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The Committee considered a report which provided assurance (in the City Council’s
capacity as landlord of social housing) in respect of adherence to the Regulator of
Social Housing’s Consumer Standards.
Chris Wait, Director of Assets Colchester Borough Homes (CBH), attended the
meeting and addressed the Committee. The performance of CBH was noted in detail
in the report, and areas where compliance was below 100% were highlighted.
Currently 5 properties were without an asbestos survey, however, 3 had
appointments for a survey to be carried out, 1 was due for eviction, and 1 was in the
advanced stages of obtaining access. Electrical safety certificates were outstanding
for 7 properties, and work was in hand to gain access to these properties. Of the 2
properties without a gas safety certificate, 1 was due to a missed appointment and
the other to documentation not being provided by the contractor, however, these
issues had now been successfully resolved.
The Committee was advised that 94.49% of repairs had been completed on time,
and Quarter 1 (Q1) satisfaction levels were 94.1%. Work in progress jobs which were
awaiting completion had fallen from 289 in May to 169. Turning to voids, at Q1 113
properties had been relet, with an average turnaround time of 40.67 days. During
June the turnaround time had been 37.89 days, compared to 42.5 in June 2024. In
terms of performance, CBH remained in the top quartile compared to its peers. A
detailed update on an internal audit which had been carried out in respect of the
lettings function was contained in the report.
Philip Sullivan, Chief Executive Colchester Borough Homes, advised the Committee
that sickness absence had been considered in detail during CBH’s Corporate
Management Team meeting on 24 June, and this was an item which had been raised
at previous meetings of this Committee. Long term sickness absence, and the
importance of manager-led intervention, had been reviewed and had been
reconsidered in August. Initial feedback had been that there had been a notable
improvement in 2 particular teams, with sickness absence falling during July and
August.
An update on stock condition surveys for the City Council was set out in the report,
and the Council also had a range of additional sources of assurance in respect of
stock condition, with 5% of its housing stock randomly selected for independent
validation.
The Chief Executive CBH advised the Committee that CBH was providing assurance
in respect of complaint handling performance, and details relating to complaints and
ombudsman cases were provided in the report. Communication had been identified
as a recurring theme in complaints and ombudsman findings, and as a result of this
suitable training had been delivered to relevant staff. Details of 2 internal audits
which related to regulatory standards, lettings and complaints management, were
provided in the report, one of which had received a substantial assurance rating.
The Committee heard that strategic risks which were relevant to landlord services
were reviewed at every CBH Board meeting, and the Board was satisfied that risks
were being appropriately reflected, and relevant steps were being taken to mitigate.
In terms of customer engagement, the Board was satisfied that CBH was meeting
the regulators expectations, including giving tenants a wide range of meaningful
opportunities to influence and scrutinise strategies. CBH’s Finance and Audit
Committee provided further assurance through its scrutiny of ongoing actions arising
from internal audits, and the Operations and Performance Committee received
detailed action status breakdowns in respect of fire risk assessment actions.
In response to questioning from the Committee in respect of antisocial behaviour
(ASB), the Chief Executive CBH, did not consider that there was a single reason for
an increase in cases of ASB. He assured the Committee that CBH had a dedicated
team to tackle ASB, and robust action was taken where appropriate.
The Committee was pleased to note the improvements which were detailed in the
report, however, the number of complaints per 1000 properties was rising, what was
the reason for this? Was it anticipated that homelessness and the use of temporary
accommodation would continue to rise over the forthcoming year, or was it possible
that these numbers would fall?
Addressing the complaint levels, The Chief Executive CBH confirmed that in some
respects CBH was unusual, in that it welcomed complaints and published a highly
visible complaints policy on its website. It was not considered that complaint levels
were disproportionately higher that peers in the sector, and it was very important that
CBH learned lessons from all complaints that it received. A comprehensive service
improvement log was maintained, and every complaint was analysed to seek
opportunities for future improvement. In terms of homelessness, the current position
was that numbers had fallen slightly over the preceding month, with use of bed and
breakfast accommodation at its lowest level for over 2 years. The Committee heard
that a consequence of the forthcoming Renters’ Right Bill appeared to be that
landlords were choosing to take their properties back and evicting tenants, but the
Chief Executive CBH hoped that this trend was now coming to an end. Although it
was difficult to predict, it was anticipated that pressure on the Council’s housing
stock would continue as the housing crisis persisted, and the Committee heard that
there had recently been 448 bids for a single property. The second stage of the
Council’s ‘Beyond the Box’ scheme was about to come into use, and this would
improve the quality of the accommodation available as well as delivering cost
savings to the Council.
A Committee member noted that rent arrears had fallen slightly which was positive,
however, some tenants remained in debt and were the arrears associated with
tenants who were in receipt of universal credit? Was background information
available around those tenants who were getting into financial difficulty?
The Chief Executive CBH assured the Committee that CBH would be working with
every tenant who was in arrears, and the vast majority of tenants were now in receipt
of universal credit which was paid in arrears directly to tenants. The movement from
housing benefit to universal credit had caused some issues as there isa 6 week
delay in receiving the first payment of universal credit, which can lead to rent arrears
in some cases. The Chief Executive CBH would confirm to the Committee whether
or not CBH made use of attachment orders.
In response to questioning from the Committee, the Chief Executive CBH provided
additional detail in relation to the data breaches which had occurred. In general
terms, the breaches had been minor in nature, although every data breach was
treated seriously. The breaches had related to misaddressed emails where 2 tenants
had the same surname, for example, and had therefore been limited in the scope of
the breach and the information which had been shared. CBH receives many
thousands of customer contacts in a month, and only 8 of these contacts had
resulted in a data breach. Steps had been taken to provide training and raise
awareness of the issue with staff.
The Committee discussed the issue of homelessness, and the rising costs
associated with this. What was driving the rise in costs, and how was CBH working
with partners to keep costs under control, or to mitigate these in the future?
The Chief Executive CBH advised the Committee that an overspend was forecast in
the current financial year, as the number of households in temporary accommodation
had risen by 10% between the time the budget had been set and the start of the
financial year. The Committee was assured that the Beyond the Box scheme
provided significantly better value accommodation to the Council than bed and
breakfast, as the cost of the accommodation was lower, and the rent it was able to
generate was higher. The net cost to the Council of providing accommodation was
therefore significantly better, and despite the number of households in temporary
accommodation rising, the cost to the Council was falling. Additional space would be
provided as part of the Beyond the Box scheme in the coming weeks, and it was
hoped that this would lead to a significant reduction in the number of families being
housed in bed and breakfast accommodation.
Richard Block, Chief Operating Officer, attended the meeting and assured the
Committee that the issue of homelessness was a focus of the Council, as it had a
direct impact on the revenue fund. Work was ongoing with CBH to obtain a greater
understanding of the costs, and possible ways to mitigate against these.
In discussion, a Committee member wondered whether there was any way that the
Council could improve the management of its housing stock to ensure that tenants
who no longer needed a council house could be moved on to allow those who did
need this accommodation to benefit from it. He considered that this was of key
importance, as well as taking every step possible to stop or limit the right to buy
Council housing stock. Geoff Beaoles, Strategic Housing and Assurance Manager,
attended the meeting and advised the Committee that this was not possible, as once
a tenancy had been granted it was for the life of the tenant. Although it was possible
to give tenants incentives to downsize to a smaller dwelling, it was not possible to
force them to leave. The Chief Executive CBH confirmed that it was possible for
social landlords to provide introductory tenancies for a year prior to a tenant
becoming an assured tenant, however, as a sector, fixed term tenancies were not
offered to social housing tenants who were required to have security of tenure.
The Chief Executive CBH considered that the Council was providing housing support
to provide accommodation to those in need, as evidenced by its recent approval of a
Housing Revenue Account (HRA) business plan which contained growth. A key
element to tackling the current housing crisis was obtaining more accommodation,
and the only option was building or acquiring more properties. In terms of a tenants
right to buy their home, the government had recently announced changes which
would require a tenant to have lived in their home for 10 years before they were able
to apply to buy it and the discount had already been reduced to make purchasing
less attractive. It was hoped that these changes would serve to reduce the number of
properties which were leaving the social housing pool. The Chief Executive CBH
advised the Committee that he believed that it was possible to make a policy
decision that tenants who were earning over a certain amount would be required to
leave their accommodation, however, he believed that the administrative costs
associated with proceeding in this way would outweigh the benefits obtained. This
was, however, an area which he was happy to consider further. Councillor Pearson,
Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth and Transformation, attended the meeting
remotely and advised the Committee that under the Localism Act 2011, local
authorities did have the power to issue fixed term tenancies, however, this would
require a change of policy which would need the approval of the majority of City
Councillors.
The Committee was pleased to note the assurance which had been provided via the
Officer’s report. In response to questioning from the Committee, the Director of
Assets CBH confirmed that detailed property records were kept, and advice was pro-actively offered to tenants in respect of damp and mould issues.
RESOLVED that:
- The Q1 complaints update, service improvement examples and Ombudsman
cases detailed at Appendix 3 be noted, and that;
- The additional regulatory assurance being provided by CBH’s Board and
Committees for Q1 be noted, and that;
- The remaining updates provided in this report be noted.