Agenda item

This report seeks to update Committee on actions to ensure regulatory compliance of the Council’s social housing landlord function following the non-compliance notice issued by the Regulator of Social Housing.

 

The Acting Director of Housing presented the report.

 

The Committee were aware that the Chief Executive determined, in consultation with the Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning, to self-refer the Council to the Regulator of Social Housing. Since this referral Officers have been providing further data and details relating to the core issues of non-compliance for the Regulator to consider and review.

 

The Committee had now received eleven update reports since March 2021 that have confirmed the Regulatory Notice served on the Council and provided an outline of the work that officers would continue to ensure we logically and methodically progress through a programme of improvement.

 

Updating Tenants and Members:

 

Following on from previous briefings, further All Member Briefings will be arranged to ensure Members are fully informed on progress and continued challenges.

 

As reported to the Committee’s meeting in June 2022, a full tenant consultation exercise has been undertaken – “The Big Listen”. This involved several questions on both the current experience of tenants in terms of the services the Council offers as a landlord, and what they would like to see prioritised in the Housing Revenue Account Business Plan, which will require a complete review in 2022/23. The questions were based on the Regulator of Social Housing’s proposed Tenant Satisfaction Measures and the initial report was provided to Committee in the meeting on 23 June 2022.

 

We commit to an ongoing programme of regular costed building condition surveys to inform a proactive, planned maintenance programme and reduce the need for more expensive reactive repairs.

 

A key activity to support the HRA Business Plan is up-to-date information on the Council’s housing stock. As noted in previous reports, the last full Stock Condition Survey was completed in 2009; good practice suggests comprehensive Stock Condition survey should be completed every 5 years, usually by undertaking a survey of 20% of the stock each year.

 

The Council continues to utilise its Rant and Rave feedback, seeking real time feedback from tenants following responsive repairs. We continue to see overall satisfaction of 4.5 out of 5, demonstrating sustained high satisfaction at the point where repairs are undertaken.

 

Regular Meetings with the Regulator:

 

Monthly meetings between the Chief Executive, Acting Director of Housing and the Regulator’s Officers take place as scheduled; the next meeting at time of writing is due on 17th March 2023. Progress has been significant right across the landlord health and safety compliance function (latest monthly figures attached as Appendix One to this report) and the relationship with the Regulator is positive, with the Regulator acknowledging that the Council is moving to a position to seek removal of the Notice that was formally served in February 2021.

 

That removal is contingent on three issues:

 

(a) Sustained maintenance of performance in relation to the key landlord health and safety areas (i.e. those shown on Appendix One)

 

(b) Clear programmes of work related to the actions that arise from those areas (these are provided to the Regulator on a monthly basis)

 

(c) A satisfactory external audit of the above, providing external assurance. Scoping work in relation to this external audit is underway, with actions to address potential gaps identified and clear responsibilities and timescales for those actions delegated.

 

To enable the Regulator to remove the notice we are required to undertake an external audit of our compliance related functions. The outcomes of this audit shall then provide assurance to the Regulator on our current performance and governance structures. The audit commenced in mid-December and is currently ongoing, we shall update committee on its findings in due course.

 

Committee may find additional comment on Appendix One helpful:

 

Legionella – 100% compliance in relation to water hygiene.

Gas – 99.22% in February, again slightly down from the excellent result of 100% of properties with an up-to-date gas certificate in April 2022. Of the thirty-six properties without valid certificates all have appropriate actions that are up to date.

Electrical testing – this shows the position in relation to properties (both dwellings and communal areas) with an up-to-date electrical certificate, with the current position being 87.97% in January with a current satisfactory certificate, as the February figures were not validated at the time of writing this report.

Asbestos – this shows 100% compliance in terms of asbestos inspections. Fire Risk Assessments – 100% compliant, this shows all communal blocks assessed as “higher risk” have been inspected, and corrective actions are being programmed and completed. It is consistent with the Council’s Fire Safety Management Plan.

Lift inspections – all properties are currently compliant at 100%.

Smoke and CO – this shows the position for all the alarms within all our properties being 99.63% compliant. This is a recently introduced Regulatory requirement which came into force on the 1st of October 2022, again those properties that are non-compliant totalling twenty-two in February are being dealt with through due process.

Damp and mould – this shows 99.80% compliance and the appointments for CAT1 and 2 have been made with several tenants refusing access.

 

Leadership Compliance Meetings:

 

Chaired by Cabinet Member for Housing and Property and attended by the Leader of the Council, the Chief Executive, and the Acting Director of Housing, these meetings have been a continued feature of the more detailed compliance review process being undertaken. This group ensures specific responses to the changing compliance review process and manage tenant communication responses to actions associated with key service and regulatory responses.

 

Regular Reports to Committees and Cabinet:

 

The necessary reporting to appropriate committees will continue. Members are invited to comment on this report content and confirm their views and observations relating to the detail contained within this report.

 

A query was raised on whether the Integrated Housing Management System was assisting the team in relation to regulatory compliance.

 

The Acting Director of Housing noted that the Integrated Housing Management System was still being implemented. The target of the system going live had been delayed due to a couple of external pressures, with some of the interfaces between the Council’s financial systems and the housing benefit system.

 

One Member raised concern on the current number of complaints on repairs being outstanding or not completed. A query was raised on the number of staff employed within the housing maintenance team and whether they had all the skills necessary or whether external companies were required to complete the Council’s repairs.

 

It was clarified that the ‘Rant and Rave’ feedback was solely upon the completion of a repair. There was a significant backlog of repairs, however it remained a priority. A 4.5/5 score on completed repairs was received out of just less than 1000 interactions since April 2022. The Council had around 35-40 tradesman from the Council’s direct works team.

 

ACTION: For the Acting Director of Housing to provide the Committee with the definite number of staff employed within the housing maintenance team.

 

The historic negativity around housing repairs had been due to previous poor-call handling response rates. It was reported that the Council were regularly achieving more than 92% call handling rates within the repairs call lines.

 

Further concern was raised on the number of complaints received regarding void properties and whether there was a dedicated team to undertake void repairs.

 

The Acting Director of Housing confirmed that void properties were split into two categories: minor works void which required minor works which were undertaken by an in-house team that gives the Council the ability to turn things around as quickly as possible. A major void element works (for example, replacement of kitchen/bathroom, roof, insulation works etc) would be undertaken by a contractor. There had been supply chain issues which led to 4–6-week lead time for a kitchen after ordering.

 

It was queried as to whether the Council re-charged former tenants who had left a property in an unacceptable condition.

 

It was noted that the Council did re-charge former tenants where necessary. The recharge policy had been through Cabinet in 2022. Once notice of termination had been received from a tenant, a pre termination inspection would be booked in with a Housing Officer and the tenant would be made aware of any work that needed rectifying prior to the property becoming void, if the work was not completed, the tenant would be re-charged.

 

It was queried as to whether any progress had been made on replacing gas boilers with air source heat pumps and whether any other options could be explored to reduce the cost of electricity.

 

At the previous all Member briefing, it was highlighted that the Council had made a significant bid to the social housing decarbonisation fund, a total project bid of around £7.2 million of which £3.46 million was grant funding from the Government. The outcome for the bid was expected imminently, which would target approximately 332 properties with energy efficiency improvements.

 

One Member emphasised the importance of returning tenants phone calls.

 

It was proposed, seconded, and AGREED that the Committee:

 

1.    Notes the latest compliance position following the ongoing meetings with the Regulator of Social Housing.

2.    Receives a further update report at its next scheduled meeting.