Council's £1.1bn Housing Contract Begins: Will It Fix Erdington's Broken Homes?

Birmingham City Council has officially launched a massive new housing maintenance contract, but for residents in Erdington and Pype Hayes living with damp, mould, and broken heating, the real question is whether this will actually deliver results.

What's happened

On 1 July 2026, WPS (part of the Wates Group) commenced a flagship 10-year, £1.1 billion contract with Birmingham City Council. The agreement covers housing maintenance, heating, and compliance services for over 30,000 council homes across the city.

WPS, which previously managed maintenance for the council between 2016 and 2022, will handle day-to-day repairs, void property management (preparing empty homes for new tenants), and planned upgrades like new kitchens and bathrooms. Heating installations and servicing will be managed by their specialist division, Liberty.

What it means for Erdington and Pype Hayes

For our ward, this contract is critical. We have hundreds of council properties in Erdington and Pype Hayes, many of which have suffered from years of delayed repairs, poor communication, and substandard workmanship.

The council claims it is investing over £200 million a year to bring properties up to standard. If WPS delivers on its promises, residents should see faster response times for day-to-day repairs, quicker turnarounds for empty properties (which are desperately needed for the 33,000 people on the housing waiting list), and warmer, safer homes through upgraded heating systems.

However, the sheer scale of the £1.1 billion price tag means that every failure to fix a leaky roof or a broken boiler is a direct waste of taxpayer money.

Where I stand

As your Reform UK councillor, I welcome any genuine investment in our local housing stock. Nobody should be living in a damp, unsafe council house. But I have heard too many grand announcements from Birmingham City Council that fail to survive contact with reality.

The council and WPS talk about "operational excellence" and "social value," but my inbox is full of casework from residents who have waited months for basic repairs. The counter-argument from the Lib Dem-Green coalition is that this new contract represents a fresh start and a massive financial commitment to getting things right. I respect Cllr Baber Baz's ambition to improve services, but ambition doesn't fix a broken boiler in January.

My priority is accountability. We are paying £1.1 billion for this service. I will be watching closely to ensure that WPS delivers on its promises to Erdington and Pype Hayes, and that the council manages this contract with an iron grip, rather than letting standards slip as they have in the past.

What happens next

The contract is now live. Over the coming months, we should start to see the rollout of the new service standards. I will be monitoring repair times and void property turnarounds in our ward closely.

If you are a council tenant and you experience unacceptable delays or poor-quality work under this new contract, please contact my office immediately. We will use your experiences to hold the housing department to account at the council house.

Have your say

Do you trust the council to deliver on this £1.1 billion contract? Register on the site to leave a comment below, vote in our ward forum poll, and let me know your thoughts. If you are struggling with unresolved housing repairs, please get in touch so we can take up your case.

Source: FMJ