Haringey Council chief exec under pressure after claims housing regulator was 'misled'

A council spokesperson says an “independent review is being initiated” to find out how it happened, reports Joe Ives, Local Democracy Reporter

Haringey Council chief executive Andy Donald (right) addressing a meeting alongside council leader Mark Blake (left) in September

A Haringey Council spokesperson claims it is still “inappropriate to comment” on the future of the local authority’s chief executive – amid speculation around his future.

Andy Donald, who has been in the role since April 2022, has presided over a series of controversies relating to the condition of Haringey’s social homes. There were even claims last week the council had “misled” the government’s housing regulator.

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) issued a damning verdict to the North London council last Wednesday (28th) urging it to fix “very serious failings” in its housing provision after being given a ‘C4’ consumer grade – the worst possible score.

Amid a litany of issues was the council’s current backlog of nearly 4,000 overdue “remedial fire safety actions” – including 1,400 categorised as “high risk”.

As well as a statement issued through the council last week, Haringey Greens published their own verdict, alleging that the borough’s previous Labour administration had “misled” housing safety regulators “over fire risk in council estates”.

The minority Green administration came to power in May, following the local election, ending more than 50 years of Labour control at Haringey Council.

In their response to the housing regulator’s latest findings, the Greens also said that, in November last year, the previous Labour-led council had written to the regulator “stating that it had fixed all high risk, overdue fire safety issues”.

But last week’s report, the Greens argued, “reveals that this was untrue”.

“In fact,” the Greens added, “Haringey’s Labour administration failed to disclose thousands of overdue fire safety remedial actions to the regulator, despite these risks being known by the council.”

These include the council not reporting its failure to repair or replace fire alarms and carry out structural fixes to prevent fire.

“Particularly concerning,” they said, was the previous administration’s failure to make necessary changes to external cladding.

The fierce criticisms came three-and-a-half years after the same regulator found more than 100 Haringey Council properties had serious hazards and nearly 5,000 did not meet minimum social housing standards.

At that time, in March 2023, the council’s then Labour leader Peray Ahmet issued a joint statement with Donald saying they were “very sorry” and that it was “important we move quickly to change this”.

A council press release following Donald’s appointment in April 2022 described his hiring as a “major coup” and said he “is regarded as one of the best chief executives in the capital”.

Donald is paid a salary of £228,279, making him the seventh-highest paid borough council CEO in London, out of 32.

This week, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) approached the council for comment on the position of its chief executive following the RSH findings – and the allegations made by senior councillors in the Green administration.

In a brief response, containing neither criticism nor outright support for Donald, a spokesperson confirmed he remained in his post.

They added: “An independent review is being initiated to look at what led to the RSH’s concern that the council was not fully transparent with them. Until that is completed it is inappropriate to comment.”

In a statement responding to last week’s findings, Haringey Labour said: “Throughout the regulatory period, the council engaged closely with the regulator and as politicians, we were given assurances of positive progress.

“We’re deeply disturbed that the regulator believes they were not provided with full and transparent information by the council. We support a full investigation into what information was shared with the regulator.”

The LDRS also approached Haringey Labour for comment on the allegations made by senior Green councillors. Last Thursday (29th) the group said it did not yet wish to add to its initial statement. No further comments have been received since.

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