Newcastle City Council has completed more than 103,000 home repairs in 2025-26 – a 52% rise on the previous year – following an overhaul of its repairs service.
The council’s latest Housing Performance Report shows 103,401 repairs were completed in 2025-26, up from 67,876 in 2024-25, an increase of more than 52%.
The council attributed the rise to a transformation programme covering streamlined processes, improved scheduling and more efficient handling of repair requests, alongside its proactive Getting to Know You visits with tenants, which the authority sayshave helped identify more outstanding issues. The service also recorded a higher number of damp and mould reports over the winter months.
Performance against target timescales has improved sharply since the changes began. In September 2024, around 63% of repairs were taking longer than target to complete. Following the introduction of a new repairs system and processes in July 2025, performance had improved by April 2026, with 90.69% of non-emergency repairs and 94.36% of emergency repairs completed within target timescales between July 2025 and March 2026. Across the full 2025-26 financial year, 90.18% of non-emergency repairs and 92.82% of emergency repairs were completed within target timescales.
Councillor James Coles, cabinet member for Sustainable Housing and Green Investment at Newcastle City Council, said: “Over the last financial year, we’ve worked hard to improve our repairs service and make sure residents receive the responsive, reliable service they deserve. Completing more than 100,000 repairs is a significant achievement and reflects the dedication of our teams to reducing backlogs and improving performance.
“While we know there is still more work to do, these results show that the steps we’ve taken are delivering tangible improvements for our residents. We hope to continue to build on this progress throughout the coming year.”
A new Repairs Policy came into effect on 1 May 2026, setting out how repairs are prioritised, response times and what residents can expect when reporting an issue. The council said the policy aligns the service with the Regulator of Social Housing’s Consumer Standards.
Among the changes, the target response time for emergency repairs has moved from four hours – previously beyond the legislative requirement – to 24 hours, which the council said allows it to prioritise the most urgent cases while still meeting regulatory standards. The policy also allows for a more flexible approach to supporting vulnerable residents, with tailored support or faster intervention where needed.
The council said it expects the combined effect of the service changes, regulatory alignment and clearer resident expectations to drive further improvements in repairs performance during 2026-27.
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