Council Housing changes brought forward to April 2026
The management of council housing will be brought back in-house from 1 April 2026, instead of the original contract end date of June 2027 following a decision by Cheshire West and Chester Council’s Cabinet on Tuesday 12 August. This includes the arrangements for other housing services currently delivered by its provider, ForHousing.
A host of changes in the sector, including new regulatory requirements introduced since the existing contract first started in 2017 have led to an increase in both the number and cost of day-to-day repairs and maintenance issues reported. ForHousing informed the Council that they did not believe they could fully maintain services for the remaining contract term until June 2027 due to financial pressures and indicated its intention to immediately reduce some services and end the current contract by no later than 31 March 2026.
Last year the Council asked tenants for their views on how they would like their homes to be managed in the future. 75% of respondents said they would like the Council’s homes to be owned and managed by the Council, with repairs and maintenance delivered by an external specialist contractor.
Discussions with the provider about future delivery arrangements have already started and both the Council and ForHousing are committed to continuing to work together on the transitional arrangements to minimise the disruption to tenants, service users and residents.
This should provide long-term stability for tenants and give the Council direct control of service delivery to ensure it meets regulatory standards and provide a more flexible and responsive service for its tenants and service users.
Tenants and leaseholders have told us loud and clear that they would like the Council to deliver housing services for them rather than an external provider. I am pleased that we are giving them what they asked for. The situation regarding the provider’s intentions in terms of reducing services only became clear from mid-July. That is why we are now acting so rapidly to protect these services. Our tenants and service users will always remain our priority, and we will be working hard with ForHousing so that any disruption is kept to a minimum. Current arrangements whereby tenants contact ForHousing about repairs will remain the same until the contract comes back into the Council at the start of April 2026. Whilst recognising the challenge of a shorter time frame, we are certain that this is the best option for tenants, homeless people and others accessing our housing services.
Current arrangements for contacting ForHousing, forfutures, HomeKey+ and reporting repairs or issues will continue until April 2026. More information will be made available closer to the time to let residents know of any changes on how to contact the new Council service.
To report repairs or issues, please continue to do so until April 2026 by contacting:
Telephone: 0300 123 5522
Email: hello@forhousing.co.uk
Online: