic issues" and ensure past mistakes "do not happen again in the future." The council began procurement of a new framework in October 2025. If successful, capital works could start by November 2026—seven years after the original framework expired.
