South Kesteven District Council apologises after issue with key fobs leaves Grantham residents locked out of homes

A district council has apologised after an issue with key fobs left some Grantham residents locked out of their homes.

Residents of South Kesteven District Council properties on New Beacon Road were locked out of their homes last week due to a key fob failure.

The issue was raised by district Councillor Charmaine Morgan, with the affected residents including a pregnant woman and a woman with disabilities.

Coun Morgan said: "After some investigation it emerged the fobs had a default setting set to switch off. It had been believed the fobs would be replaced before that date, set over 10 years ago, but they were not.

"This issue affects other sites but SKDC officers hope to preempt issues elsewhere. I escalated this case to Councillor Robert Reid.

"We both feel, to avoid further failure the old fobs should be replaced and not simply reactivated as officers currently plan. A more proactive way of reducing risk is needed.

"It really is quite outrageous that people were locked out of their homes in the freezing cold. Had other tenants not been available to help I dread to think what could have happened."

Coun Morgan explained that the key fobs automatically expired on January 16, and a resident in the block called out emergency repairs at 4am on January 17.

"This would indicate an early hours impact on a resident," continued Coun Morgan.

"This is not the first failure. In August 2021, an electrical issue led to one tenant being locked out for two nights and forced to stay in a hotel.

"I recall old fashioned keys and locks. Perhaps SKDC should consider if the fobs are an acceptable solution if they risk leaving people on the street when they fail and they require physical scanning to clarify ownership which is not efficient.

Charmaine: "It is highly possible other sites have been affected by this issue or will be if old fobs are not replaced. It is totally unacceptable to wait for fob failure before replacing them as is currently planned."

Cabinet member for housing and property, Councillor Robert Reid, said: “We are sorry for any inconvenience caused by this access issue, which was caused by software which cut access after the fobs had been in use for 10 years.

“Our out of hours service attended to enable access to the properties as soon as the fault was reported to us.

“These fobs are regularly replaced, and officers are undertaking checks on all the fobs, working with tenants individually, and assessing their needs around the need to have more than one fob.

“All fobs are now active and fully working and the out-of-hours process covers any instance of failed entry, should this be reported to us."