Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 11 March 2024 be confirmed and signed by the Chair as a true record.

Please note that, in accordance with the Members' Code of Conduct, when declaring interests members must disclose the existence and nature of the interest, and whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) or personal and/or pecuniary.

Councillor Pat Vaughan declared a Personal Interest with regard to the agenda item titled 'Performance Monitoring Report Quarter 4 - 2023/24'.

Reason: His daughter worked in the Benefits Department at City of Lincoln Council. 

Councillor Pat Vaughan declared a Personal Interest with regard to the agenda item titled 'Housing Financial Performance - Outturn 2023/24'.

Reason: His granddaughter worked in the Finance Section at City of Lincoln Council.

RESOLVED that the order of business be amended to allow the ‘Directorate of Housing and Investment Compliance Report’ to be considered as the next agenda item

Martin Kerrigan, Fire Safety Assurance Manager:

a.    presented an update to Housing Scrutiny Sub-Committee on City of Lincoln Council’s (CoLC’s) position in respect of building safety compliance of Housing stock as detailed at Appendix A to the officer’s report

b.    reported that Lincoln Tenants Panel (LTP) were consulted on the compliance report at its meeting on 11/07/2024; no significant comments were received

c.     advised that the Director of Housing and Investment (DHI) Compliance report gave a summary of the key areas of health and safety compliance in DHI property stock for 2023-2024; each area of compliance was introduced with a short narrative on the current position with any compliance mitigations, and concluded with recommendations and comments on issues and successes

d.    highlighted that following this initial report, members would be updated at more regular intervals, according to their preference, in order to monitor compliance

e.    detailed within the report, information on compliance performance to provide the Director (DHI) with knowledge on our landlord responsibilities over a range of building safety measures to give an oversight and input into the following essential services:

·       Fire Safety

·       Electrical Safety

·       Water Safety (Legionella)

·       Asbestos Management

·       Gas Safety

·       Lifts

f.      stated that Radon would be added to future compliance reports for monitoring purposes

g.    reported that overall performance would be shown by percentage of compliance and Risk Advisory Group (RAG) rated to enable measurement of improvement and keep the Director informed of highlighted risk; to allow for comment, direction and action

h.    identified the top three issues related to building safety compliance:

·       Building Safety Case for each high-rise tower block outstanding and needed completing.

·       Lack of Asbestos Management of low-rise communal areas due to annual re inspections of known Asbestos Containing Materials (ACM’s) outstanding.

·       Fire Door Inspection Programme in relatively early stages.

i.      invited members questions and comments.

Members discussed the content of the report in further detail.

Questions and comments received were responded to by officers as follows:

Question: Could officers provide figures on the number of Council properties containing asbestos?

Response: Asbestos issues were dealt with as and when properties became void. There would be ongoing issues with some properties due to the nature of their age. If there was no reason for asbestos to be disturbed, it could be left in place. Builds post 20^th century would be asbestos free. Officers would report back to members separately with figures on the cost to the Council of the asbestos contract.

Comment: Officers were commended on such an excellent report.

Question: Before properties were purchased were they checked for potential gas issues/asbestos etc?

Response: The seller was asked for any relevant information. A financial assessment of the costs to bring the property up to our standards was carried out prior to purchase. The business case for each property was checked by our Finance team.

Comment: Housing Scrutiny Sub-Committee preferred to receive a six-monthly update report on building safety compliance within its housing stock.

Response: A six-monthly  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Mick Barber, Chair of Lincoln Tenants Panel (LTP), provided a written report highlighting the Panel’s continued work on a variety of projects with tenancy services, fire safety assurance, maintenance, business management and resident involvement teams. The briefing note, designed as a regular update to members of Housing Scrutiny Sub-Committee, covered the following areas:

·       LTP continued to work with tenancy services, fire safety assurance, maintenance, business management and resident involvement on a variety of projects and held monthly meetings, weekly void inspections, quarterly complaints and ASB complaint reviews.

·       LTP had created additional working groups focusing on the building safety engagement strategy action plan, reviewed, and made recommendations on City of Lincoln Council Pet Policy, Tenancy Agreement, Rent & Garage Review, Aids & Adaptations, Complaints Policy Review and Unacceptable Actions Policy.

·       Mick Barber continued to attend Social Housing Quality Network Panel, Association of Retained Council Housing (ARCH) committee meetings.

·       All members of LTP had attended the following training and seminars hosted by Four Million Homes and Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS). LTP were also attending the annual ARCH conference in October.

Ø  Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

Ø  Housing policy & regulation

Ø  How to make an effective complaint

Ø  Strategic thinking and working

Ø  How to run an effective residents’ association

Ø  Know your rights to engage and be heard

Ø  New standards for social housing

·       The Vice Chair and a member of LTP attended North Kesteven District Council’s (NKDC) Tenant Advisory Panel (TAP) committee meeting to share best practices. LTP had arranged to hold a joint training session on equality and diversity, scrutiny, consumer standards and understanding tenant satisfaction measures data with NKDC TAP

·       In May LTP attended an awareness seminar delivered by the stop loan sharks liaise officer for Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, and Nottinghamshire

RESOLVED that the content of the report be noted.

Michelle Hoyles, Business Manager, Corporate Policy:

a)    presented Housing Scrutiny Sub-Committee with a report on performance indicators for the Directorate of Housing and Investment (DHI) for Quarter 4 of 2023/24 (January – March)

b)    confirmed that following consultation with Lincoln Tenant’s Panel it had no comments on the content of the report

c)    added that regular monitoring of the Council’s performance was a key component of the Local Performance Management Framework and supported its ongoing commitment to continuous improvement of Council services

d)    explained that this report provided an overview of the Council’s performance against performance indicators monitored by the Directorate of Housing and Investment (DHI), and covered those measures related to the Council’s responsibility as a landlord

e)    confirmed that there were a total of twenty-one performance indicators monitored by DHI; an overview of performance for the fourth and final quarter of 2023/24 against such indicators, was attached at Appendix A to the report

f)     highlighted that for the first time benchmarking comparisons were provided within Appendix A where available, which would be provided annually each fourth quarter

g)    reported that performance ‘direction of travel’ information was also included to aid interpretation of how performance had changed for each measure year-on-year

h)    reported that of the 21 measures in total; in quarter four, eleven had met or exceeded their agreed target, three had performed close to target, six had performed below target and one was volumetric; this included three year-end measures related to Housing Revenue Account (HRA) expenditure on responsive and programme maintenance, and decent homes

i)      highlighted the key conclusions drawn from Appendix A as detailed at paragraphs 5-10 of the officer’s repot

j)      invited comments and questions from Members of the Committee.

Members discussed the content of the report in further detail, commented, asked questions and received relevant responses from officers as follows:

Question: It was pleasing to see Denise Raine from Acuity Research and Practice joining us shortly via vide link this evening, whose services had been procured to report on Tenant Satisfaction Measures as part of the Social Housing Regulation Act. It would be helpful to compare results with other local authorities using a similar process.

Response: Benchmarking data was compared with Housemark and other social housing providers which included local authorities. Comparisons were not always useful in some circumstances as contrasting providers had different stock and not all social providers were members of Housemark.

Question: Were other authorities setting different targets? We needed to benchmark against the best housing providers in the housing sector.

Response: Performance was measured by where we sat in the table rankings As one example of how Housemark benchmarkingoperated; it ranked each local authority on rent loss and set quartiles for these rankings.

Our performance was high compared against other local authorities in voids management, however, as we set higher personal targets for this reason we were showing as red.

Comment: In terms of performance indicator 37 ‘% repair appointments kept against appointments made for priority and urgent  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Michelle Hoyles, Business Manager, Corporate Policy:

a.    reported on performance against the National Regulator of Social Housing’s Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSM’s) for the year 2023/24, in order to propose key areas of focus for the Directorate of Housing and Investment (DHI) over the coming year to further improve tenant satisfaction based on these key findings

b.    confirmed that following consultation with Lincoln Tenant’s Panel it had no comments on the content of the report

c.     advised that the national Regulator of Social Housing’s Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) came into force in April 2023, as part of the Social Housing Regulation Act, in April 2024 these were incorporated into the Regulator’s Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard, with some minor changes made

d.    highlighted the purpose of TSM’s to ensure openness and transparency among social housing providers; specifically, how they treated tenants with fairness and respect so they could access services, raise complaints, influence decision making and hold their landlord to account

e.    added that landlords were also required to understand the diverse needs of their tenants; engage with them, take their views into account when making decisions; communicate with their tenants, provide information; and encourage effective scrutiny

f.      explained that the TSM’s were in two parts:

7. referred to Appendix A of the report which contained performance data for the Council’s TSM’s, the services of Acuity Research and Practice were procured to undertake the tenant perception survey element on its behalf

8. further outlined the background to the Tenant Satisfaction Measures Annual Report 2023/24, covering the following areas:

Ø  Tenant Perception Measures

Ø  Management Information Measures

8. • Other Findings
   • Conclusion - Key Drivers of Tenant Satisfaction
9. referred to three additional questions the Council chose to ask tenants as detailed within section 7 of the report and key areas of focus for the coming year following Acuity’s analysis and findings as detailed within section 8 of the officer’s report

10. invited members comments and review of the content of the report, following a short video briefing on the key findings of the tenant perception survey conducted by Acuity Research and Practice.

Denise Raine, representing Acuity Research and Practice gave a short power point representation on the key findings of the tenant perception survey, covering the following main subject areas:

·       2023/24 TSM Survey

Ø  Aims

Ø  What we Did

Ø  Going Forward

·       Last Year’s Results- National Context

Ø  Overall Tenant Satisfaction – 71%

·       Keeping Properties in Good Repair

·       Responsible Neighbourhood Management

·       Respectful and Helpful Engagement

·       Net Promoter Question

Ø  How Likely to Recommend Services to Others

·       Cost of Living

·       Key Driver Analysis

·       Benchmarking - Acuity Clients

·       Summary

·       Remedies and Next Steps

Members discussed the content of the report and key findings from the tenant perception survey in further detail.

Daren Turner, Director of Housing and Investment noted that in terms  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Laura Shipley, Finance Services Manager:

a)    presented the provisional 2023/24 financial outturn position on the Council’s revenue and capital budgets, including

·       Housing Revenue Account

·       Housing Repairs Service

·       Housing Investment Programme

b)    highlighted that the report provided Housing Scrutiny Sub-Committee (HSSC) with a summary of actual income and expenditure compared to the revised budget and how any surpluses had been allocated/were proposed to be allocated to reserves

c)    advised that the financial housing outturn was still subject to Audit by KPMG, the Council’s external auditors

d)    provided information on the Council’s

·       Housing Revenue Account –– For 2023/24 the Council’s Housing Revenue Account (HRA) net revenue budget was set with a planned contribution from balances of £58,930, resulting in an estimated level of general balances at year-end of £1,125,516, after allowing for the 2022/23 outturn position. At Quarter 3 the HRA predicted a forecast overspend of £13,787. The provisional outturn for 2023/24 now indicated an improvement of £19,515, resulting in an overall budget underspend of £5,728 (including additional transfers to earmarked reserves). This would result in HRA balances as at 31 March 2024 of £1,131,244 which would result in HRA balances of £1,111,730 as at the end of 2023/24 (Appendix A provided a forecast Housing Revenue Account summary). There was a number of significant variations in income and expenditure. Full details of the main variances were provided at Appendix B.

·       Housing Repairs Service – For 2023/24 the Council’s Housing Repairs Service (HRS) net budget was set at zero, which reflected its full cost recovery nature. The outturn for 2023/24 showed the HRS had a deficit of £288,844, an improvement of £263,218 since Quarter 3, which was repatriated to the HRA. Appendix C provided a forecast HRS summary with full details of the main variances provided at Appendix D.

·       Housing Investment Programme – The revised programme for 2023/24 amounted to £16.120m following the Quarter 3 position. At Quarter 4 the programme had been decreased by £1.388m to £14.732m as shown at paragraph 7.2 of the report. The table at paragraph 7.6 provided a summary of the projected outturn position for the Housing Investment Programme (HIP). The overall expenditure on the HIP for the final quarter of 2023/24 was £14.732m, which was 91.3% of the budget. as detailed at Appendix G of the report.

e)    invited Housing Sub-Committees questions and comments.

Members of Housing Scrutiny Sub-Committee considered the content of the report in further detail. Clarification was sought and received that all aids and adaptations costs were repatriated to the HRA.

RESOLVED that the provisional 2023/24 financial outturn for the Housing Revenue Account, Housing Repairs Service and Capital Programme as set out in sections 3-6 of the officer’s report, and in particular the reasons for any variances be noted.

Marianne Upton, Tenancy Services Manager:

a.    presented a review of the Income Management and Arrears Policy (previously Rent Arrears Recovery Policy) document in order to highlight changes, as detailed at Appendix A to her report

b.    confirmed that following consultation with Lincoln Tenant’s Panel it had agreed with the revised policy in general terms, with comments as follows:

·       LTP would like to see some more information on the outcomes of the Eviction Prevention Panel as referenced in the document.

·       LTP would like to see review information on performance in 6-months’ time  of the pilot structure incorporating a dedicated Rent Team.

·       LTP would like to work on how we sustained tenancies, particularly for first time tenants and for people who were being resettled from other types of accommodation.

·       There would need to be further work around what made up the total amount of arrears, and this would include considering any arrears coming from “bedroom tax” and a working group to review the Downsizing Scheme pilot.

c.     reported that all references to legislation and guidance had been updated, the revised policy had no significant changes to its content and purpose, although it had been re-written in a clearer format with the more procedural elements removed

d.    highlighted that it was proposed to look at further work on the technical aspects of income collection, that did not impact on the content of this policy later this financial year

e.    invited comments on the content of the report.

RESOLVED that the contents of the revised Income Management and Arrears Policy be noted.

Marianne Upton, Tenancy Services Manager:

a.    presented the Reviewed Pet Policy document to Committee in order to highlight changes, as detailed at Appendix A to her report

b.    reported on the involvement of LTP in this area of work with the creation of a sub-group to review the existing policy and research best practice and policy amongst other local housing providers

c.     advised that the sub-group provided amendments to the policy document and made suggestions about making it easier to read, providing. examples of information from other organisations that they found easy to engage with

d.    emphasised that the sub-group had been fundamental in the inclusion of information about Medical Assistance Dogs and Emotional Support animals and recognising the importance of animals in supporting tenants with their wellbeing

e.    highlighted that a report was presented to Housing Scrutiny-Sub Committee on 1 February 2024 to highlight the intention to fully review the Pet Policy following a new Dangerous Dogs ban and because it had not been reviewed since 2013

f.      confirmed that LTP were satisfied that the attached Policy met legislation and the needs of our tenants

g.    outlined the proposed amendments to the policy as detailed at paragraph 4 of the report, which made clear reference to current and future banned breeds with exemptions and how the council would respond to them, together with information on supporting the health and well-being of tenants, adding clarification to our approach on Medical Assistance Dogs and Emotional Support animals

h.    invited comments from Members on the content of the report.

Members received clarification from officers that all domestic cats must be chipped in addition to dogs and that this was incorporated into the policy.

RESOLVED that the contents of the Pets Policy be noted.

Marianne Upton, Tenancy Services Manager:

1. presented a new Neighbourhood Management Policy to members as detailed at Appendix A to her report

2. explained that this policy only applied to c.7,800 properties which were owned and managed by City of Lincoln Council and the areas Housing were responsible for throughout the city

3. emphasised that this was a statement of intent, an ‘umbrella’ Policy that signposted a number of specific delivery policies to determine how we provided services

d.    confirmed that following consultation with Lincoln Tenant’s Panel the following comments had been received:

·       LTP had agreed with the policy in principle and understood that it represented an overall umbrella for other policies and procedures.

·       LTP would like to be involved in a piece of work on a separate policy looking at handling noise issues and communal living.

·       The approach in the policy needed to be linked to work being done on ASB procedures. It needed to align with this process and the Allocations process.

·       The panel were happy to work with officers on the policies and procedures that feed directly into this policy, such as grounds maintenance, untidy gardens and communal areas.

5. advised that this policy met the requirements of the Social Housing Regulator, specifically the Consumer Standards: Neighbourhood and Community, Safety and Quality, and Transparency, Influence and Accountability (including the Tenant Satisfaction Measures)

6. reported that these Standards included required outcomes that neighbourhoods and communal areas associated with homes were clean and safe, reinforcing our aims to ensure that neighbourhoods were attractive, clean and safe places to live, work and socialise in

7. highlighted that it was a recommendation of the Housing Ombudsman’s “Spotlight on noise complaints – time to be heard” report that social housing landlords should have a neighbourhood management policy distinct from their ASB policy, and procedures in place for triaging neighbourhood management issues through early intervention and creating an environment that was attractive, clean and safe

8. invited feedback from members on the content of the report/policy.

Mick Barber, Chair of LTP commended officers on a good piece of work and looked forward to further engagement of the Panel in progressing the policy forward.

Members discussed the content of the report in further detail.

Further clarification was requested on the meaning of a proposed policy on noise issues as suggested by LTP.

Mick Barber, Chair of LTP highlighted that noise covered so many different areas and should be examined in greater detail in order that tenant’s quality of life was maintained. For example, it may be the case that noise was considered a nuisance when the cause was people talking louder as they were hard of hearing.

Maranne Upton, Tenancy Services Officer also noted that an Ombudsman report stated that domestic noise should be looked at differently.

Members asked how obnoxious odours should be dealt with.

Marianne Upton explained that it was a matter of managing complaints regarding any high level of consistent smells and how we interacted together in communal spaces.

Members asked whether industrial smells were included in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

Marianne Upton, Tenancy Services Manager:

1. presented a report to provide information to Members on a pilot structure being implemented in Tenancy Services

2. reported that the Tenancy Services Team worked generically with all Area Housing Officers, Housing Officers and Housing Assistants covering all aspects of housing and estate management for a geographical “patch” , split into 3 smaller teams in north, south and central areas of the city

3. highlighted the purpose of this pilot to improve the service to tenants; the Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) report highlighted much lower satisfaction among tenants about how Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) was managed, making it very clear that managing ASB needed to be priority, which required dedicated Officers with enhanced skills and knowledge to focus on it

4. explained that the pilot structure would help to remove the conflicting responsibilities within team roles, and respond to feedback from staff that  were trying to manage such a wide variety of tasks, and unable to always give them their full attention

5. added that the pilot would enable staff to focus on specific areas of their role with the capacity to fully manage their work to an even higher standard, rather than needing to respond to all aspects of housing and estate management

6. outlined full details of the pilot structure which came into force on 15 July 2024, which involved the team splitting into three smaller teams, Rents, ASB and Tenancy and Estate Management; officers would still retain geographical ‘patches’ within their specialism for tenants to keep a named point of contact to get in touch

7. reported that all staff within the team remained on their original job description as this was a pilot structure to be reviewed after 6 months; it also allowed flexibility to meet the needs of the service as staff could be moved between teams if there were peaks in workload to be managed

8. highlighted that new email addresses and phone numbers were being set up for each area of the team so that tenants could easily contact the right specialist team and new contact details circulated internally to officers and Members

9. advised that all procedures for the team would be reviewed during the pilot period to maximise the opportunity for service improvements for tenants

10. confirmed that the pilot review would be completed in six months’ time by 15 January 2025

11. welcomed Members feedback on the content of the report.

Members discussed the content of the report in further detail.

Members commented as follows:

·       It was pleasing to see the introduction of a new team dedicated to anti-social behaviour. Thanks were given for the work already done in the Ward.

·       The pilot structure was forward thinking and members were looking forward to working with the three teams.

Members asked:

·       Question: If officers were approached with an anti-social behaviour complaint, would they initially request the complainant to talk amicably with the tenant to try to resolve the problem?

·       Response: New procedures were being put together. Each problem would be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

The Senior Democratic Services Officer:

a.    presented the work programme for Housing Scrutiny Sub-Committee for 2024/25 as detailed at Appendix A of the report

b.    highlighted that this work programme could be further populated in accordance with Housing Scrutiny Sub-Committees requests for topics of discussion and areas of preferred scrutiny to be used as a working document, added to or amended at members discretion at any time during the 2024/25 Municipal Year

c.    confirmed that the work programme included those areas for scrutiny linked to the strategic priorities of the Council and themed housing matters, to ensure that the work of this committee was relevant and proportionate.

RESOLVED that the content of the Work Programme for 2024/25 be noted, subject to the addition of the following agenda topic:

·       A six monthly update be presented on Building Safety Compliance: focussed on three of the 6 ‘key’ areas each six month period, to give an understanding of performance for all safety measures over the whole year.