Issue - meetings

The Assistant Director of Housing Management & Enforcement presented the report to the Board.

From 1^st April 2024, new legislation was brought in to protect tenants, ensure high quality services, and provide the Regulator with enhanced powers to inspect social landlords.

The Council had received a C2 grade (C1 was the highest achievable) following an investigation in May 2024.  During the investigation, the Regulators had observed a Customer Services Scrutiny Meeting, a previous Board meeting, and had observed and met with Members, Tenants and Officers.  They had also reviewed a wide range of Council documents.

The judgement was attached as Appendix 1.

The C2 grade recognised the Council had provided assurance and met the requirements in many areas.  It also identified areas where improvements could be made.  The Regulator had recognised that the Council had understood where it needed to make these improvements and was assured work was already underway to improve these areas.

The Improvement Plan included the following:

·       Completing the full Stock Condition Survey;

·       Delivering fair and equitable outcomes to tenants;

·       Complaint handling; and,

·       Performance.

The Assistant Director of Housing Management & Enforcement expressed the need for tenants to hold the Council to account.

The Head of Property (Repairs and Maintenance) noted the judgements of other local authorities was increasingly available, providing information on what those judgements entailed (C1, C3, C4) and allowing comparisons to take place.  A Member agreed.  The Assistant Director of Housing Management & Enforcement added the judgements were all written slightly differently, similar to what Ofsted provided schools – direct comparisons depended on the wording used.

The Housing Services Manager noted the focus for the Council was to collect more information.  The staff and teams operating on the ground were doing good work, but data was not being collected and analysed on the scale expected.

The Chair agreed that the Council was not currently proficient at collecting and logging this data.  Tenants who had participated in the investigation in May 2024 were thanked for their contribution.

Moved by Councillor Jane Yates and seconded by Councillor Ashley Taylor

RESOLVED that the judgement attached at Appendix 1 be noted and confirm             agreement to the proposed Improvement Plan.