Agenda item

The Panel received a report, which provided an update on the progress of the insourcing of the Council ALMO service, previously known as Homes for Haringey. The report was introduced by Cllr Carlin, Cabinet Member for Housing Services, Private Renters and Planning as set out in the agenda pack at pages 9-12 of the agenda pack. The Director for Place Making and Housing was also present for this agenda item.  The following arose during the discussion of this report:

a.    The Panel sought clarification about the timeframe for systems to be in one place and for the transfer to be working well. In response, the panel was advised that there would be regular updates to the panel in future as part of the improvement journey. The Panel queried whether there was an action plan which detailed when various aspects were transferred across and when improvements would be implemented. In response, the Cabinet Member advised that that this was part of the action planning and improvement plan which would be going to Cabinet in due course. It was noted that this entailed around 80 separate projects.

b.    The Panel requested that they would like to see the improvement plan and some key milestones at an early opportunity. The Cabinet Member agreed to share this with the Panel when it was ready and once the prioritisation structure had been agreed. The Cabinet Member advised that the Panel would also be scrutinising the wider process of improvements as part of its remit going forwards. (Action: Cllr Carlin/Clerk).

c.    The Panel enquired about whether complaints and member enquiries had been transferred over to the Council following the transfer. The Panel were advised that HfH member enquiries no longer existed and that all MEs were now dealt with by the Council’s member enquiry inbox.

d.    The Panel sought clarification around savings arising from the transfer, highlighting that a previous administration had identified £500k a year in savings from bringing the ALMO back in house. In response, the Cabinet Member advised that savings had already been made in this area over the years and that she did not think that savings of the level referred to were possible. It was noted that insourcing at other boroughs had not generated that level of savings.

e.    The Cabinet Member also set out that the HRA was ringfenced and that any savings that were generated would be used to improve the housing stock. The Cabinet Member advised that the driver for bringing the ALMO in house was improving services and the quality of housing provision, rather than savings. The Director added that the Council had adopted a ‘lift and shift’ model of bringing the services in house, partially to reassure staff that their jobs were not at risk. The Director advised that service reviews would be conducted going forwards as part of the improvement plan, to ensure that money in the HRA was being spent in the right areas.

f.     The Panel queried when Members could expect to see an improvement in terms of the level of service provided to tenants, particularly around repairs. Members noted that a lot of the casework they received was around repairs not being done. In response, the Cabinet Member advised that the standard of service would improve but that it would take time. It was noted that there were significant backlogs to get through and that the ALMO was not performing well when it came in-house, so there was a lot of work to do to bring it up to standard. There was also a lot of work to be done to change the culture of the services previously managed by HfH.

g.    The Director advised that one of the key things to consider was that a lot of the housing stock was in poor condition and had suffered generational underinvestment. The level of spend being put in by the Council was increasing year on year as part of a planned investment programme. Officers advised that they were bringing a report on this to the next panel meeting and emphasised that there was a detailed improvement plan in place and that the Council was reviewing its systems and processes as part of this.

h.    Members commented that residents had raised concerns that it seemed to be the same people responsible, it was just that they had transferred from HfH to the Council. In response, Cllr Carlin disputed this characterisation, stating that by bringing the ALMO in-house, the entire housing service had been brought into the Council’s  corporate structure and was now led by the Chief Executive and David Joyce. Similarly, in terms of political control, housing was now under the auspices of the Leader and the Cabinet. 

i.      The Panel enquired whether, as part of the review planned, there was any intention to change the ratio of operational staff to management. In response, officers advised that this wasn’t something that they had specifically looked at but that this would fall within the planned service reviews. Anecdotally, the Director commented that from his perspective he had seen some service areas that had adequate lacked management supervision.

RESOLVED

The Panel noted the report.