Can Social Housing Providers Realistically Deliver On the 24-Hour Repair Expectation?

The commencement of Awaab’s Law last year marked a significant moment for the UK’s social housing sector. Following the tragic case of Awaab Ishak, this new legislation was introduced to ensure that housing providers act quickly when tenant safety is at risk.

One of the requirements of this law is that social housing landlords must investigate potential emergency hazards and, where confirmed, begin remedial work within 24 hours. Once confirmed, the law states that they must:

• Complete all relevant safety works and make the property safe within 24 hours.
• If the property cannot be made safe within 24 hours, the landlord must offer suitable alternative accommodation until the required safety works are completed.
• Provide a written summary of the investigation and its findings within three working days of the conclusion (if required).

On the face of it, this expectation is pretty straightforward. However, in practice, it does raise the question of whether social housing providers can realistically deliver this standard at scale. 

Here, we explore the 24-hour requirement in more detail, discuss the challenges and explain how the right repairs and maintenance software can help.

Understanding the 24-hour requirement

Under Awaab’s Law, social landlords must start emergency repairs within 24 hours of becoming aware of certain hazards. The law states that: 

An emergency hazard is one that poses ‘an imminent and significant risk of harm’ to the health or safety of the occupier in the social home. An ‘imminent and significant risk of harm’ is defined in the regulations as ‘a risk of harm to the occupier’s health or safety that a reasonable lessor with the relevant knowledge would take steps to make safe within 24 hours’.

Examples of hazards requiring emergency action include, but are not limited to:

• Gas or carbon monoxide leaks
• Broken boilers
• Total loss of water supply
• Electrical hazards such as exposed wiring
• Significant leaks
• Broken external doors or windows that present a risk to home security
• Prevalent damp and/or mould that is having a material impact on a tenant’s health
• Significant structural defects or disrepair.

Source: GOV.UK

If a landlord is unable to meet this 24-hour timeframe and make the property safe, they must offer the tenant suitable alternative accommodation free of charge. Failure to do this could lead to potential court action and the tenant claiming compensation. 

Therefore, all social housing providers must be able to capture and triage issues immediately, assess risk accurately and mobilise resources without delay. This is no easy feat.

The scale of the challenge

Delivering a 24-hour response consistently across large and complex housing portfolios is no small task. Let’s explore some of the main challenges associated with adhering to this Awaab’s Law requirement. 

Volume and demand pressures

Social housing providers often manage hundreds, or even thousands, of properties at once. Repairs and maintenance requests are already high, but with the introduction of stricter requirements, this is only going to rise. More repairs work is likely to be raised as urgent/an emergency, which will stretch maintenance teams further. 

Workforce and resource constraints

For quite some time, the social housing sector has faced skills shortages and challenges in recruiting maintenance operatives. Now, with a 24-hour turnaround enforced, this is starting to show. Where resources are stretched, operatives need to be always available, geographically distributed and willing to respond outside traditional working hours. For many smaller organisations or those in rural areas, this is a major issue.

Complexity of diagnosis

Not all hazards are immediately visible or easy to assess. For example, issues like damp and mould can have multiple underlying causes, including structural defects, ventilation problems and tenant lifestyle factors. The pressure on accurately diagnosing the problem within the new timeframe is intense, requiring skilled operatives and efficient processes. Without this, there is a high risk of misdiagnosis. 

Fragmented systems and data

Many social housing providers still operate within siloed systems and rely on manual processes for scheduling and reporting. This fragmentation slows everything right down, creating scenarios in which operatives arrive on-site without complete information and essential work is missed. It also makes it hard for managers to track performance and make improvements.

Supply chain and materials management

Even when an emergency hazard is identified quickly, completing work can depend on the availability of materials and skilled operatives. Supply chain disruptions or delays can make a 24-hour resolution extremely challenging, especially for complex repairs.

Is delivering on the 24-hour repair expectation achievable?

Yes, but it requires social housing providers to undergo a serious transformation. Organisations must embrace new ways of working, rather than relying on outdated, traditional processes. 

To meet the requirements of Awaab’s Law, housing providers need to rethink their approach across several key areas:

• Smarter assessment and prioritisation
• Real-time visibility and coordination
• Agile workforce management
• A proactive maintenance mindset.

To achieve this, housing associations and local authorities must have the right technology in place.

How can best-in-class repairs and maintenance software help?

Without modern, high-tech repairs and maintenance software solutions in place, delivering on Awaab’s Law will be incredibly tricky for social housing providers. 

Fortunately, organisations like ROCC fully utilise automation to enable real-time forecasting and dynamic work planning, making maintenance management seamless. This gives you the best chance possible of meeting the 24-hour requirement for emergency repairs.

• Faster, more accurate issue reporting: Digital systems allow tenants to report issues quickly and automatically categorise requests by priority. This means emergency hazards can be identified and escalated immediately.
• Intelligent scheduling and prioritisation: Advanced scheduling tools match jobs to the right operative based on skills and location, and can also optimise routes to reduce travel time. This significantly improves response times.
• Mobile-enabled workforce: Operatives are given mobile access to receive jobs instantly, view full property and repair history, and update the job status in real time. Mobile connectivity helps to improve first-time fix rates and ensures better communication.
• End-to-end visibility and compliance tracking: Integrated platforms enable real-time tracking of every job and send alerts when emergency repair deadlines are at risk. It also assists with audit trails for compliance with Awaab’s Law.
• Data-driven insights: Valuable insights become available for trends in repair types and locations, recurring issues, root causes, and performance metrics. This enables social housing providers to improve existing processes and allocate resources more effectively. 

To enjoy all of the above and more, get in touch with a member of our customer support team today to see how ROCC’s market-leading software can help you stay on top of emergency repairs.

Final thoughts

Adhering to the 24-hour Awaab’s Law expectation across large housing portfolios is undeniably challenging, but it’s achievable if providers equip their teams with the technological tools to respond quickly and effectively.

When tenant safety is at risk, delays are no longer acceptable. Therefore, despite the costs associated with meeting this timeframe, social housing providers can’t afford not to invest in smarter housing maintenance systems. 

It’s time for organisations to rethink how repairs and maintenance are delivered.