Housing boss handed £15k raise after toddler died from mould

THE social housing boss in charge when a toddler died from mould exposure was given a pay rise to £185,000 a year after his death.

Awaab Ishak died of a respiratory condition in December 2020, aged two.

This week, coroner Joanne Kearsley found the cause of death was “chronic exposure to harmful mould” in his family’s flat in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. She said Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH), the housing provider, was not “proactive” in handling the family’s complaints. She asked: “How in the UK in 2020 does a two year old die as a result of exposure to mould?”

RBH’S report and financial statements for the year ending March 2022 showed Gareth Swarbrick, its chief executive, was paid £170,000 a year in 2021.

Documents show he received a pay rise of £15,000 the next year, taking his annual salary to £185,000.

In the House of Commons yesterday, Michael Gove, the Housing Secretary, said he had spoken briefly to Mr Swarbrick and it became clear there were “systemic problems in the governance and leadership of that organisation”.

He said he would “act immediately” on the coroner’s recommendations, adding that RBH’S “repeated failure to heed Awaab’s family’s pleas to remove the mould in their damp-ridden property was a terrible dereliction of duty”.apparent attempts “to attribute the existence of mould to the actions of Awaab’s parents were beyond insensitive and deeply unprofessional”. Mr Gove added that it seemed to him that the family, originally from Sudan, were “victims of prejudice”.

Mr Swarbrick is now facing calls to quit. He has said: “We didn’t recognise the level of risk to a little boy’s health from the mould in the family’s home. We allowed a legal disrepair process, widely used in the housing sector, to get in the way of promptly tackling the mould.”

Mr Swarbrick did not respond to a request for comment regarding his pay rise. An RBH spokesman said: “A conversation has taken place between Mr Swarbrick and Mr Gove. We cannot provide a further comment at this time.”