Agenda item

Kim Wells, Head of Repairs at LB Camden, made a presentation to the Committee on the organisation’s repairs service.

·         Camden had an in-house responsive repairs service. All capital works were carried out by an external contractor. One area of Camden had its responsive repairs carried out by an external contractor; this was to provide a comparison to the council’s service.

·         Camden’s service received 60,000 repair orders each year. The service employed 130 trade staff and 14 apprentices. It was noted that the service usually employed 12 apprentices however received a high number of exceptional applications in the past year.

·         Camden had brought its repairs service in house in 2012 in an effort to improve the service and remove duplication associated with the client/contractor delivery model.

·         Camden provided repairs to leaseholders and had previously provided these in accordance with the national schedule of rates. This was considered to cause unnecessary confusion and for this reason Camden had started to charge leaseholders the actual cost of each repair.

·         Camden’s repairs service was based on five separate local teams in order to promote specialist local knowledge.

·         Operatives were assigned one job at a time. It was noted that repairs services would traditionally allocate several jobs to operatives to complete in one day.

·         Camden’s operatives carried a variety of stock in order for them to complete repairs. If specialist equipment was needed, operatives could either make use of the “ring and bring” service in which parts were couriered to the property while the operative waited; or the operative could collect the part from the depot; or the operative could make a follow-up appointment with the tenant before they left the property.

·         Although emergency repairs were dealt with as soon as possible; all other repairs were carried out at a time to suit the customer. Tenants were able to report repairs and book and appointment online.

·         Camden had delegated decision-making on repairs to front line staff; operatives decided how best to complete the repair and made the decision to either carry out the repair or renew the fixture or fitting. This had resulted in savings through decreased levels of supervision. Supervision staff focused on quality control as opposed to decision-making.

·         The importance of quality ICT was emphasised. It was noted that Camden previously made the repairs service fit the limits of the ICT system, whereas the systems were now structured to support the service processes.

·         Camden used Kwest to independently measure repairs satisfaction. The organisation surveyed 20% of completed repairs and would interview tenants six to eight weeks after a repair; this was to ensure that repairs were completed successfully.

·         The Committee noted Camden’s use of Clickview, software which allowed satisfaction and performance to by analysed on a team, trade and operative basis. Data was able to be analysed daily and was reported to operatives in meetings with their supervisor. The Committee considered this to be a useful system.

·         Since Camden had brought its repairs service in-house, the service had experienced a 14% reduction in repair orders, 25,000 fewer telephone calls, an average reduction of four calendar days in repair time and a reduction in formal complaints and compensation payments. The average job cost had increased in year 2 but decreased in year 3.

·         The Committee queried how Islington Council could improve its “first time fix” rate. In response, it was advised that Camden increased this rate by having multi-skilled operatives. Residents logged their repair in a single order, as opposed to separate plumbing and electrical repairs, for example, and the service arranged for an appropriately skilled operative to attend. It was noted that some repairs needed to be carried out in sequence, such as plastering and painting, however in general combining repair orders led to efficiencies.

·         The Committee requested a copy of Camden’s Kwest survey questions.

·         The Committee noted the similarities between Islington and Camden and queried the possibility for shared learning and joint working on aspects of housing repairs.

·         Matt West, Head of Housing Repairs for Islington Council, advised that Camden had offered advice in bringing the repairs service in house and had demonstrated the use of Clickview to officers. It was suggested that making performance data available to all staff would encourage operatives to take ownership of the service.

·         Following a question on the satisfaction of vulnerable tenants, it was noted that Camden’s service carried out home adaptations and received positive feedback on this aspect of its service. The service also used a dedicated team for sheltered accommodation to ensure that the operatives were familiar to the tenants.

The Committee thanked Mr Wells for his attendance.