Berneslai Homes (BH) manages 18,500 homes on behalf of Barnsley Council.
DTP was appointed to undertake a high-level review of Berneslai Homes’ approach to the tracking, reporting and governance of key compliance indicators in relation to asset related health and safety. This was not a technical audit of compliance, but served as an assessment of how well the approach at BH met good practice and regulatory requirements for reporting, target setting, data management, governance oversight and the linkage with risk, risk appetite and assurance.
A desktop review of range of documentation relating to BH’s approach to compliance reporting, including a sample of the past year’s board reporting on compliance and associated minutes, officer monitoring documentation, policies and procedure statements, the risk register and assurance map.
Interviews with key personnel (executive and non-executive) to supplement the document review findings were also carried out.
We found that the approach to governance reporting in relation to tenant and asset related health and safety compliance required improvement to ensure informed emphasis and prioritisation at board level, consistent awareness of current obligations and better linkage to risk. We provided technical and policy recommendations to ensure clear, meaningful and comprehensive assurance.
Amanda Garrard, Chief Executive