Agenda item

Yvonne Fox, Assistant Director, Housing Management:

a)    presented Housing Scrutiny Sub-Committee with a quarter 2 report on Performance Indicators for the 2022/23 financial year (April 2022- September 2022), as detailed at Appendix A

b)    explained that over the last 12 years the Council had been working with the Lincoln Tenants Panel to improve external scrutiny and to meet the standards implemented by the Tenant Services Authority.

c)    highlighted that in total there were 21 measures and of those, against agreed targets, 7 were on or exceeding targets for the year (year-end), and 13 had not met the normal targets set

d)    reported that of the 13 measures that did not meet target, 8 of these were within 5% tolerance of their respective targets (amber rating), and one measure didn’t have a target (complaints replied to in line with corporate policy)

e)    referred to Appendix A of the report which attempted to simplify the overall analysis by listing performance on a service functional basis (rents, repairs etc) and then showing the source of the indicator (reason)

f)     provided the committee with some key figures in relation to performance targets as follows:

-       Rent collection was ahead of the 96.5% target. Tenancy Services continued to prioritise the collection of rent to maintain the income stream. The financial pressures tenants were facing were increasingly apparent, and the new Sustainment Team were working with tenants who were struggling financially.

-       The percentage of all priority repairs carried out within the time limit of 1 day was slightly below the target of 99.5%. Since April there were 10 priority repairs completed outside the 24-hour window. Housing Repairs Service (HRS) were continually monitoring the volume of priority repairs and ensuring tickets were closed down when repairs were made safe. The repairs service was experiencing issues with repairs booked in on the Dynamic Resource Scheduling System (DRS) and its links to the Universal Housing IT system (UH) which was being logged manually until the replacement system was in place

-       arrears as a % of the rent debit was currently marginally above target in the month of August with 4.76% achieved. Arrears were normally at their highest at this time of the year with a reduction due at the end of Q3 and Q4 due to the rent-free weeks. Increased numbers of tenants were migrating over to Universal Credit (UC) which increased arrears. The heightened costs of living had also put pressure on households. The national period of mourning almost meant a hiatus in arrears collection which impacted on collection.

-       There was a dip in performance for repairs completed right on first visit in the month of August. Further codes were being added to the system to determine the need for further visits i.e., the need for a secondary trade, insufficient time to complete on the first visit.

-       In terms of % of non-decent homes, at the end of the quarter we had 125 non decent properties which excluded refusals. We had seen a reduction in non-decent properties from the previous month, this was mainly as a result of doors and windows installed in September and all previous failures for chimneys now being resolved

-       The average re-let time for standard dwellings was behind target but had improved compared to the same point last financial year. The voids team had faced an increase in the number of properties post pandemic. Properties had been found in poor condition needing a considerable amount of works and some contractors had struggled to meet this demand due to current market conditions regarding labour shortages in the construction sector. This affected many local authorities. There had also been some delays with asbestos and sign ups trying to accommodate tenants who were struggling to move. The teams were working to bring this closer to target for Q3.

-       There had been a slight reduction in overall re-let times for dwellings including major works from 50.71 days in Quarter 1, although this was still behind target. There had been a high number of transfers this quarter due to the De Wint sign-ups. The team was working to reduce the overall number of days and contractors had placed additional labour into properties where necessary.

-       The complaints tracker continued to be presented at the Director of Housing and Investment’s Extended Departmental Management Team (EDMT) on a monthly basis and any overdue/close to deadline complaints were highlighted to Service Managers on a weekly basis.

g)    welcomed members questions and comments.

Members discussed the report in full, commented/asked questions, and received relevant responses from officers as follows:

·         Comment: There was a need to monitor re-let properties. Lincoln Tenants Panel members had a few suggestions to put on the table.

• Response: Thank you. The average re-let period was impacted by the number of voids occurring due to death being as high as 50%. There was a legal process to be carried out in these sad circumstances and officers were unable to access the properties to carry out pre-inspections.

• Question: Why was the customer contact target for % calls answered within 90 seconds so low at 8.18%?
• Response: This indicator came within the remit of the Customer Services function. The Customer Services Manager had attended the last meeting of this Committee to explain the reasons for the target. The Customer Services Manager would be asked to add more detail to the next quarterly performance report to help members’ understanding of the issues involved.
• Comment: The % calls answered within 90 seconds was low, however, local residents needed to get through to officers who knew the answer to their query.
• Response: The Duty Housing Manager or Housing Solutions Manager were always available to offer assistance and support. Officers urged the public to let them know if they were dissatisfied with the customer service provided.

·         Comment by Mike Asher, LTP Member: He wished to defend the work of Customer Services staff having spent half a day with them. Operatives showed vast knowledge in responding to customer enquiries, and spent valuable time with each client to establish their issues.

·         Question: Were the tenants who left properties in a poor condition without understandable reasons (e.g., frail/elderly clients), expected to offer pay back to the Authority for repairs to be carried out?

·         Response: Each property was inspected and a recharge made if repairs were needed and access to the property was possible. In the case of abandoned properties, a recharge would be made to the former tenant which would remain as a debt to the Council for 7 years. Officers were currently looking at recharge prices conducting a piece of work alongside the Accountancy Team.

·         Question: It was not possible to chase repairs on our on line system. Why was it not updated to reflect repairs still awaited?

·         Response: An appointment was offered to tenants at the time the repair was reported. Clients would know when the work would be scheduled unless in specific cases a longer timescale was involved.

Mick Barber, Chair of LTP, highlighted that performance had improved on complaints responded to on-line. He fully understood the issues being experienced in the Customer Services Team; we needed to secure improved IT systems to see increases to call response times.

Councillor Donald Nannestad, Portfolio Holder for Quality Housing, advised that problems with customer call time responses was also a problem also in other areas of the country/other organisations. The digital repairs system was a trial initiative, it would take out a certain number of calls but was not intended to take out all of them. This area was not within the remit of his portfolio

Mick Barber, Chair of LTP, highlighted the main concern here was not call time, but redirection of calls to achieve a satisfactory response. Modernisation of the system was required to enable a good service to be provided. Hopefully suggestions offered by LTP would be implemented to ease the situation.

Councillor Hewson, Chair, asked whether it was necessary to review the target.

Daren Turner, Strategic Director of Housing and Investment, acknowledged there was an issue with call time responses, and that we needed to find a way to improve the system.

Councillor Hewson, Chair suggested that the Portfolio Holder for Customer Experience and Review, responsible for Customer Services, be invited to attend the next meeting of Lincoln Tenants Panel to give an update, a comment acknowledged by the Chair of LTP.

RESOLVED that:

1.    The Customer Services Manager be requested to add extra detail to the next quarterly performance report to help members’ understanding of the issues involved with performance on the percentage number of calls answered within 90 seconds.

2.    The current performance outcomes during the financial year 2022/23 be noted.