A Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) worker saw Awaab Ishak's pregnant mum 'visibly distressed' a month before her son's death - but failed to escalate the issue. The worker instead believed the mould at her home was 'a standard repair', weeks before tragedy unfolded, a new report has revealed.
It's one of a series of revelations made in the damning report on RBH published by the Housing Ombudsman today (March 28). The report follows a special investigation into RBH made in the wake of Awaab's inquest last November.
Awaab died aged two in December 2020 following prolonged exposure to mould at an RBH flat on the Freehold estate, in Rochdale. Following his inquest, Awaab's family described their son's coughing fits that would 'sometimes last two to three days', while they felt 'absolutely trapped' in a flat which 'made his coughing worse'.
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In the report, the Ombudsman raises concerns that a member of staff did not raise concerns about the conditions Awaab's mum, Aisha Amin, was facing at her home through a safeguarding programme at RBH called 'Eyes Wide Open'. Ms Amin was pregnant with her second child at the time the worker visited the property in November 2020 - one month before Awaab's death.
The report states: "One staff member reported Awaab’s visibly pregnant mother as being visibly upset and distressed when he attended and yet, he did not refer the situation to the ‘Eyes Wide Open’ programme - a programme for 'identified safeguarding such as disability, frailty or illness, domestic abuse and concern for welfare or any other identified need' - because he considered the mould was 'a standard repair'.
"A month later, Awaab had died because of it and it was finally declared a Category 1 health hazard by a professional. Even if the staff member had honestly held a belief that the extent of the mould was 'standard', it is highly questionable how embedded and effective that initiative is for staff not refer a pregnant woman in significant distress to a safeguarding programme specifically designed to identify and help people in distress."
In its recommendations to RBH, the Housing Ombudsman is calling on the landlord to review its 'Eyes Wide Open' campaign so staff are 'clearer on the triggers for reporting households'. The report also suggests staff should have reported Awaab's family to the campaign when they were concerned Ms Amin might have been unaware of 'what she had signed up to' with the legal claim filed against RBH because English was not her first language.
The report added: "That internal email prompted a check as to whether the solicitors had replied to the July 2020 report that was sent to them, but when it was established that no reply had been received, nothing further was done and the solicitors were not chased." RBH has since admitted it should not have followed the policy it had at the time, which meant repairs were not carried out at properties subject to disrepair claims unless given approval by the tenant's legal representatives.
The family's solicitor had dropped the case in September 2020 but did not notify RBH. The Ombudsman insists there was 'nothing preventing the landlord' from carrying out the proper repairs 'with the urgency they required' before Awaab's death.
It says the housing association was also criticised in another disrepair court case two months after Awaab's death for failing to take action on repairs needed for nine months. The report says RBH now sends chasing letters to solicitors within 14 days, and if it receives no reply it will consider carrying out repairs if it can access the property.
RBH has come under fire in the report for a 'wholly unacceptable' attitude towards asylum seekers and a culture of 'othering' used against tenants who reported problems. Awaab's parents came to the UK as asylum seekers from Sudan.
RBH says the report is 'sobering but not unexpected'. Interim chief executive Yvonne Arrowsmith added: "There has been significant learning following the tragic death of Awaab Ishak, which we acknowledge highlighted key failures within RBH.
"We have recognised that too often damp and mould was not seen as a serious issue and was often wrongly attributed to a resident’s lifestyle. At RBH we have taken significant steps since December 2022 to tackle damp and mould across our homes, but it is fair to say that this work should have started much earlier and that the scale of the issue in our homes means it will take us time to complete."
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