Agenda item - Housing Management Performance Report Quarter 2 2016/17

Report of Executive Director Neighbourhoods, Communities and Housing (copy attached).

(1)            That the report and the comments of the Committee as outlined above be noted.

61.1   The Committee considered a performance report of the Executive Director, Neighbourhoods, Communities & Housing which covered Quarter 2 of the financial year 2016/17.  The report was presented by the Head of Tenancy Services, accompanied by the Business & Performance Manager and Lucas Critchley from Mears Ltd.      

61.2    The Head of Tenancy Services informed members that 34 of the 47 indicators were on target. Six were near to target and 7 were below target. The results for Housing Customer Service were concerning. The target had been 91% and the indicator had dropped to 53%. This issue had been followed up and officers were expecting an improvement, however there was a need to monitor the situation closely.   

61.3    Councillor Bell expressed concern with the number of items below target were about repair work and were connected with the Mears contract. He asked if leaseholders were included within the report.

61.4    Lucas Critchley, Mears Ltd spoke to the committee regarding the number of red and amber results.  He reported that the repairs helpdesk had been a success story over the last two or three years. Unfortunately in quarter 2 there had been a turnover of staff and an experienced staff member had left.  Performance did get back on track very quickly and November & December performance was ahead of target. 

61.5    Councillor Bell reported that he started to receive complaints about six months ago. This had increased and there was a lot of dissatisfaction. He asked if there was a planned strategy that the committee could see.   

61.6   The Chair stated that she understood that there was a planned programme given to tenants that could be passed to members.  The Head of Housing Strategy Property & Investment stated that this information could be shared with members. A workshop on this subject could also be arranged for members.  It had already been agreed to bring a report back to members on the contract as a whole and the overcharge issue. 

61.7    The Business & Performance Manager informed members that leaseholders would use some of the services that were included in the statistics (Customer Services and Estate Services for example).  The statistics were not reported separately. 

61.8    Councillor Druitt raised a concern that in the Housing Revenue Account item earlier members were informed of a saving of £120,000 from responsive repairs.  However, in this report the repairs items scored the worst. Councillor Druitt stated that he was concerned that whilst the council had committed to saving money from the repair bill, there was a mountain to climb to improve the repair programme.  He referred to the small drop in rent collected as proportion of rent due to 98.5%.  He asked why this was the case.  The Business & Performance Manager explained that savings achieved were purely by virtue of fewer repairs being required by having fewer properties in the portfolio as a result of Right to Buy, and investment in capital works.  Meanwhile, the length of time a repair took was something that officers would want to work with Mears to address.  The savings were not at the cost of performance.

61.9    Councillor Druitt asked if there was something written into the service level agreement with Mears Ltd. The Business & Performance Manager explained that the process involved the development of a Service Improvement Plan.  Where targets were missed Mears Ltd were required to improve them in a timely manner.  Lucas Critchley explained that the contract was wide ranging and other areas of the contract had positive results.  Responsive repairs was hugely important but was one part of a very large contract.  He agreed that the focus did need to be on the Key Performance Indicator on average days to complete and there was a great deal of effort going into improving performance. 

61.10  The Head of Tenancy Services explained that the reduction in income collection rate was a small drop.  She stressed the impact of welfare reforms and that families were affected by the benefit cap.  Welfare reforms were a large concern.  Officers wanted to give tenants the best advice and support.

61.11  Councillor Gibson remarked on discrepancies between the Performance report & the Star Survey.  In particular, overall repair satisfaction was 77% in the Star Survey and 95% in the Performance Report.  There was a need to look at this massive discrepancy. The Business & Performance Manager explained that it was not unusual to see differences in the Star Survey and the Performance reports.  The responsive repair indicator was a very immediate result. The last completed repair gave a broader idea of the service. In 2017/18 officers were looking at making more improvements to the ways residents could report online to give a more balanced response.   

61.12  Councillor Mears stated that she was not connected in any way with the Mears contract.  She raised issues around the contract and stated that she had received more complaints regarding repairs from leaseholders.  Councillor Mears stressed that it was the responsibility of the council to monitor repairs and there was a responsibility to ensure value for money for tenants and leaseholders. Councillor Mears referred to page 143 with regard to rent loss due to empty dwellings.  She stressed that these were homes people could live in and this matter should be addressed urgently. The Executive Director, Neighbourhoods, Communities and Housing considered that the result on the quarter was still a good result compared to other areas.  The Head of Tenancy Services stated the performance on void turnaround was good, but she agreed that there was a need to minimise the amount of time a property was empty

61.13  Councillor Hill referred to page 29 of the Star Survey and stressed that results showed that it was much more important that work was done well rather than quickly. She noted that there were no age comparisons in the Star Survey and asked if ARP research could be asked to provide this information.  Councillor Hill referred to issues with the out of hours service.  The Business & Performance Manager replied that the out of hours service for repairs was run by Mears Ltd from one of two national call centres. Call centre staff would have less local knowledge but did have a close relationship with the Brighton & Hove call centre.  

61.14  Councillor Atkinson stated that it had been useful a couple of years ago to sit down with representatives of Mears Ltd to discuss matters of concern.  He concurred with Councillor Bell’s comments.

61.15  Councillor Druitt referred to page 145 – 1.15, Tenant in arrears by amount.  He noted that there were no figures for quarter 2.  The Head of Tenancy Services informed Councillor Druitt that she would provide this information to all members of the Committee.

61.16  RESOLVED:-

(1)            That the report and the comments of the Committee as outlined above be noted.