Agenda item

To consider how the Housing Landlord Service is performing on responsive repairs and planned maintenance (report of the Assistant Director – Housing enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director – Housing which asked members to consider how the Housing Landlord Service was performing on responsive repairs and planned maintenance.

The Housing Property and Repairs Manager, the Assistant Director – Housing and the Portfolio Holder for Strategic and Operational Housing were in attendance for this item.

In addition, two representatives from the Regulator of Social Housing, Rachael Walsh and James Brookfield, observed the item via Teams.

The report was introduced by the Housing Property and Repairs Manager, and included the following main areas:

• Background and approach to covering the repairs service;
• Responsive repairs: including the number of repairs completed to end of January 2025 by the in-house team and external contractors, and performance against target timeframes;
• Voids: including performance against the targets for void days;
• Planned repairs and maintenance: performance of the capital program had been identified as an area of priority;
• Benchmarking performance;
• Tenant satisfaction;
• Continuous improvement and learning;
• Tenant oversight;
• The link between the stock condition survey and the compliance information and how these informed service improvement and business planning.

Members considered the report and made the following comments:

• Members were encouraged by that 100 % of emergency repairs had been attended within target times but queried the target differential of 8 hours if reported within a working day to 4 hours if reported outside of office hours.
  • The Housing Property and Repairs Manager responded that the targets were a legacy issue from existing/previous policies however, alongside other targets, these would be reviewed as part of the transformational work.

• Members welcomed the improved voids performance and the results of the associated benchmarking exercise.

• Members queried when a void period commenced. Was this when the property was vacated or when the council was made aware that the property was to be vacated.
  • The Housing Property and Repairs Manager responded that the property became void when the keys were handed back however preparatory work commenced during the ‘notice to quit’ stage.

• Members referred to the table at point 2.7 and queried the lower performance of external contractors.
  • The Housing Property and Repairs Manager responded that external contractors dealt with the more major repairs, such as roofing repairs. As such, these repairs often involved complex processes, such as the installation of scaffold, completion of which was beyond the control of the contractor. Nonetheless, the performance monitoring processes of external contractors was to be reviewed.

• Members referred to the improvements planned for 2025/26, outlined at point 7.6 of the report, and queried the human resource cost implications that would be required to undertake the work. A number of vacancies existed in key areas.
  • The Assistant Director – Housing responded that:
    • Three additional posts (a Tenant Engagement and Influence Lead, an Anti-social Behaviour Lead and a Data and Insight Lead) had been accounted for and were due to commence at the start of the 2025/26 financial year:;
    • The extension of the Housing Transformation Programme had been supported which included dedicated posts (a Housing Transformation Manager and two Housing Transformation Officers);
    • Some elements of work would be picked up under ‘business as usual’ arrangements of the service; and
    • A financial reset for the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) had been undertaken during 2024/25, and the reset budget figures had been carried forward to 2025/26 to ensure that resources were available as needs were identified. 
  • The Portfolio Holder for Strategic and Operational Housing added that where additional resource needs were identified, such as for the complaints work and the transformation programme, these had been addressed at the right time.

• Members referred to the Cabinet recommendations on page 161 of the agenda pack and queried whether the issue regarding maintenance for heating systems resulted from a common cause.
  • The Housing Property and Repairs Manager would investigate the query and report back to the committee.

• Members referred to table 4.7, and queried the ‘not applicable’ response to the number of projects planned for disabled aids and adaptations.
  • The Housing Property and Repairs Manager responded that ‘disabled aids and adaptations’ was a reactive programme and relied on applications being submitted to the Council.

• Members referred to point 4.7 of the report regarding the establishment of the Capital Programme Clinic and queried when this would be set up and who would be involved.
  • The Assistant Director – Housing responded that:
    • The Capital Programme Clinic was to be added to the existing governance arrangements of the Compliance Clinic which comprised:
      • The Assistant Director – Housing, as Chair;
      • The Portfolio Holder for Strategic and Operational Housing;
      • A representative from the Senior Leadership Team, which was expected to be the Director of Communities going forward; and
      • Relevant officers according to presented reports.
    • The inclusion of external contractor attendance at the Capital Programme Clinic was being considered;
    • The Terms of Reference for the Capital Programme Clinic was currently being drafted and the clinic was expected to be established within the next two months.

• Members stated that Performance Indicators were required so that the Performance Monitoring Panel could scrutinise performance against targets on an ongoing basis.

AGREED:

a)     That the Housing Landlord Service’s performance in delivering responsive repairs and programmed maintenance be noted;  and

b)     Performance Indicators were required so that the Performance Monitoring Panel could scrutinise performance against targets on an ongoing basis.