Agenda item

Daryl Wright, Maintenance Manager:

a)    presented a report to Performance Scrutiny Committee on the financial position of the Housing Repairs Service at the end of 2019/20 financial year.

b)    highlighted that the quarterly monitoring report for the 3^rd quarter predicted a £117,075 surplus outturn for 2019/20. The provisional outturn for 2019/20 showed a trading surplus of £72,487.

c)    explained that the key performance areas that were monitored throughout the year were as follows:

·         The level of tenant satisfaction with repairs that had been carried out.

·         The percentage of all reactive repairs completed within timescale

·         The percentage of emergency repairs completed within timescale

·         The percentage of appointments that were kept

·         The percentage of repairs completed first time

·         The average end-to-end time for all reactive repairs

d)    provided an update on the current situation:

·         Performance in most areas had been maintained this financial year with slight improvements in certain areas, but COVID-19 had seen challenges which had required reactive changes within the department

·         COVID-19 had affected performance in many areas. With limitations on tradespeople working, maintaining social distancing restrictions, home working, conflicting priorities and government changes in guidance issued, the HRS had adapted to meet these challenges and maintain performance.

·         Increased supplier costs, usage and demand for PPE and installing control measures within Hamilton House would also impact financially on the service.

·         The Housing Repairs Service (HRS) had integrated new Assistant Maintenance Team Leaders within the department. They were offering support to Team Leaders, allowing them to review processes and procedures and make small but positive changes to the department.

·         The HRS had started a scheduled repair pilot to carry out Day to Day repairs which was showing many benefits while maintaining service delivery. This would be reviewed at the end of January 2021. Early indications were that the changes to procedures were having a wide range of positives in terms of both financial and service delivery.

·         The HRS had continued to carry out a large amount of work around ensuring the service was compliant with current and upcoming regulations, including the appointment of a Team Leader to specifically manage compliance streams of work such as BM-Trada (fire door accreditation). This would ensure that HRS were able to continue re-assurance to the authority and customers that items, such as fire safety, were managed proactively while allowing work that usually required external contractors to be carried out.

·         Over the last year, HRS had started to carry out several procurement exercises to conclude in 2021. Two of these related to the departments’ biggest HRS hold, fleet and material suppliers. A new material supplier would come into effect as of the 4^th April and the introduction of a new fleet would aim to be greener and more efficient which helped towards the Council’s climate goals.

e)    invited members’ comments and questions.

Comment: Performance Scrutiny Committee wanted to give their thanks to the Housing Teams for all their work since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Question: Members asked why there were more repairs completed in April compared to other months and why the number of repairs completed first time had slipped?

Response: Emergency repairs were generally weather related due to the time of year and weather dependant. There were some issues regarding supply chains such as window production, which led to first time repairs slipping.

RESOLVED that the progress made on performance and efficiency by the Housing Repairs Service be noted.