Issue - meetings

Cabinet discussed the 2022/23 housing performance report and observed that overall the tenant and leaseholder service team had maintained a steady performance in Quarter 2. As in Quarter 1, there were areas that were still requiring improvement and were being worked on by the team. The team was disappointed that the position for electrical safety had not notably improved. The Council had procured an additional contractor to assist with this and the contractor was expected to start during Quarter 3. Mears had also taken on another contractor to help meet demand.

Gas compliance remains at 100%. Gas Calls customer services statistics had dropped, but this was to do with the low amount of returns skewing figures rather than performance. The gas contract was coming to an end this month, therefore the return rate of surveys was something the Housing team would be picking up with the new contractor. The responsive repairs contractor, Mears continued to perform well, even though customer satisfaction had dropped. The score was still very high at 90%, and the quality of workmanship was also confirmed through a programme of post inspections.

A new set of key performance indicators had been agreed as part of the extension of the Mears contract to March 2025 and should help to drive up performance. The turn around times on void properties fell again in Quarter 2. Mears had since employed more subcontractors to provide additional resources in this area so there was an expectation for improvement over the second part of the year.

Finally, Cabinet also observed that rent arrears increased during Quarter 2 which was a reflection of what had been happening nationally. It was reassuring, however, that even though arrears increased, there had been a reduction, when compared to the same period last year and the year before.

Councillor Whitehead spoke under Council Procedure Rule 20.1.

Councillor Jill Bayford proposed, Councillor Saunders seconded and Cabinet agreed to note the contents of the report.

Sally O’Sullivan introduced the report and made the following points:

• There were one hundred and eleven outstanding actions in the period under review;
• The capital programme was low there was progress being made;
• The windows contract went into administration;
• Mears moved some of the resources from VOIDS to assist with the kitchen works;
• There was an increase in arrears, but this was similar to what other councils were experiencing as well.

Members made comments as follows:

• Members thanked officers for the detailed report;
• The number of urgent jobs had dropped and the non urgent works had improved.

Sally O’Sullivan responded to Member comments as follows:

• More jobs had been completed as could be seen by the live jobs being fewer;
• Officers were going to investigate why the number of urgent jobs had gone down.

Members noted the report.