Sheffield Council put lives as risk by failing to check gas in hundreds of homes over several years

In the worst case scenarios, gas leaks can cause carbon monoxide poisoning, fires and fatal explosions.

The authority told the regulator in November it failed to meet legal health and safety requirements by leaving more than 800 gas safety checks overdue.

It is required by law to check gas safety in its homes every year but a significant number were overdue by more than 12 months, with some dating back years.

The regulator said it put tenants at risk of serious harm.

It said: “Complying with statutory health and safety requirements is a fundamental responsibility of all registered providers because of the potential for serious harm to tenants.”

Liberal Democrat councillor Penny Baker, deputy chair of the housing committee, said every day there is an overdue inspection is another day a time bomb may be overlooked in someone’s home.

She said: “This is a concerning development, and everyone responsible for council housing repairs must take it extremely seriously.

“Our tenants need to know that they’re safe under their own roofs, and to guarantee that the council needs to be completing every single inspection on time, as is legally required.

“The housing committee passed a new gas servicing policy last month, which will hopefully assist officers in bringing us up to compliance.

“However, this was only done on recommendation from the regulator – it’s disappointing this wasn’t considered proactively earlier.

“We need to get to compliance as soon as possible – every day we’ve got overdue inspections is another day that a time bomb in someone’s house may be overlooked.”

Action plan

The regulator said it is not currently taking enforcement action as the council was now tackling the backlog.

It said: “The council has demonstrated to the regulator that it now understands its responsibilities and is completing the work it needs to undertake to ensure the required statutory checks are completed.

“However, taking into account the seriousness of the issues and the number of tenants potentially affected, the regulator has concluded that the council has breached the home standard and that there was a risk of serious detriment to tenants during this period.”

Janet Sharpe, director of housing at the council, said the authority made 200 properties gas compliant since it reported itself and improved compliance from 87 per cent in October to 98 per cent this month.

She said: “We’ve received a notice from the regulator today which acknowledges that we are taking our responsibilities seriously and ensuring all required statutory checks are completed.

“Since October 2022, we have put in place a robust programme to reduce the number of outstanding gas inspections which includes a new fast track process for dealing with times when it is difficult, or is taking a long time, to gain access to some properties.

“We are working as quickly as we can on this work and want to reassure residents that our aim will always be to make sure that everyone is as safe as possible in their homes.”