Agenda item

The Committee received the Housing Performance data up to the end of February 2026; each area was presented by the relevant Housing Officer.

 

Repairs Call Handling

 

The Head of Technical Services, stated that the performance in this area was on target.

 

Reactive Repairs – All Repairs

 

The overdue number of repairs had significantly reduced from 2276 in March 2025 to 1264 in February 2026.  Emergency Repairs were a key priority and were always prioritised and completed.  There had been a strong performance in emergency repairs, however non-emergency repairs were below target.

 

The target to complete repairs was reducing form 40 days to 31 days which matched feedback from tenants that the Council was delivering a faster repairs service.

 

Reactive Repairs In-house

 

Members were informed that two thirds of repairs were delivered by in-house Teams.  Emergency repairs performance was healthy with action plans in place behind each area.  Non-emergency repairs needed to improve performance and work was being done to maximise productivity with jobs being booked at the right time with better diary management.

 

Reactive Repairs - Sureserve

 

It was stated that emergency repairs were key, especially in respect of heating and Sureserve performed well in respect of emergency repairs.  In respect of non-emergency repairs the Council was working closely with all reactive repairs contractors to make sure appointments were being received and that the data was being inputted into the Council’s systems so assurances could be given in respect of jobs completed and there was tighter contract management control.

 

Reactive Repairs - Other contractors

 

More focus was being taken in respect of the contract management for the Council’s three main contractors and that systems were updated with appointments and work completed to improve performance in areas which were currently shown as red.

 

Damp and Mould

 

Inspections were ahead of target and overdue repairs had reduced down to 53.  Managing appointments better would help bring the non-emergency repairs figures down and this area was currently being focused on.  The average time taken to complete non-emergency repairs was reducing significantly down to 22 days.

 

Voids

 

Management of voids was a head of target with the average void time on all voids down to 55 days. The target that had been set for the year was 80 days, going forward the proposed target for next year was 60 days.  Benchmarking against Housemark put the Council in the medium quartile.

 

Customer Satisfaction

 

Customer satisfaction in respect of repairs was green although the figures had dropped slightly.  The target for next year would be raised as the service needed to keep improving.

 

Planned Works

 

Planned works fed in to how satisfied a tenant was with the condition of their home.  At the end of February 72% of planned works had been completed.  Validation surveys had been completed which had slowed work down.  Work was now being balanced against the budgets available to maximum the work that could be delivered against the budget available.  It was hoped that the numbers would increase from 72% by the end of the financial year.

 

The Head of Technical Services, gave assurances that all non-decent properties would be completed.

 

Asset Management 

 

Work was being undertaken to make sure all properties were decent by the end of the financial year.  Currently there were 12 outstanding properties were there was no data and stock condition surveys were being carried out.

 

Decarbonisation work in respect of decent homes was continuing to improve the EPC rating to C or above.

 

Stock Condition Survey

 

The percentage of properties with a stock condition survey completed within five years stood at 95% which was over the target of 90%.  Three attempts to access properties were made before support from Housing to gain access was requested. Of the number of properties with a survey over five years old 155 of the total figure were down to access issues with the property.  Although the percentage of the programmed annual stock surveys were shown as red these were increasing towards the target.  Any properties that were unable to have a survey completed this year would be programmed for the following year.  There were no category 1 health and safety surveys outstanding.

 

The Chairman thanked the Officer for the great work being undertaken especially in respect of voids.

 

One Member questioned why non-emergency repairs were below target and the reason for this to which the Head of Technical Services, stated it was a combination of budget constraints, new contractors being appointed and contract management of diaries.  Reference was made to the recent Repairs and Management Policy that had been introduced which created a delay especially with backlogged repairs.  The Head of Technical Services, assured the Committee that the average time for repairs was reducing.

 

A further question was asked in respect of repeat visits regarding the same repairs, how were these managed and monitored and budget implications. It was stated that any financial risk was worked through in collaboration with the Finance Team and these would be reported to the Finance and Economic OSC.

 

The Head of Technical Services, stated that quality assessments were carried out and also feedback from the tenant satisfaction surveys were taken into account in respect of repair work.

 

Further questions were asked about identified issues, had damp and mould issues increased, were apprentices being trained in house to help with any deficit in skills to which both the Director of Housing and Projects and the Head of Technical Services, replied.  A further question was asked in respect of emergency repairs and the lead in time to which the Head of Technical Services, responded that emergency repairs were prioritised within 24 hours and dealt with to make safe.

 

The Chairman thanked the Head of Technical Services, and their team for the work undertaken in respect of repairs.

 

Allocations and Lettings Call Handling

 

The Head of Housing stated that the percentage of call handling was consistently over the 80% target.

 

Housing Options

 

There had been an increase in the number of people in temporary accommodation which was in line with the number of new homelessness approaches.  A piece of work was being undertaken to look at the numbers of rough sleepers and how to better engage with them as often they had a number of complex needs.

 

The Change4Lincs funding would be ending at the end of March 2026.  Two new Outreach Support Workers would be appointed to support the homelessness and rough sleeper function specifically within the South Kesteven area.

 

Allocations

 

There had been a rise in the number of complete housing register applications waiting for assessment, the oldest application waiting assessment was dated January 2026. Although the number shown was 304 it was stated that this would include applications that had missing information that had been requested.

 

Offers made during the month had increased in February with properties being advertised increasing since December 2025.  Overall it was a positive picture. 

 

Bedroom need by Band as at 16 March 2026

 

Demand remained for one bedroom accommodation and the Council worked with partners, the private sector and HMO’s to help to accommodate this demand.

 

Tenancy Management

 

Reference was made to the Anti-Social Behaviour figures (ASB) and the results received from the Tenant Satisfaction Survey in which ASB had scored low.  Tackling ASB was a complex area and the Action Plan looked at how this areas was being addressed.

 

Bench marking was carried out against other authorities in respect of performance in this area with the number of cases stable. Due to the change in Right to Buy (RTB) legislation in respect of discounts, the number of applications remained low to non-existent.

 

Tenancy checks at six weeks and nine months remained over target and there had been no evictions in January and February.  The number of MESNE accounts were down to seven.

 

The Chairman thanked the Officer and her team for the work undertaken in this area.

 

One Member asked about the location for where properties were most requested and the Head of Service, Housing stated that this was something that could be looked at and brought before the Committee.

 

Ø Action

 

To include the location of where accommodation was requested the most.

 

A further question was asked about the process when applying on line to which the Head of Housing replied.  The Director of Housing and Projects indicated that temporary support was available to help with capacity in respect of the number of outstanding applications.

The Cabinet Member for Housing stated that unfortunately tenants did not  regularly check the portal to see if further information was required for them to submit which held up Officers progressing applications.

 

Further discussion followed about support in place to help support completion of an application on the portal.

 

One Member asked where the most amount of rough sleepers tended to be located.  The Head of Housing indicated that this varied between Grantham, Stamford and Bourne and a piece of work was being undertaken in respect of rough sleeper location.

 

Further discussion followed about communication and contact with rough sleepers to which the Head of Housing responded.

 

The Chairman asked whether the upcoming Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) had been instrumental in the changes to Change4Lincs.  It was stated that the decision regarding the changes in the Change4Lincs set up had been made prior to LGR.  It was noted that there had been a lot of changes since the Change4Lincs service was first implemented seven years ago and demands and the service delivery was shaped more now by local needs than the previous model.

 

Housing Compliance

 

Legionella, Asbestos, FRA and Smoke/Co remained at 100%.  There had been a gradual increase in compliance in respect of EICR. Currently gas now stood at 27 non-compliant properties with 13 of these properties having appointments scheduled within the next eight days. 

 

Compliance – FRA Remedial Actions

 

Since the report had been written there were now 69 medium outstanding items and 242 low outstanding items.  The number of gas remedial actions stood at 43, these were low level remedials not category 1 or 2 levels.

 

There was a huge amount of work that went on in the background to bring the remedial actions to a close.

 

A question was asked about the safety aspect of the work to which the Head of Service (Health & Safety, Emergency Planning and Housing Compliance) replied.

 

Members noted the report.

 

 

(An adjournment took place between 3:45 – 4:01)