Awaab’s Law and electrical repairs: what 2,452 jobs show

Written by Michael Simm, Co-founder and Operations Director, SEGplc. Published 28 October 2026.

Between July 2025 and August 2026 we carried out electrical repairs in Anchor sheltered housing for Axis Europe, across London and the surrounding counties. With Awaab’s Law due to cover significant electrical hazards, we went back through 2,452 of those repair jobs to see how quickly they were closed, and what held up the slow ones.

What Awaab’s Law covers, and what changes on 30 November 2026

Awaab’s Law has applied to social landlords since 27 October 2025. Since then they have had to deal with all emergency hazards, and with damp and mould hazards, within fixed timescales. Government guidance gives “exposed wiring” as an example of an electrical emergency hazard.

From 30 November 2026 the law is due to extend to more hazards where they present a significant risk of harm, including electrical hazards. The amending regulations were still in draft when we checked on 27 October.

Under the guidance:

• Emergency hazards: the investigation and the safety work must both be completed within 24 hours of the landlord becoming aware of the hazard.
• Significant hazards: investigate within 10 working days, give the tenant a written summary within 3 working days of the investigation ending, and carry out safety work within 5 working days of it ending. Further work to stop the hazard coming back must start as soon as reasonably practicable, and within 12 weeks.
• Access: landlords should keep clear records of their attempts to get in, as evidence of reasonable endeavours.
• Who it covers: social housing let by a registered provider and occupied under a tenancy, including supported housing. It does not apply to homes occupied under a licence.

The timescales run from when the landlord becomes aware of the hazard, not from when a job reaches the contractor. Every day between the call and the engineer counts.

How quickly 2,452 jobs were closed

These are all the Anchor repair jobs issued to us between July 2025 and August 2026. We counted the calendar days from the day each job was issued to the day it was closed on our system.

The median job was closed the same or next day. Four in five were closed within a week. The tail is what matters: 228 jobs stayed open for more than four weeks.

Emergencies: 93% closed the same or next day

Jobs have only carried a consistent “emergency” label since January 2026, so we compared January to June 2026 only.

Two in three emergency jobs were closed the day they came in, and 93% by the next day. Six of the 83 were visits where we could not get in, so this measures how fast we attended and closed the job, not that every fault was put right.

No access is the biggest delay

We searched the engineers’ job notes for the reasons work stalled. Some jobs had more than one.

No access or a missed appointment was noted on 172 jobs at 162 addresses. Only 23 of those (13%) were closed the same or next day, and one in four was still open after four weeks. In sheltered housing, a resident may be in hospital, staying with family or not hear the door. Each failed visit means a new appointment.

Approvals, parts and follow-on visits

The other hold-ups were fewer, but slower:

• Approval, a variation or a quote was needed on 36 jobs. The median was 10 days, and 39% were open over four weeks.
• Parts had to be ordered on 23 jobs, with a median of 12 days.
• A return or second visit was noted on 77 jobs, with a median of 8 days.

We also looked at homes with their own flat-level address: 2,058 jobs at 1,582 homes. 261 jobs were raised within 28 days of an earlier job at the same home, at 163 homes. Some of these are follow-on jobs, raised again after no access or once approval came through, so not every one is a repeat fault.

Of the 228 jobs open more than four weeks, only 63 had one of these hold-ups noted, and 69 had no notes at all. If a landlord ever has to explain why a repair took longer, a reason on the job is the first thing they will need.

What housing managers can do now

1. Record every access attempt. Date, time, how you tried, and what happened. The guidance asks for clear records, and they help us rebook quickly.
2. Agree pre-approved limits. Let engineers finish common extra work, such as a second fitting or a new fused spur, up to an agreed value without stopping for approval.
3. Write clearer job descriptions. Say what has failed, where, and whether the resident has no power, no heating or no lighting. That helps decide whether it is an emergency.
4. Label emergencies at the point of the call. Our labelled emergency jobs were closed far faster than the rest.
5. Close every job with a reason. If a job waits for parts, access or approval, say so on the job.

Not every call-out turns out to be an electrical fault. See one in twelve call-outs: a plumber, a reset or no fault.

Method

Figures from SEGplc’s job records: 2,452 Anchor sheltered housing repair jobs for Axis Europe, issued 15 July 2025 to 4 August 2026, read on 27 October 2026. Time to close is calendar days from the date a job was issued to the date it was closed on our system. That is not a timed fix. “The same or next day” means within one calendar day. Emergency jobs are those whose notes label them an emergency job or carry an emergency fee. Hold-ups come from searching the job notes for phrases such as “no access”, “variation”, “on order” or “return visit”. Phrase searches are approximate, and a job can appear in more than one row. 162 jobs had no notes. These figures describe our repair jobs. They do not show whether a landlord met Awaab’s Law timescales, which run from when the landlord becomes aware of a hazard. This is a practical guide, not legal advice.

Sources

• GOV.UK (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government), Awaab’s Law Phase 2: guidance for social landlords, updated 31 July 2026
• GOV.UK, Awaab’s Law Phase 2: guidance for social housing landlords (publication page)
• legislation.gov.uk, The Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025
• legislation.gov.uk, The Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 (draft)