Issue - meetings

Purpose of the report

To seek approval from Cabinet for the adoption of the updated Repairs and Maintenance Policy, as recommended by the Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting of 14 November 2024.

Decision

1. Approves the adoption of the updated Housing Repairs and Maintenance Policy

2. Delegates authority to the Chief Executive to make minor alterations and amendments to the Policy post adoption as required by changes to regulations and expectations by the Regulator for Social Housing.

Alternative options considered and rejected

To not update the Repairs and Maintenance Policy. This option was discounted for the reasons given in paragraph 2.1 of the report.

Reasons for the decision

The current Repairs and Maintenance Policy had been reviewed and updated to reflect the recommendations made by BDO (the Council’s internal auditors) following an internal audit of the Repairs Service in 2023/24.

The updated Policy included the proposal endorsed by the Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 19 September 2024. It was noted that whilst there were outstanding requests for access to properties to complete essential inspections/surveys, the Council would refuse to undertake non-emergency reactive repairs if tenants were refusing access for essential inspections and surveys.

The updated Policy also addressed the requirement from the Housing Regulator to set out clear timeframes for carrying out reactive repairs.

The Regulator of Social Housing regulates local authorities and housing associations, including setting Consumer Standards which housing providers must follow. Within the Consumer Standards was the Safety and Quality Standard which became effective from April 2024.

Section 3 of the report provided details of the requirements of the safety and quality standard that the Council.

Section 6 of the report provided detail of the consultation that was undertaken with tenants for the adapted policy. Tenants were supportive of the new policy and provided comments regarding the performance of the service which could be summarised into general themes:

-       Length of time for repairs to be completed.

-       Communication.

-       Quality of works.

All concerns have been considered by the Housing team and would be further addressed as part of the service improvement plan. 

A point was raised relating to:

-       Whether clarity would be provided through Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) in the future on housing repairs and maintenance.

As part of the work, several Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) were being drafted and would be considered in the future.