Tenants Annual Report
September 2010
stoke.gov.uk
Contents
Chapter Sub Sections Page(s)
1 Introduction 3
1.1 TSA Standards 3
1.2 Local Offers 4
1.3 Annual Report To Tenants 4
1.4 Our Housing Landlord Services 5
1.5 Improvement Planning 5
1.6 Service Standards 5
2 Tenant Involvement and 6
Empowerment Standard
2.1 Access to Services 6
2.2 Complaints 7
2.3 Understand the Needs of Our Customers 9
2.4 Tenant Involvement and Empowerment 10
3 Home Standard 14
3.1 Repairs and Maintenance 14
3.2 Quality of accommodation 15
4 Tenancy Standard 19
4.1 Allocations 19
4.2 Tenure 23
5 Neighbourhood and 25
Community Standard
5.1 Neighbourhood Management 25
5.2 Local Area Co-operation 27
5.3 Anti-Social Behaviour 28
6 Value For Money Standard
6.1 Value For Money 29
Appendices
2009/10 Performance Against 32
Key Indicators
2
Introduction
1 IntroductionThe Tenant Services Authority (TSA) became the regulator for social housing in April 2010.
It has introduced a set of common standards that apply to all social housing providers, in-
cluding councils who like ourselves have retained their housing stock. The standards have
been developed by extensive consultation with tenants, councils, housing associations and
other partners. The standards are designed to help improve the services that you as a ten-
ant receive.
The TSA wants tenants to be actively involved to help review, scrutinise and develop local
offers to enhance the service, reflecting local priorities and improving the quality of life for
all tenants.
1.1 TSA StandardsThe Standards are set out in the table below. The standards are concerned with the
outcomes for tenants, rather than being prescriptive on having to use any particular
processes or system. The TSA therefore allow organisations flexibility on how they are
delivered, so long as the outcome can be met. The standards are new and there will be
some areas where we, along with other providers, may not fully meet the standards.
Where this is the case, we will show how we intend to improve the service to meet the
standard.
Standard Service areas
Tenant Involvement • Customer service,
and Empowerment choice and complaints
• Involvement and
empowerment
• Understanding and
responding to diverse
needs of tenants
Home • Quality of accommodation
• Repairs and maintenance
Tenancy • Allocations
• Rents
• Tenure
Neighbourhood and • Neighbourhood
Community management
• Local area co-operation
• Anti-social behaviour
Value For Money • Value for money
There is a sixth standard, for
Governance and Financial
Viability. This is not applicable
to councils. We are governed
by our elected Members and
our financial viability is checked
by the District Auditor.
The full ranges of the standards
are available on our web pages
or in a leaflet available at any
Local Centre.
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1.2 Local OffersLocal offers are designed to help improve the services that tenants receive, by enhancing
the TSA standards. Local offers can reflect local priorities and choices by tailoring services
based on what tenants want. Tenants must have the opportunity to help develop local
offers and we must consult fully with tenants over these.
The content of local offers is a matter for us to agree in consultation with our tenants. Local
offers are likely to cover a number of areas related to the TSA standards; specifically those
related to the Tenant Involvement and Empowerment, Home and Neighbourhood and
Community Standards. Other areas can be developed as well.
There is also a requirement in the Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Standard for
providers, in offering opportunities for their tenants to agree local offers, to take into
account:
(i) Standards of performance offered to tenants
(ii) How performance will be monitored, reported to and scrutinised by tenants
(iii) What happens if local offers, having been agreed with tenants, are not met, which
may include redress for tenants
(iv) The arrangements for reviewing local offers on a periodic basis.
Between now and March 2011, we will work with tenants to listen to the priorities you have
and to develop local offers to reflect these.
Local Offers - Actions Planned:We will discuss priorities and improvements to services with as wide a range of
tenants as possible, starting with the Tenants Conference in October 2010, and
other events during the autumn. We will use this feedback to look at priorities and
what aspects of the services tenants would like to see developed into local offers.
We aim to introduce a set of agreed local offers in early 2011.
1.3 Annual Report to TenantsThe TSA has set out a timetable for reporting our performance to tenants. For 2010, we
have to make an annual report available by 1 October. This report will set out how we are
currently meeting the standards, what gaps we have, how we intend to improve these and
how we intend to develop local offers.
We have worked with tenants from the Housing Services Review Group and Service
Improvement Teams to collate, review and scrutinise the contents within this report.
Annual Report - Actions Planned:Our first Annual Report to Tenants will be made available to tenants from September
2010. A copy will also be sent to the Tenants Services Authority.
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1.4 Our Housing Landlord Services
We manage 19,300 properties and have 340 leaseholders. In
addition, we manage over 1,100 garages and 55 shops.
These properties are managed by 8 Local Centres, plus teams
based at the Civic Centre. The services are also accessible via
our call centre (Stoke on Call) and 4 One Stop Shops, offering a
range of council services.
Our housing budget for 2010/11 is £58m, which comprises:-
1.5 Improvement PlanningService improvement plans provide us with the framework to record and manage a range
of improvements to the way we deliver our services. Improvement plans are monitored
regularly and the performance against key milestones and outputs is provided to
managers to allow a review of progress and ensure we achieve the aims set out.
For the purposes of this report so it is easier to understand, each section has a box
summarising the actions planned to address issues relating to the TSA Standards or to
help continue to improve our services. A separate detailed service improvement plan will
capture all of these. We will report back on progress to these within the annual report for
2011.
1.6 Service StandardsEach of our services has a range of service standards. These are highlighted at the
beginning of each chapter. The full set, including how we will monitor these, are available
in a leaflet format or from our web pages (www.stoke.gov.uk).
Repairs, maintenance and planned investment programmes - £39m
Staff, Office Buildings and Support Charges - £15m
Capital and other financing charges - £4m
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Tenants Involvement and Empowerment Standard
Our service standards for this service are:
2.1 Access to services:Our aim: the council is committed to ensuring that we offer a wider and appropriate
range of methods to contact and access our services.
The council provides accessibility to a wide range of both housing and other council
services through various access channels including telephone, face to face, text, email,
post and internet.
Stoke on Call is a telephone contact centre delivering all housing related services at the
first point of contact to all customers wishing to access services by telephone.
Customers wishing to access services face to face can visit one of the Local Centres or
One Stop Shops that are located across the city. Again all housing/tenancy related
services are dealt with at the first point of contact in each of the locations, making services
easy to access within the locality.
Services are publicised through a variety of methods such as Our City magazine that is
distributed across the city on a quarterly basis, and a tenants’ newsletter (Our Tenants)
which is also produced on a quarterly basis communicating any relevant service updates
and developments.
Customer Charter:
We will be polite, helpful and professional
We will provide you with accurate advice
and information
We will resolve your enquiry at the first
point of contact
If you ring us, we will answer your telephone
call within 30 seconds
If you visit us in person, we will greet you
within 2 minutes and start dealing with your
enquiry within 10 minutes
If you have an appointment with us, we will
see you on time
If you visit our website we will make sure
that it is quick and easy to find information
about all of our services
If you send us a letter, we will respond to
you within 5 working days
If you send us an email, we will respond
to you within 1 working day
If you consider that we have not met our
standards or you are not satisfied with the
service you receive, we will help you to
make a complaint
Complaints:
We aim to acknowledge your complaint
within two days
We aim to acknowledge your request for
a stage 2 within two working days
Our target is to give you a full response
within 10 working days at stage 1 and
within 20 working days at stage 2.
However if your complaint is complicated
it may take longer to sort out, but we
will keep you informed
We will treat your complaint confidentially,
and fairly, and you should not be treated
negatively as a result of making a
complaint
We run the compliments, comments and
complaints procedure in line with our
equalities policy
Where we are at fault, we will do our best
to put things right
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A text and email service is also available to customers. Customers
can request services from their mobile phone or PC at their own
convenience from anywhere at anytime. Their request will then be
actioned and a response returned to the customer.
Web access is provided by our website (www.stoke.gov.uk) which
provides customers with information on services delivered by the
organisation and how to access services.
Service standards are in place for each service area so that
tenants have a clear understanding of the level and quality of
service they can expect to receive from us. These standards
have been developed in consultation with tenants and were last
reviewed and updated in May 2010. Service managers will be
responsible for the monitoring of these standards and reviewing
them on an annual basis. This will help us to keep on improving
the services that we deliver.
The standards will be measured as set out in this document and
we will report back to tenants on how we are performing.
Access to Services - Actions Planned:We intend to review our service standards on an annual basis and publish our performance in meeting them in the Our Tenants newsletter.
2.2 Complaints:Our aim: compliments, comments and complaints help us to
understand issues from the customer’s view and will help us
provide better services.
Our corporate Customer Feedback Process allows tenants to
communicate with the council to either make a compliment,
comment or complaint. Any member of staff can record the
request from the tenant and the form will go directly to the
Customer Feedback team for processing.
During the year 2009/10, there were 1,181 complaints for the Housing, Environmental and
Neighbourhood (HENS) Directorate.
These can be broken down into the following:
Stage 1 Stage 2 Appeal Stage Local Government
Ombudsman
Housing 936 72 15 4
Neighbourhoods 245 26 5 6
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Complaint
Complaint regarding lack of
heating for 2 weeks
Upheld Partially Not
Upheld Upheld
Stage 1 243 143 550
Stage 2 5 3 18
Appeal 1 1 3
Stage
Out come of Complaints Housing
Stage 1, percentage upheld and partially upheld = 41.2%
Stage 2, percentage upheld and partially upheld = 30.8%
Upheld Partially Not Upheld Upheld
Stage 1 40 55 150
Stage 2 17 16 39
Appeal 3 3 9Stage
Neighbourhoods
Stage 1, percentage upheld and partially upheld = 38.8%Stage 2, percentage upheld and partially upheld = 45.8%
Complaint
Decent Homes kitchen
upgrade – disappointment in
what was provided
Stage 1 Stage 2
Number Number Percentage Number Number Percentage
In Time Out of Time within In Time Out of Time within
timescale timescale
Housing 841 95 89.9% 64 8 88.9%
Neighbourhoods 220 25 89.8% 20 6 76.9%
Performance within 15 working day target
Complaints help us to improve our services. The following speach bubbles shows some
examples of complaints made and the learning action taken as a result.
Complaint
Customer not happy to find
scaffolding erected outside flat with
no notification from us
Complaint
Complaint concerning
damage done to guttering
Learning Action
Better communication with
customers where flats are
concerned and a letter to be
sent before commencement
of work.
Learning Action
Roofing contractor to visually check
condition of adjoining gutter before
leaving site
Learning Action
The issue was not explained to the tenant
and incorrect information was given. All
communication to be agreed before
relaying to tenant.
Complaint
Not happy that housing application was
cancelled and did not want to register
Learning Action
Explained that application cancelled due to no reply.
However, application has now been reinstated
Learning Action
Complaint identified that
there was no procedure in
place to accommodate
emergency gas turn offs.
Process now in place to
deal with these situations
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Complaint
Certain repairs have been
outstanding for months
Complaint
Complaint regarding fencing
put up around his property
Learning Action
There was a lack of consultation over the scheme.
Checklist now in place identifying what needs to
occur before any scheme is approved.
Complaint
A subcontractor of Kier did
not attend to do a job
Learning Action
Responsive team to place orders with sub contractors
directly, instead of through the Gas team, so that they
take complete ownership and monitor work process.
This will prevent any lost time occurring when work is
passed between two teams and reduce any further
delay to the customer
Learning Action
When multiple repairs are logged that the correct
appointment date and time is communicated to the
customer and to the contractor
Complaints - Actions Planned:An area for improvement is a full breakdown at service area for compliments,
comments and complaints. Previously they have been reported on a directorate
basis but to enable the service to improve and learn from complaints, these are to be
broken down into service and sub service areas.
2.3 Understanding the Needs of Our Customers:Our aim: we want to provide services that reflect the needs and requirements that
our customers have.
We recognised in 2009 that we did not hold sufficient information regarding the profile of
our tenants. As a result, we looked at what information requirements were needed and
also looked at how other organisations had collected this type of information. Once we had
this, we arranged for a customer profile questionnaire to be developed and ensured that a
group of tenants were involved in this process. We aim to have completed this
exercise by the end of the summer.
Once we have done this, we will review what gaps we may still have and look at alternative
ways of collecting the information (two examples being the use of the annual tenant review
visits and the use of Kier Stoke when they attend for repairs). The information and profiles
held will help us to shape and develop services to meet the requirements of our customers.
Customer Information - Actions Planned:
• Complete customer profiling exercise
• Review gaps in profile information and look at opportunities to collect this
• Begin to use profile information to shape service delivery
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2.4 Tenant Involvement and Empowerment
Our service standards for this service are:
• Provide a range of ways for tenants to get involved at a level that suits you
• Cover agreed out of pocket expenses for all tenants who take part in activities, such as transport, childcare etc
• Carry out an annual review of every tenant association to ensure it is following its constitution
• Produce in conjunction with tenants a newsletter 4 times a year. This newsletter will include outcomes achieved through the different tenant groups and inform of
forthcoming events
• Arrange a tenant conference, open to all tenants, once a year
• Provide opportunities and training for tenants to develop their skills, knowledge and confidence
• Review service standards annually
The tenant involvement service has the following aims.
• To support tenant associations giving them the necessary skills so they can develop to
be able to take an active role in improving the locality in which they live.
• To provide a range of opportunities for tenants to be involved in decision making, the
formulation of policies, the review of our performance and the development of local offers
• To provide value for money services which produce positive outcomes and increased
customer satisfaction.
The tenant involvement service includes a Tenant Involvement Manager and five
Involvement Officers. The involvement officers are patch based in the five neighbourhood
management areas. The council recognises the benefits of tenant involvement which
include:
• Detailed local knowledge from local tenants on the need for housing policy decisions
and their likely effect.
• Tenant associations can represent their local communities and act as non political
advisors to the council.
• Tenant consultation helps to ensure that resources are spent effectively on the
services local people want most.
• Through involvement the background to the council’s decision making is better
understood and a shared vision can be developed.
• Tenant involvement allows more effective use of our resources to be made by making
neighbourhoods places tenants want to stay in and others want to move into.
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What methods do we offer to achieve these aims?
The diagram helps to show the various methods of involvement that we have.
Customer Engagement
and
Involvement
Tenant Conferences
Mystery
Shopping
Reading
Panel
Street
Inspections
Ward
Events
Housing Service Review Group
Partners and
Community Together
(PACT)
Older Persons
Forum
Youth
Forum
Community
Empowerment
Network
Leaseholders
Neighbourhood Voice
Group
Resident Associations
City
Neighbourhood Forum
Direct Delivery
Groups
Task to Finish
(Themed)
Service Improvement
Teams
Neighbourhood
Forums
The Housing Services Review Group
(HSRG) – this group represents the
interests of the tenants and leaseholders of
the council. It exists to ensure that tenants
and leaseholders are able to monitor the
delivery by the council of the decent homes
investment programme and the undertakings
contained in the Housing Revenue Account
Business Plan.
The role of the Housing Service Review
Group includes being involved in the annual
planning and review process to determine
the form and content of investment
programmes and service priorities relating
to council owned stock from year to year.
Estate Walkabouts – a programme of
estate walkabouts is produced each year
that allows tenants and residents to go
on walkabouts around their estate with
members of the neighbourhood management
team and local Councillors. All issues are
noted and an action plan with timescales
where appropriate is agreed and passed
on to the resident associations in the area.
City Neighbourhood and Local Forums -
City Neighbourhood Forum (CNF)
comprises representatives from the 74
tenant associations in the City. The forum
meets every two months and is chaired by a
resident nominated each year by the rest of
the forum. In addition a City Neighbourhood
Forum Review Group is elected each year
to meet with officers and agree the agenda
for meetings and which guests to invite.
In the last 12 months the council’s Chief
Executive, the Chief Constable of
Staffordshire and the Chief Executive of
North Staffordshire Primary Care Trust
have all addressed recent meetings.
Each of the five neighbourhoods holds a
quarterly Local Forum made up of the
neighbourhood management team,
representatives of resident associations
and constituted community groups within
the neighbourhood boundary. At the Local
Forum, performance, local issues and ward
budgets are discussed. If a local issue
cannot be resolved at the forum and has
city wide implications it is passed upwards
to the City Neighbourhood Forum.
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Resident Associations - the council has
74 recognised tenant associations all of
whom receive a £100 each year provided
they have adhered to their constitution. Of
these, 45 are compact compliant, and have
at least 25% of their membership made up
of tenants. The tenant associations are
supported by the involvement officer for
their area and a full training programme is
provided in subjects such as how to chair
meeting, how to take minutes and how to
be a treasurer.
Each year the Involvement Officers carry
out an audit of the tenant associations and
helps them complete an action plan for
the year ahead. This helps the tenant
association focus on their priorities and
also identify any training and development
needs.
Service Improvement Teams - the
objectives of service improvements teams
is to actively involve the customer in the
processes which have an impact on the
services they receive and to develop
partnership working and create opportunities
for customers to develop their skills. The
service improvement teams meet on a
regular basis to identify good practice and
review the policies and procedures for
council service areas. A training programme
is drawn up with all service improvement
team members including data protection,
equal opportunities and how to chair a
meeting.
The council has service improvement
teams in the following service areas:
Allocations
Antisocial Behaviour
Community Support
Customer Access
Environment
Planned Maintenance
Responsive Maintenance
Revenue
Each service improvement team is chaired
by a tenant elected by the group on an
annual basis and is run in conjunction with
council’s service lead. Examples of tenant -
led service improvements include:
• Voids service improvement team took a
lead role in agreeing the new voids
standard
• The responsive maintenance service
improvement team designed a call back
card for operatives to leave when they
could not complete a job first time.
• The programmed maintenance service
improvement team has chosen the type
of extractor fan fitted in kitchen and
bathrooms and type of electric fire to be
installed.
• The customer access service
improvement team designed a leaflet
outlining all the ways you can access
council services.
• The revenue service improvement teams
designed the rent statement that goes
out annually to all tenants.
Mystery Shopping - the council has a
group of tenants and residents who carry
out a programme of mystery shopping
exercises each year. The aim of mystery
shopping exercises is to review how staff
and the processes they use perform
against known standards. The exercises
measure these and the results are used
to increase customer satisfaction. A full
training programme is provided to tenants
before they carry out a mystery shopping
exercise.
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Tenant Involvement - Actions Planned:
• Local offers to be developed with tenants in line with the TSA framework
• Tenants Conference in October to enable tenants to tell us their views on
priorities and areas for improvement
• Website to be developed to be more user friendly and include on line forums
• Tenant Involvement Policy to be reviewed to reflect the TSA framework
• Local Forums to be reviewed to make them more inclusive to try and attract a
wider audience
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Home Standard
3 Home Standard
Our service standards for this service are:
• We will ensure tenants expectations are always met
with regard to the quality of repairs delivered
• We will ensure council owned gas appliances are
serviced and safety checked every year
• We will ensure routine repairs are completed within 20 days
• We will respond to emergency repairs within 4 hours
• We will respond to essential repairs within 3 working days
• We will ensure empty properties are repaired and
returned to use as soon as possible
3.1 Repairs and MaintenanceOur aim: to meet the high standards expected by our customers, ensuring properties
remain in a good standard, achieve value for money and protect the environment.
We provide a repairs and maintenance service to 19,300 council homes, 340 leasehold
homes, and 1,100 garages across the city. Completing over 80,000 repairs on an annual
basis and returning over 1500 voids back into use in 2009/10. We also invested over £16
million in improvements to enable our housing to achieve the decent homes standard.
In February 2008, the council entered into a 10 year Joint Venture partnership with Kier
Stoke for the delivery of repairs and maintenance services to its housing stock.
Some of the council’s aspirations for the Joint Venture Company (JVCo) were as follows:
• to deliver best in class maintenance, repair and construction services,
• recover the set up costs of the council in forming the Joint Venture Company,
• access new markets and expand the work base of the new company,
• contribute to the improvement and enhancement of the social, economic and/or
environmental well being of the City of Stoke-on-Trent,
• deliver Best Value solutions for all clients,
• improve the quality and consistency of service delivery,
• and the Council maintains control over the future direction and focus of the new
organisation
The tender process and contract award generated savings against the former repair job
costs of 6% for responsive repairs and 10% for relet (void) work. The following table
shows the anticipated savings over the life of the contract from these efficiency savings.
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Annual % saving Annual Saving over Budget Saving the term of
the Contract
Relet Repairs 4,200,000 10% 420,000 4,200,000
Responsive 5,600,000 6% 336,000 3,360,000
repairs
Total £7,560,000
The contract also covered capital type replacement works along with planned and cyclical
maintenance work. The costs supplied and currently used were tendered in open competition
and represent excellent value for money. To ensure these rates remain competitive, regular
benchmarking is undertaken through the use of Housemark and the Efficiency North
Partnership, where comparisons are made with similar council’s.
Getting repairs right first time is a major aim. The table below shows the response to
repairs and completion of repairs for 2009/10 and provides comparison with other similar
landlords:
Stoke City
Council Council 1 Council 2 Council 3
% of responsive repairs
with appointment made
and kept 93.00% 91.26% 84.89% 85.54%
% of all responsive repairs
completed within target 88.00% 98.04% 97.09% 94.54%
Kier Stoke has now been operating for almost two and a half years and is currently being
reviewed, using the Vanguard lean thinking approach. The purpose of the review is to
apply an improved approach to service delivery.
Repairs and Maintenance - Actions Planned:
• We will improve our approach to repairs through our Vanguard review project
• Improvements to the diagnosis and way we deal with repair requests
• Empowering operatives to diagnose the repair or authorise a replacement and to
carry out any other repairs identified by the tenant at the time of the visit.
• Offering time specific appointments to tenants at a time convenient to them
3.2 Quality of AccommodationOur aim: to use our resources to maintain and invest in our properties so they meet
the decent homes standard.
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The Council has in place significant
programmes of investment for planned,
cyclical and capital investment type
works. In 2010/11 the council will carry
out the following items of programmed
works activity as shown.
Replacement Element
Rewire
Bathroom
Kitchen
Roof
External doors
External decoration
Gas Service
Adaptations
Number
100
807
1,200
75
900
3,250
17,000
200
Figure *** Stock Condition information In order to test validity of this statement Stoke CC are to commission an independent stock condition survey to be completed by end March 2011. The purpose of the survey is to validate the data held in Codeman 4, the Councils asset management database, and to inform the investment decisions of the Council over the next 30 years. In addition an in- house survey of 20% of the stock is to be undertaken each year to inform works programmes for the following year. These programmes will be advertised on the Councils Website and displayed in all council offices.
Figure: Actual to Planned non-decency levels (from August 2009 – December 2010)
Component Tenants Choice
Kitchen Unit fronts, Worktops,Floor tiles, Wall tiles, Paint colour
Bathroom Bath Panel, WC seat, Paint colour
Entrance Doors Colour, Style
Central Heating Fire type, Electric fire surround style and colour
The council’s Decent Homes Plus Standard offers a wide range of choice to tenants on the
work to be carried out to their homes. This includes:-
The council will complete its Decent Homes Programmes by October
2010, ahead of schedule and within approved budgets
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A new programme of works to blocks of flats and servicing to non domestic buildings has
been produced. This information is to be shared with tenants and leaseholders and will
allow the council’s leaseholders to plan for investment work in their blocks and to make
financial provision where they are required to contribute.
The council has in place a relet standard agreed with tenants. This standard has been
written in consultation with tenants who sit on the Void Service Improvement Team. The
council manages around 1,500 relet properties per annum. The councils ‘Quit to Let’
target for 2009/10 was 33 days and the actual outturn position was 36.7 days.
Performance of Kier Stoke in this area is shown below.
The relet process will also be subject to a Vanguard review (in conjunction with the
allocations service as these two services operate together) and it is anticipated this will
result in changes to the way this service is delivered and will improve performance and
raise tenant satisfaction levels.
The council considers the health, safety and well being of its tenants its highest priority
and invests heavily to ensure compliance with all legislation and regulation relating to the
health and safety of the occupants of their homes.
The council carries out the annual gas safety check and service to around 17,500 individual
gas appliances each year along with communal boilers. In 2009/10 99.17% of appliances
were checked and serviced. As at 21 July 2010, 99.36 % were checked within the target –
meaning only 108 properties have not had a service within the previous 12-month period.
This is still too high a number and we proactively tackle cases where tenants do not let us
in to carry out the annual gas safety checks. Kier Stoke provide a paperless service using
the handheld electronic devices and the electronic storage of the landlord’s copy of the
CP12 gas safety certificate. This brings administrative efficiencies and a reduction in costs
to the council.
The council has been undertaking asbestos surveys of all our properties including communal
areas and sheltered accommodation. The council has to date carried out over 7,000
surveys and is now preparing to notify all tenants where asbestos containing products
exist within their home. A leaflet campaign and the training of front line staff to assist
tenants with advice when they express concern about the notification they receive, will
support this process.
Type of void % Completed Number of Average
on time Properties Cost
Minor void (12 day, £0-£2,500) 94% 818 £1,407
Intermediate void (22 day, 96% 454 £3,197
£2,501-£5,000)
Major void (45 day, over £5,000) 94% 238 £5,842
All void types 95% 1510 £2,669
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The council is nearing the end of a 5 year programme to
carry out full periodic electric testing to all our homes
and the aim is to complete this by the end of 2010/11.
This will ensure that all our stock has been fully checked
and certified and has had any urgent works carried out.
The results will also identify electrical investment
requirements which need to be built into our future
planning processes.
Adaptations are an important part of our service to support
tenants with disabilities to continue to reside within their
homes. A joint officer working group has been established
to manage the process of delivering adaptations to the City.
The group is made up of officers from Disability Resource
Team, Kier Stoke, Housing Standards and the Contract
Management Team. The group consider strategic issues in
the first part of the meeting and individual cases in the latter
part ensuring both operational and strategic issues are dealt
with in a joined up manner.
Funding of £1.9 million has been provided for the period
2010/11 to deliver adaptations to Council owned properties.
The funding for council adaptations has been increased this
year by £600,000 to clear a backlog in past referrals. It is
anticipated by December 2010 that the backlog will be cleared
and the maximum wait for major adaptations should not exceed
12 weeks from this time.
Quality of Accommodation - Actions Planned:
• We will improve our approach to voids (in conjunction with allocations) through
our Vanguard review project
• We are exploring the possibility of offering some repair services to leaseholders,
to bring in additional income and ensure improved safety in all of our properties.
• Other initiatives under consideration include fitting interrupters on boilers where
tenants frequently fail to give access for gas safety checks (for tenants who are
not vulnerable) and co-ordinating visits with requests for routine repairs.
• A new Client intervention team is also proposed to ensure all gas servicing is
delivered within its anniversary date.
• We will undertake an asbestos notification and advice process.
19
Tenancy Standard
4 Tenancy Standard
Our service standards for this service are:
Housing Options Service:
We will provide you with a personal housing options adviser
We will keep in touch to make sure that the advice and assistance
we have given has provided a good housing outcome for you
Lettings Service:
We will confirm your decision to join our housing register and assess your
application within 5 working days of you providing us with all requested information
We will offer you an accompanied viewing before we ask you to sign up for a tenancy
We will keep you informed on a weekly basis of the progress of a property that you
have been successful for
We will contact you at least twice a year to check that you wish to stay on the
housing register
Homelessness:
We will explain your legal rights and responsibilities in plain language
We will give you a decision on your application within 33 working days and we will
tell you if there is going to be a delay
Some other service standards apply within this standard but also cover the
Neighbourhood and Community standard, so are covered within that chapter.
4.1 AllocationsThe council has been offering a choice-based
letting system (CBL) since June 2004. This
process allows customers to have a say in
where they wish to live. As of July 2010 there
were 9,277 people on the housing register,
consisting of Homeless, Transfer and Waiting
List applicants.
In keeping with the council’s allocation policy, and
commitment to helping those in greatest need, each
applicant is allocated a ‘banding’ as follows:
Band Description
1 Must find a home
2 Must move soon
3 Need to move
4 Want to move
20
Property Type Occupant Profile
Flat Singles, Couples and families
Houses Families with children
Bungalows Singles and couples over the age of 60 or with a disability
where a bungalow is deemed as the only suitable
accommodation. Bungalow accommodation is occasionally
allocated to applicants over the age of 55 where we have not
been able to identify an eligible applicant.
Adapted Properties To the applicant who is best suited to the adaptations in the
property (subject to Occupational Therapy approval)
In addition to this, the council aims to match the tenant to the most appropriate property;
therefore the guideline criteria are as follows:
Property Allocation - By Property Type
0
200
400
600
800
Bungalow Flat House
As part of its strategy for addressing
homelessness, the council works
with other Registered Social Landlords
(RSLs), including Housing Associations
and Accredited Landlords.
A ‘nomination agreement’ has been
established with Registered Social
Landlords; this ensures all vacant
properties offered to the council are
advertised through the Homeline free
sheet. This information is published
weekly in a newsletter and is available
on the Internet – www.homeline.org.uk,
as well as at the Housing Advice
Centre, Local Centres and other
customer access points.
Applicants are assessed in accordance
with the council’s Allocations Policy. In
the year April 2009 to March 2010,
316 properties were allocated as
nominations to Registered Social
Landlords:
Registered Social Landlord Allocations
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
SANCTUARY
SOT HSL
STAFFS HA
MIDLAND HEART
BROMFORD
WILLIAM SUTTON
RIVERSIDE
During the period April 2009 to March 2010,
1,536 properties were allocated:
In order to address the issues of under-occupation and overcrowding, the council operates
a Transfer Incentive Scheme. Tenants who qualify for this scheme are given a priority
banding on the Housing Register to facilitate a quicker move, and financial incentive is
offered in order to attract tenants to the initiative. Designated officers are assigned to the
tenant to assist them with the actual practicalities of moving. This allows applicants on a
priority banding to be found appropriate accommodation more effectively.
The council operates a Mutual Exchange Scheme; this offers current tenants the opportunity
to exchange their home with other like-minded occupants.
Every customer on the Housing Register is sent a Homeline Scheme User Guide. This
document explains how the Choice Based Letting scheme operates and includes information
on the other housing options that are available to them, for example mutual exchange,
HomeBuy schemes, private rented properties, sheltered housing and retirement villages.
The guide provides information on the council housing stock, the number and type of
properties available and the average waiting times. This information can be found on the
Homeline website. For applicants who are either vulnerable or have mobility issues,
Homeline is available by post.
Adapted properties are advertised in the free sheet with a mobility symbol, details of the
adaptations, and a statement is put on the advert to advise that priority will be given to
those applicants whose mobility needs match the adaptations.
The current Allocations Policy was implemented in March 2008. It outlines how the banding
system is implemented. All applicants are notified in writing of their banding and eligibility.
A written copy of the full policy is available to customers on request, or it can be
downloaded from the Homeline website - www.homeline.org.uk
As of July 2010, the banding of
the 9,277 applicants on the
housing register was as follows:
In order to make the allocation
process widely accessible,
access is available in a number
of ways. Methods include
application form, telephone
and in person at any Local
Centres or One Stop Shop.
Applicants can bid by telephone, text, via the website, calling
into an access point or email. The Council offers assisted
bidding for vulnerable applicants who are unable to place bids
themselves.
Customers can be supplied with information in large
print, Braille or on Audio CD. A Learning Disability Guide
(MAKATON), explaining the registration, banding and CBL
process is currently being developed. We are working to
ensure that information we provide will be simplified. One
example is the use of symbols and sign-language for
customers with different learning disabilities.
21
22
Applicants with a vulnerability or support need are identified during registration and given
assistance. When suitable accommodation has been offered to this group of applicants,
support needs are identified, and referral is made to the council’s Community Support
Team and to Smartmoves where applicable.
Housing Solutions work closely with the council’s Translation and Interpretation Service.
Their role is to help explain the registration and Choice Based Letting process to customers
who do not speak English as a first language, and who may have difficulties with written
English. A translator is used during the sign-up process so that the tenancy conditions,
details of the rent etc are clearly explained to the applicant. The Letting Team helps
customers who have difficulty with English, or have support needs, to complete forms.
The ‘Performance Monitoring and Vulnerable Persons Officer’ within the Lettings Team,
has put reporting mechanisms in place for identifying, contacting and assisting customers
who have support needs. The Officer has also developed strong links with support
agencies/providers.
The Lettings Team work closely with the Housing Options and Homelessness team and,
where applicable, share information about customers who have support needs and/or
vulnerability issues.
The council have worked with the ‘Places to Live Team - Learning disabilities’ on a pilot
scheme. The aim is to match properties with the needs of customers with learning disabilities.
This can be in terms of property attributes and location. Potential properties are assessed
for their features; suitable properties are offered and let to customers identified by the
‘Places to Live Team’. These homes are not advertised through the usual Choice Based
Letting system.
Housing Solutions work with ‘Children and Young People Services’ (CYPS) to identify
suitable homes for families. Appropriate properties are offered and let to customers identified
by the CYPS team; these are not advertised though our Choice Based Lettings system.
In order to monitor the allocations performance indicators, a number of indicators are
reported on a monthly basis. These include:
• Percentage of properties re-let within 10 working days once all work has been completed;
• Average time taken to re-let local authority housing
23
Allocations - Actions Planned:
• We will improve our approach to allocations (in conjunction with voids) through
our Vanguard review project.
• Develop more robust performance monitoring and recording mechanisms to
show who is on our housing register and what their housing needs are.
• Undertake wider consultation with our service users, tenants and potential
tenants on the way the allocations policy operates.
• Provide access to clear relevant advice about housing options. Also need a more
detailed and comprehensive booklet on the range of housing options available.
• Develop local area guides in order to help maximise choice and enable tenants
and potential tenants to move to other areas in the City to access employment
opportunities or to meet the needs of their family. Local area guides will help to
give customers more information about areas they may dismiss because they
know very little about them in terms of employment, schools, churches, mosques,
health centres, regeneration projects, leisure/parks recreation facilities and so on.
• Improve partnership working with Registered Social Landlords and monitor their
performance against nomination targets. Nomination arrangements need to be
revisited and reviewed as a matter of priority over the next 12 months.
• Local Lettings Policies need to be revisited/reviewed; customers need clear information on local letting policies and we need to be able to demonstrate that they are effective.
4.2 TenureOur aim: to provide high quality tenancy management services.
Our Tenancy Agreement sets out the council’s responsibility as a Landlord and the
responsibilities of a tenant. All tenants at sign-up are given a Tenancy Agreement and it
is also available online to view and download if required.
We have a range of processes and services
in place to deliver tenancy management.
We undertake both visits to new tenants
and annual tenancy review visits to a
sample of 25% of homes each year.
The visit helps us to check tenancies, ensure
properties are occupied by the correct
tenant and to see if any support requirements are needed. If support requirements are
identified, cases can be referred to our Community Support Team, who can offer support
services and also link to other partners for more in depth support if needed.
Activity Performance
2009/10
% of New Tenancy visit 97.6%
completed within 6 weeks
of tenant moving in
% of Tenant Review Visits 101.0%
completed within target
24
We recognise that tenants can get into debt and we provide a welfare benefits advice
service through the A4E Advice for Stoke service to tenants with rent arrears and other
debts. We are currently looking at ways to review how our debte advice service operates
this service.
A4E Activity Performance
New clients assisted 838
Total amount of debt identified, £3,033,989.20
existing and new clients
Total amount of debt re-scheduled with £2,665,340.30
creditors for existing and new clients
Total amount of Benefits claimed £1,065,161.60
for clients
Number of evictions prevented 27
Tenure - Actions Planned:
• Reviewing the ways that the debt advice service operates.
Neighbourhood and Community Standard
5 Neighbourhood and Community Standard
Our service standards for this service are:
• We will carry out review visits on all new tenancies within 6
weeks and then again after 6 months and 9 months
• For all existing tenancies, 25% of the stock will be visited
each year as part of an annual review
• We will provide assistance and/or refer to specialist
agencies if you are experiencing difficulty in maintaining your tenancy
• We will consult with you on any changes to your Tenancy Agreement or
to the services you receive from us
• If you request an alteration or an improvement to your home, we will write to you
with a decision within 10 working days
• We will treat all complaints of antisocial behaviour seriously and deal with these
cases in accordance with our antisocial behaviour policy
• We will carry out street inspections on all council estates ensuring each street will be inspected quarterly and an action plan drawn up to deal with any issues
that arise
• We will remove any offensive graffiti within 24 hours of being reported, any other
forms of graffiti will be removed within 5 working days
• We will attend to assess reports of fly tipping within 24 hours, try to identify the
perpetrator and arrange for it to be removed
5.1 Neighbourhood ManagementOur aim: to provide neighbourhoods
that are safe and clean, by working in
partnership with tenants, leaseholders,
and other tenants and stakeholders.
Providing services at the local level is
about our tenants’ priorities, concerns and
involvement. To provide services and
improve neighbourhoods, the city is divided
into five neighbourhood areas, each of
which has its own Neighbourhood Team that
works closely with tenants,
leaseholders, other
tenants, local Councillors,
statutory, voluntary and
community agencies.
A core function of Neighbourhood Services
is the estate management service to our
tenants and leaseholders, provided
through 8 Local Centre’s (throughout the
5 Neighbourhood Areas). The table below
provides information about the areas
managed and our council housing stock,
which totalled 19,300 at the end of March
2010. In addition, we also have 1,100 lock
up garages and 972 garage plot sites, as
well as 55 shops within our housing estates.
A number of the garage sites are no longer
sustainable and over the next year or so, a
review will be undertaken to assess the
demand, the income, expenditure and
potential alternative uses some of these
sites may have. A longer term review along
similar lines will be undertaken for our shops.
25
Area Wards Council housing stock
Northern Type 2009/10
Burslem North Houses 3,260
Chell and Packmoor Flats 556
Norton and Bradeley Bungalows 645
Tunstall
Eastern Type 2009/10
Bentilee and Townsend Houses 3,491
Abbey Green Flats 545
Berry Hill and Bungalows 857
Hanley East, East Valley
Western Type 2009/10
Burslem South Houses 757
Hanley West and Shelton Flats 537
Northwood and Bungalows 572
Birches Head
South Type 2009/10
Western Blurton Houses 2,534
Fenton Flats 1,041
Hartshill and Penkhull Bungalows 577
Stoke and Trent Vale
Trentham and Hanford
South Type 2009/10
Eastern Weston and Meir North Houses 2,512
Meir Park and Sandon Flats 499
Longton North Bungalows 917
Longton South
26
27
We have developed our approach to tenancy and estate management by working directly
with our tenants, through both formal and informal engagement. For example, we work
directly with the Service Improvement Teams in developing service standards to improve
our services and to be accountable to our tenants. Our service standards are illustrated at
the beginning of this chapter.
Our Neighbourhood Management service operating from each Local Centre includes
Neighbourhood Housing Officers, who look after a specific patch of properties,
Neighbourhood Impact Officers who deal with responding to litter, graffiti and they also
undertake street inspection and low level tenancy contacts, and Enforcement Officers,
who deal with serious tenancy breach cases or anti social behaviour enforcement actions.
We will carry out a peer review of estate management services in conjunction with Hull
City Council. This includes the involvement of tenants and staff from both Stoke and Hull
in visiting each other’s housing estates and assessing conditions, as well as a review of
policies and procedures. We hope this review will highlight both good aspects and areas
where we can improve the way we carry out estate management activities.
We recognise that our existing Tenancy and Estate Management policy
is now outdated and over the next year, we will work with tenants to
develop a revised policy.
5.2 Local area co-operation We work closely with other partners within the city. This is made stronger by our development
partnership working with a number of Registered Social Landlords, including Moorland’s
Housing, Staffordshire Housing, Affinity Sutton, Aspire and Great Places. We are working
on a range of regeneration and new development projects on our estates with these
Registered Social Landlords, so we all have an interest in ensuring a high standard of
housing management and estate management services are provided, both to our respective
tenants and the wider community.
Our Neighbourhood Service teams include Area Implementation team staff (AITs) who
undertake the co-ordination of tenant and tenant engagement including neighbourhood
forums and ward events; the production and delivery of ward plans, (reflecting local
priorities in consultation with elected Members, tenants and partners). The teams also
coordinate the direct delivery Groups and assist community groups with community events
and activities. The Area Implementation teams are responsible for leading and coordinating
the Area Implementation Partnerships that concentrates on local problem solving.
Partners comprise of the police, health, youth services, voluntary sector, etc.
Neighbourhood Management - Actions Planned:
• Peer review of service with tenants and another Local Authority
• Development of Tenancy and Estate Management Policy
28
5.3 Antisocial behaviour Our aim: to work in partnership with tenants, leaseholders, and other stakeholders
to tackle anti social behaviour within our communities.
We recognise that antisocial behaviour is damaging to both tenants and the wider
communities and we will take effective action to tackle it. We work closely with the council’s
Safer City Partnership, which exists to deliver national crime, disorder and substance
misuse strategies at a local level, through partnership working. The partnership ensures that
crime, disorder and substance misuse planning and programmes are delivered effectively,
in a structured and coherent manner, in our neighbourhoods.
Initiatives include the use of an Antisocial Behaviour hotline to report incidents, the delivery
of Respect Action Weeks in neighbourhoods and the use of Police Community Support
Officers, Enforcement Officers, Neighbourhood Housing Officers, Neighbourhood Impact
Officers and Safer City Partnership Officers to tackle Antisocial Behaviour.
Local area co-operation - Actions Planned:
• Strengthen working with Registered Social Landlords to tackle Antisocial
Behaviour
Anti Social Behaviour - Actions Planned:
• Implement new Antisocial Behaviour IT system
• Implementation of new corporate Antisocial Behaviour policy
(by the council’s Safer Cities Partnership team)
Total actions
across all
neighbourhoods
Verbal warnings 10
Written warnings 697
Parental Control Orders (PCA’s) 0
Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs) 132
Acceptable Behaviour Agreements (ABAs) 14
Acceptable Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) 9
Acceptable Behaviour Injunctions (ASBIs) 12
ASB related Notice of seeking Possession (NOSPs) 44
Demoted Tenancies by Local Authority 7
Evictions Orders (ASB related) 6
Gating Orders 23
Antisocial Behaviour enforcement over a
12 month period included the following actions:
29
Value for Money Standard
6 Value for MoneyOur aim: we are committed to ensuring that our services provide
value for money for the benefit of all tenants.
6.1 Value for MoneyTo do this we need to understand our tenants’ needs, priorities and
the cost drivers of the services we provide, so we can be confident
that we have allocated and prioritised our resources to the range of
housing services and improvement projects we have.
The way in which we use our income (mainly derived from rents) should, quite rightly,
be scrutinised by tenants. To help our drive towards value for money, we need all staff and
tenants to assist by avoiding waste, improving productivity and efficiencies, seeking improved
ways of providing better services, seeking new funding sources and sharing ideas with us.
Our average weekly housing management costs per property for 2009/10 were £13.47. Our
average maintenance costs were £14.46. Our benchmarking against the major cities group
and the larger stock retained authorities group shows our costs being slightly lower than
average in comparison to other organisations – our size enables some economies of scale.
The council now has a medium term 3 year rolling financial strategy, which helps to identify
the resources available and assist in both forward planning and the identification of
efficiencies required.
We have provided a range of efficiencies including the provision of “an invest to save” post
dealing with insurance claims under £500. By removing these from the council’s corporate
insurance cover, we have reduced our insurance premiums and that, together with a
stronger focus on the identification of insurance risks, has resulted in substantial savings,
of £139,000 for the insurance years 2008/09 and 2009/10.
We have a long term partnership to deliver our
repairs and maintenance services, through the
creation of the Joint Venture Company, (JVC) with
Kier Stoke. By adding private sector expertise from
Kier, we are aiming to improve services, reduce costs
and provide more training opportunities. The JVC is
the only organisation providing repair and maintenance
services to the council’s housing stock.
From a maintenance perspective, the Joint Venture
Company’s procurement contract award process
resulted in cost savings of 6% to responsive repairs
and 10% to relets. As discussed in section 3.1 (repairs
and maintenance), we are using benchmarking
information to ensure that our repair costs remain
competitive.
We have undertaken a number
of housing management
reviews into the way some
of our services are being
delivered. Services that have
had a review include:
• Leasehold Management Service
• Tenancy and Estate Management
• Access and Customer Care
(linking into a corporate review)
• Community Support
• Gas servicing
30
The Tenancy and Estate Management service is being reviewed to a further degree as part
of a much wider Task and Finish review of the way the council is delivering neighbourhood
management services, with the outcomes of this expected to be reported in the autumn of
2010.
In addition, a fundamental review of the way we provide all housing services will be
undertaken using the Vanguard systems thinking approach. The first project for this is for
our repairs service, with voids and allocations being the next. It is likely that the outcomes
from these reviews will be put into operation during late 2010 / early 2011.
There are a number of key objectives that we want to achieve as part of our drive to
deliver efficient value for money services. These objectives are as follows:
Sustainable Housing Revenue Account
(HRA) business plan - the current business
plan is due for replacement. The next
business plan faces some challenges to
ensure that the short, medium to long term
financial projections are viable and that all
our investment requirements are captured
and planned for.
We have responded to the Government’s
HRA Offer Prospectus “Council Housing –
A Real Future” which examined the benefits
of both opting out of the HRA subsidy
system (and becoming self financing) as
opposed to staying within it. We are waiting
for the Government to make a further
announcement in respect of it’s plans for
the HRA subsidy system and self financing
options. Once this is clearer, we will review
the best options for the council and build
these into a new business plan.
Understanding our costs - we want to
ensure that we fully understand our costs
and how these compare to other providers,
as well as the link between costs,
performance and customer satisfaction. A
greater use of benchmarking (comparing
our data with other housing organisations)
through HouseMark and the Association
of Retained Council Housing (ARCH)
performance club will be made, with clear
comparative indictors set up. We have also
members of Efficiency North, a northern
procurement consortium, to enable us
to obtain more specific repairs and
maintenance benchmarking information.
In addition, we recognise that we want
tenants to be involved in reviewing the
costs of the services we provide and how
this links to priorities, our aims and
aspirations and where applicable, to the
service charges that are in place.
Improve the way performance is
managed - while there are a number of
targets and indicators in use, the way in
which this information can be used to
manage the business could be improved,
particularly as we develop further ways
for tenants to review and scrutinise this
information.
31
Undertake service reviews and quality
audits - we have already undertaken a
number of service reviews and will continue
to do so, to incorporate wider reviews into
how services are provided, including the
use of the Vanguard system thinking
process review. We will want tenants to
be involved and will ensure that they have
any necessary training and development.
This will capacity build them so they are
fully part of any decision making process.
Running alongside service reviews are
quality audits, where reviews are undertaken
to established polices and procedures, to
ensure that these are being applied as
designed, consistently and that
non-conformities are highlighted as part
of an agreed action plan. Non-conformities
may result in additional costs by staff using
inappropriate working practices or failing to
use the most effective way of carrying out a
function.
Maximise service and cost improvements
from the Joint Venture Company, Kier
Stoke – the Joint Venture Company is a long
term partnering agreement which used the
European OJEC procurement process to select
a suitable repairs company to carry out all our
repairs and maintenance services. We believe
that the Joint Venture Company enshrines the
principles of partnering and a group of tenants
were involved throughout the procurement
process. We now want to ensure that we can
maximise the service improvements that the
Joint Venture Company have introduced to the
repairs and maintenance service and show
that cost savings made from the procurement
are re-invested into our long term investment
programme.
Develop a clear culture for Value
For Money - as the availability of
resources becomes more restricted
and the pressures for further stock
investment and provision of front line
services continues, the need to focus
on value for money is vital to ensure
that we achieve our aims. Staff and
customers must be involved at all
levels to encourage ownership,
accountability and ideas to further
raise the focus of value for money
and to improve services that
customers want.
Value For Money - Actions Planned:
• Development of replacement Housing Revenue
Account business plan
• Understanding our costs
• Improve the way performance is managed
• Undertake service reviews and quality audits
• Maximise service and cost improvements from the Joint Venture Company
• Develop clear culture for Value for Money
32
App
endi
ces
- 200
9/10
Per
form
ance
Aga
inst
Key
Ind
icat
ors
App
endi
x 1
– 20
09/1
0 Pe
rfor
man
ce
How
hav
e w
e pe
rfor
med
aga
inst
key
per
form
ance
indi
cato
rs
Tena
nt S
atis
fact
ion
09/1
0 or
31s
t M
arch
201
0 Ta
rget
Tr
affic
Lig
ht
Com
men
ts a
gain
st fa
iled
indi
cato
rs
HEN
S N
I 160
Lo
cal a
utho
rity
tena
nts'
sat
isfa
ctio
n w
ith
land
lord
ser
vice
s 80
.70%
80
.00%
Tena
ncy
Man
agem
ent
09/1
0 or
31s
t M
arch
201
0 Ta
rget
Tr
affic
Li
ght
Com
men
ts a
gain
st fa
iled
indi
cato
rs
HE
NS
H H
RA
LP
01
Ave
rage
wee
kly
man
agem
ent c
ost
£13.
47
£15.
00
HE
NS
NM
LP
03
% o
f Pre
Tra
nsfe
r Vis
its C
ompl
eted
82
.4%
10
0.00
%
C
anno
t alw
ays
mak
e ap
poin
tmen
t w
ithin
tim
esca
les.
Mor
e pr
oact
ive
targ
etin
g of
like
ly tr
ansf
er c
ases
to
be u
nder
take
n to
impr
ove
num
ber
of v
isits
take
n H
EN
S N
M L
P 04
% o
f Ten
ancy
Rev
iew
Vis
its C
ompl
eted
with
in
targ
et
101.
0%
95.0
0%
H
EN
S N
M L
P 05
%
of N
ew T
enan
cy V
isits
com
plet
ed w
ithin
6
wee
ks o
f ten
ant m
ovin
g in
97
.6%
10
0.00
%
O
ccas
iona
lly d
iffic
ultie
s of
gai
ning
ac
cess
if te
nant
wor
king
.
HE
NS
NM
LP
14
Num
ber o
f Stre
et In
spec
tions
Und
erta
ken
as
% o
f Tar
get
126.
0%
100.
00%
33
Rep
airs
& M
aint
enan
ce
09/1
0 or
31s
t M
arch
201
0 Ta
rget
Tr
affic
Lig
ht
Com
men
ts a
gain
st fa
iled
indi
cato
rs
HE
NS
NI 1
58
% n
on-d
ecen
t cou
ncil
hom
es
9.7%
10
.0%
HE
NS
NM
LP
06
% o
f pro
perti
es th
at h
ave
a cu
rrent
gas
ce
rtific
ate
99.2
%
99.5
%
A
num
ber o
f new
way
s to
impr
ove
acce
ss h
ave
been
intro
duce
d an
d a
cent
ralis
ed g
as te
am is
pro
pose
d to
he
lp fo
cus
reso
urce
s to
this
task
H
EN
S K
IER
LP
02
% o
f em
erge
ncy
repa
ir jo
bs (p
riorit
y co
des
0 &
1)
com
plet
ed w
ithin
the
targ
et p
erio
d 98
.0%
95
.0%
H
EN
S K
IER
LP
04
% o
f urg
ent r
epai
r job
s (p
riorit
y co
de 2
) co
mpl
eted
with
in th
e ta
rget
per
iod
92.0
%
88.5
%
HE
NS
KIE
R
LP 0
8 %
of r
outin
e re
pair
jobs
(prio
rity
code
3)
com
plet
ed w
ithin
the
targ
et p
erio
d 81
.0%
91
.5%
Pro
cess
is b
eing
revi
ewed
as
part
of le
an th
inki
ng a
ppro
ach
Empt
y H
omes
09
/10
or 3
1st
Mar
ch 2
010
Targ
et
Traf
fic L
ight
C
omm
ents
aga
inst
faile
d in
dica
tors
HE
NS
H
HR
A L
P 0
2 %
of r
ent l
oss
due
to v
oid
dwel
lings
1.
12%
1.
7%
HE
NS
H
HR
A L
P 0
4 %
of p
rope
rties
rele
t with
in 1
0 w
orki
ng d
ays
once
all
void
wor
k co
mpl
eted
83
.5%
87
%
O
ccas
iona
l diff
icul
ties
letti
ng s
ome
type
s of
sto
ck s
uch
as s
ome
smal
ler b
unga
low
s an
d sh
elte
red
beds
its.
HE
NS
H
HR
A L
P 0
6
The
aver
age
time
take
n to
re-le
t loc
al
auth
ority
hou
sing
(cal
enda
r day
s) A
djus
ted
to
take
into
acc
ount
maj
or re
pair
wor
k. M
onth
ly
cum
ulat
ive
36.7
Day
s 33
Day
s
Ti
me
in w
orks
has
impr
oved
as
a re
sult
of K
ier S
toke
. Li
nks
to a
bove
ta
rget
diff
icul
ties.
34
Tena
nt In
volv
emen
t 09
/10
or 3
1st
Mar
ch 2
010
Targ
et
Traf
fic L
ight
C
omm
ents
aga
inst
faile
d in
dica
tors
HE
NS
NM
R
I LP
18
Num
ber o
f res
iden
ts in
volv
ed in
cus
tom
er
pane
ls e
xpre
ssed
as
a %
of t
he to
tal
mem
bers
hip
84%
85
%
Tu
rnov
er o
f ten
ants
cau
sed
a fa
ll in
m
embe
rshi
p nu
mbe
rs.
Ren
t Col
lect
ion
& A
rrea
rs
09/1
0 or
31s
t M
arch
201
0 Ta
rget
Tr
affic
Lig
ht
Com
men
ts a
gain
st fa
iled
indi
cato
rs
CE
N R
EV
5
Am
ount
of G
ross
Arre
ars
£1,2
57,8
58
£750
,000
CE
N
RE
V1
Pro
porti
on o
f Ren
t Col
lect
ed (B
V66
a)
97.6
6%
98.7
0%
C
EN
R
EV
2 %
of t
enan
ts w
ith m
ore
than
7 w
eeks
rent
ar
rear
s (B
V66
b)
4.89
%
3.8%
Ana
lysi
s be
ing
unde
rtake
n to
iden
tify
trend
s in
rent
arr
ears
to h
elp
us fo
cus
reso
urce
s to
impr
ovin
g re
nt c
olle
cted
an
d am
ount
of r
ent a
rrear
s
CE
N
RE
V3
% o
f ten
ants
in a
rrear
s se
rved
a N
OS
P
(BV
66c)
36
.37%
50
%
CE
N
RE
V4
% o
f ten
ants
evi
cted
for r
ent a
rrea
rs (B
V66
d)
0.25
%
0.50
%
Hom
e O
wne
rshi
p 09
/10
or 3
1st
Mar
ch 2
010
Targ
et
Traf
fic L
ight
HE
NS
NM
H
O L
P 0
1 %
of r
ight
to b
uy a
pplic
atio
ns a
dmitt
ed o
r de
nied
with
in 2
8 da
ys o
f the
rece
ipt o
f RTB
1 99
.3%
10
0%
H
EN
S N
M
HO
LP
02
% o
f S12
5 no
tices
issu
ed w
ithin
targ
et –
fre
ehol
d 97
.3%
10
0%
H
EN
S N
M
HO
LP
03
% o
f S12
5 no
tices
issu
ed w
ithin
targ
et –
le
aseh
old
100%
10
0%
H
EN
S N
M
HO
LP
04
S12
5 no
tices
can
celle
d w
ithin
16
wee
ks
whe
re n
o ot
her a
ctio
n ha
s ta
ken
plac
e 98
.4%
10
0%