The council set up BDMS in 2018 to carry out repairs and maintenance services for its homes but multiple concerns have been raised about its performance, reports Nick Clark, Local Democracy Reporter
Barking and Dagenham Council replaced the entire board of its own housing repair company last year amid “significant concerns” about its performance.
The company – Barking and Dagenham Management Services (BDMS) – had previously suffered big repairs backlogs and low customer satisfaction. Yet it still failed to give the council enough information on how it was performing.
A council spokesperson says the council has now taken “decisive action” to replace the company’s top managers.
The council set up BDMS in 2018 to carry out repairs and maintenance services for its homes.
Although run as separate entity to the council, it is entirely owned by the local authority. The council pays it a flat fee every year for its services.
However, the council reported in 2023 that the company had hit an “all-time low” with customer satisfaction and a backlog of repairs.
Councillors were then told in March 2024 that performance was improving.
But an internal audit report published this month revealed the company didn’t provide the council with enough information on its performance.
This is despite the fact it had agreed to provide more information on how it was meeting new “exacting targets”.
It said there was “significant council disatisfaction with the performance of BDMS”.
A report to council leaders last September also said BDMS and its parent company BD Group had also “failed” to return a profit to the council.
Council leaders voted to appoint four council employees to BD Group’s board.
All six of the board’s previous members resigned between June and August last year.
Council leaders then agreed in November to award BDMS a new five-year contract to continue carrying out housing repairs, starting in April.
The council told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that the fee it pays BDMS is “commercially sensitive information”.
However the value of its contract for the current financial year is £21.5million.
BDMS also owed the council £45m in outstanding loans and invoices.
Plans approved by the council’s cabinet said the service would improve after “a period of transformation”.
The plans said: “There have been recent demonstratable positive improvements within BDTP and the council is satisfied that further improvements will bring the required change.”
The company is also set to present the cabinet with a new business plan “shortly”, a spokesperson told the LDRS. This will include a timetable for the company to repay its debts to the council.
