New Electrical Safety Laws Are Now in Force. What Social Housing Contractors Need to Know.

If you work in social housing delivery, electrical safety just got significantly more demanding and the clock is already running.

New electrical safety requirements came into force for existing social housing tenancies in May 2026. Social landlords must now inspect electrical systems at least every five years, provide tenants with an Electrical Installation Condition Report within 28 days of inspection or before moving in, carry out Portable Appliance Testing on any landlord provided appliances, and fix any identified hazards within 28 days.

That is a significant volume of work across an enormous amount of stock and it does not stop there. This month, the Electrical Safety Tenant Satisfaction Measure came into effect, requiring social landlords to report and publish the percentage of homes where all required electrical safety checks have been completed and recorded. For the first time landlords are publicly accountable for their electrical compliance performance and that changes everything in terms of the pressure on their delivery teams.

For main contractors this creates both an immediate challenge and a clear opportunity. The landlords who fall behind on electrical inspections and remedial works are the ones who will face regulatory scrutiny and reputational damage. The contractors who can help them stay on top of it, with accredited, qualified electricians ready to mobilise at pace, are the ones who will win and retain long term programme relationships.

The challenge is finding enough qualified, accredited electrical contractors to meet the demand. With these requirements now applying across all existing social housing tenancies simultaneously, the pressure on electrical supply chains is real. A 28 day remedial works deadline leaves no room for gaps in resource.

As expectations continue to evolve, collaboration between client and contractor partners has never been more important in delivering safer homes, greater confidence for residents and stronger outcomes for local communities.

Getting the right electrical contractors in place now, before programmes fall behind, is far easier than finding them mid-programme under pressure.

How Empower Consulting helps

At Empower Consulting we connect main contractors with pre-vetted, accredited subcontractors across all trades, including qualified electrical contractors ready to support social housing compliance programmes. There is no cost to the main contractor and no long recruitment process. We make the introduction and you take it from there.

If electrical safety compliance is becoming a pressure point on your current programmes, get in touch.

www.empowerconsulting.co.uk