Social housing landlords have been told they can save £1.8 million by outsourcing their maintenance work.

A new study by strategy consultants Credo has revealed that just 60 per cent of social housing maintenance is currently being completed to private sector construction companies.

This saves the industry an estimated £1.1 billion a year but Credo sources suggest that this could be more than doubled by outsourcing all of their maintenance work.

This would allow local authorities to build more houses and create more public sector housing jobs, they say.

Speaking to The Construction Enquirer, Credo principal consultant Dineshi Ramesh claimed that housing associations would soon take advantage of this tremendous opportunity for growth.

He said: "In recent times, local authorities and housing associations have shown greater caution in moving to bolder forms of outsourcing, this is an understandable but, we think, temporary effect.

"As their financial situation becomes clearer, housing managers and chief executives can turn their attention to how they can get a slice of the savings offered by outsourcing."

A recent article in The Financial Times explained that the recession has resulted in many local councils outsourcing a lot of their roles, although social housing appears to be an area which is trailing behind.