Agenda item

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

The report summarised the progress made following the C2 Grading by the Regulator of Social Housing in 2024 (C1 being the highest achievable level, C4 the lowest) as addressed in detail at the previous meeting.

The C2 Grade recognised the Council had provided assurance and had met the consumer standards in many areas, but also identified areas where improvement was needed.

Improvements included;

·       The Safety & Quality Standard – Stock Quality (completing the full Stock Condition Survey and using this data to meet the requirements of the Decent Homes Standards – this stood at 82%, with the aim for 90% mid-February 2025 and 100% by the end of 2025);

·       The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard – Fairness and Respect (delivering fair and equitable outcomes to tenants);

·       The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard – Complaint Handling (need to ensure the complaint process was accessible for all);

·       The Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard – Performance (it was important that tenants could hold the Council to account and to do that information needed to be published in an accessible way and multiple locations).

A summary of the progress made on the Improvements was attached at Appendix 1.

For the tenant survey, reasonable adjustments would be made (e.g., large font for those with reduced vision).

To a question on the survey, the Assistant Director of Housing Management & Enforcement stated Customer Services was assisting in the delivery and in conjunction the Council would include a summary of work ongoing / completed.  It was noted there was a need to ensure the Council’s performance was accessible so tenants could challenge performance where required.

More performance data and information on complaints compliance would also be published in the future (this data would be discussed further into the meeting, but primarily would be used to address identified shortcomings).

The Assistant Director of Housing Management & Enforcement noted complaints against the Council were low when compared with other similar local authorities – this was either good news and that the Council was performing very well, or tenants were currently unable to easily make contact.

The Council had attended regular meetings with the Regulators to discuss progress made against the action plan.  These meetings had been held on 16^th October 2024, 3^rd December 2024, and a further meeting would be held on 27^th January 2025.  This latter meeting would be attended by the Assistant Director of Housing Management & Enforcement, the Housing Services Manager, and the Head of Property (Repairs and Maintenance).

The Housing Services Manager noted the next stage was how the Council would analyse the data collected, as there were currently not enough resources to do this.  The Inspectors of the Regulator of Social Housing had informed the Council it would not be able to improve and achieve a C1 Grading without knowing where possible shortcomings existed.

The Assistant Director of Housing Management & Enforcement confirmed to the Chair that dedicated staff would be recruited to analyse this and future data.

Moved by Councillor Janet Tait and seconded by Councillor Rita Turner

RESOVLED that the Board note the judgement in Appendix 1 and confirm agreement to the proposed Improvements.