Electrical safety checks for more than a thousand council tenants in the Black Country have not been carried out for more than a decade, a review has found.

The investigation, carried out by Sandwell Council, discovered approximately 1,245 homes it managed were affected.

While more than three-quarters of its homes had an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) dated within the past five years as regulations require, the council claimed it would refer itself to the Regulator of Social Housing.

In a highly unusual move, the council claimed electrical safety data was “not held on a system that enabled performance to be easily tracked”, which they claimed is now being rectified.

Such is the scale of the problem, by the council’s own admission, a “root and branch” review of its social housing had begun to take place to ensure they are compliant with its obligations as a landlord.

The council hope to “increase contractor capacity” to deliver new electrical safety reports at a target of 100 per day. They hope by December 2022, all properties have an EICR of no more than five years old.

Kerrie Carmichael, leader of Sandwell council, said: “I can assure tenants that we are carrying out these checks as quickly as possible to ensure all properties have been looked at within sector standards."

David Fisher, leader of the opposition for Sandwell Conservatives, said: “I will be asking the leader of the council to give me assurances that no other department is using an electronic system that prevents easily performances being tracked and potentially putting lives at risk.”

Paul Barnes, a community organiser at ACORN Birmingham, said: “This year we have campaigned on issues including: infestations of rats, mice, and cockroaches; rampant mould and damp; electrical faults; and flooding. 

“This includes Sandwell council block Alfred Gunn House, in Langley, where toilet water from one flat flooded through another resident’s ceiling and wires were left trailing through flooded hallways during refurbishment works."