Agenda item

This report provides an update on progress against the audit recommendations of the Council’s external provider (Mazars) during 2022/23 and 23/24 on Housing Services and Building Safety for the following service areas: Customer Experience (Repairs); Leaseholder (Services); Stock Condition; Gas Safety; and Stock and Stores

Mr Jahedur Rahman, Operational Director for Housing and Building Safety, introduced the report.

In response to questions, the meeting heard that:

·      In relation to repeat repairs, at the point of receiving a call, the contact centre determined the nature of the repair. Investment into the service had been made so that the recording was made accurately and so the officer making the repair would attend accordingly. 

·      In relation to the quality controls in place to improve the quality of work, there needed to a be closer inspection. Where operatives reported to team leaders, the team leaders would routinely go and monitor some the jobs that were done so some ‘housekeeping’ work was completed. For example, taking pictures before and after repairs. A letter had been issued confirm the standard of working. Failure to comply with the new way of working would result in disciplinary action.

·      On the stock condition survey, the aim of this was to get a good understanding of the condition of the stock. At the moment, the Council had 70% access to its stock. The Council was finding it a challenge to get to 100%. Most organisations would try to clone the data for the remaining 30%. The Council was invested in visiting the remaining properties over evenings and weekends. It was possible that by the time this was completed, the rate may go up to 75% or 76% by February 2024.  This would form the basis of the planning investment programme. 

·      In relation to strengthening compliance on the spreadsheet, there was a risk that had been recognised in relation to the use of spreadsheets. Until working methods moved away from the use of spreadsheets, the risk would be present. There was a focus on getting alternative methods in place. A contract had been ordered for the new compliance system and by April 2024, the Council could start to use the new system. There were six areas of compliance and the electrical compliance would be implemented by April 2024. The remaining areas there would have a phased rollout.

·      In relation to the electrical programme, this was due to be completed by the end of the year. By December 2023, all homes would have an electrical safety certificate, though there were some homes the Council was unable to gain access. The Council had 700 properties in which it envisaged having to go through legal processes. In total, the Council had about 13,000 homes with a valid electrical safety certificate. This was a significant improvement from the start of the year. 

·      The Chief Executive and Council had made it clear that improving housing was a top priority.  The Chief Executive chaired a Housing Improvement Board where analysis was completed examining the issues in housing services. Cabinet earlier in the year had agreed an additional £5 million investment into the housing service. Approximately £2.7 million would go into the repairs service.  

·      Monitoring would be recorded on a public document. The document had gone to Cabinet for approval. In relation to the progress of some of the recommendations, in particular, for the leaseholder ones, progress had been slow, but there had been a change of personnel across housing services insourcing.  Where there had been gaps in senior leadership, recruitment had been completed to those posts.  The staff members were progressing the recommendations. The Operational Director of Housing and Building Safety would test this. He would view all of the audit recommendations, examine when the recommendation was made, what the deadline was and the length of time to completion. The accountability would be part of the management team. In relation to wider scrutiny, the Audit Committee would be provided with updates on progress.

·      An announcement had been made earlier in the year regarding a paragraph 49 investigation into the Council’s services. A report had been published and 25 recommendations spanning nine different areas had been made. Part of the Operational Director of Housing and Building Safety’s priority was to go through the recommendations and implement them as soon as possible. Of the 25 recommendations made, the Council had implemented 20 and five were still outstanding. The feedback from the Housing Ombudsman had been positive. The Council had worked with them and used their feedback to implement some of the recommendations. Some of the findings were based on wider issues. For example, it was difficult to access homes during the lockdown period and after lockdown had ended, there was an influx of repairs that needed to be undertaken.  The Ombudsman recognised some of the issues that were specific to Haringey were also applicable nationally. The Council had shared with the sector what had been done with the feedback and improvements in policy. The Ombudsman had stated that they had confidence in the work that they had seen from the Council.

·      In relation to deadlines, there were key deadlines already attached to the recommendations. The Committee would be informed how quickly it would be possible to make progress on each of the areas, including stock control, gas safety and other areas. 

·      Repairs on single trade jobs were easy to complete, but multi-trade jobs had complications. Part of the plan going forward was to have a complex repairs team (in addition to the ordinary repairs team the Council had). 

·      The number of homes that had gone from a non-decency level to decency level had increased.

·      Whilst the challenges in Housing Services were recognised, it was important to note that a significant amount of progress had been made. This had been recognised by the regulator and the Housing Ombudsman.

·      There had been a case where the Council had taken a position where it had refused to do works in a particular property as a Council operative had been threatened with a hammer. Upon inspection, it was found that the resident had a history of antisocial behaviour. The work was then carried out when the resident was not at home.

·      It would take up to five years to bring all of the housing stock up to the standard decency level. When examining repairs, the Council typically looked at the attention given to the specific repair, not the wider cause, such as not having invested into the housing stock at the right levels. Part of the plan was to invest significantly over the next five years to bring certain homes to standard decency levels. At least 1,500 properties would be brought up to standard decency levels by the end of the year. However, it was still important to get the repairs service up to a greater standard.

·      Plans regarding sheltered housing could be added to the forward plan of audits for the next financial year.

·      On page 16 of the agenda papers, the term to ‘escalation matrix’ referred to some particular jobs where some calls got directly referred to certain teams. The point of access for residents was through the contact centre for residents and certain queries would then get passed on to the repairs team. There had been an improved escalation between the contact centre and the repairs team.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.