Agenda item

Matt West, Housing Director – Housing Property Services, presented the Scrutiny Initiation Document, copy interleaved and the Committee received a presentation on Responsive Repairs. Following a discussion the issues raised included  –

·         Responsive Repairs include emergency repairs to council housing and communal works to roof spaces, communal electrics and drainages. Also included are trades and cyclical testing programmes. The responsive repairs team also undertake adaptations in council homes and offer handy person service to all residents, however Gas and safety checks, estate works, repairs to the road and capital works are not include in responsive repairs.

·         The responsive team undertake over 75,000 repairs yearly of which 7,500 are completed within 2hrs, 15,000 in 24 hours and the rest is completed within 20 working days.

·         The repairs budget is £30 million, with 110 operatives covering over 21,000 directly managed properties

·         The repairs process commences immediately from the moment the issue is logged either by telephone, online system or referral by councillors. Repairs are then prioritised, then the scheduling system allocates the work to the operatives by PDA. Operatives attends and completes work taking photographs before and after the works and records notes on system

·         Random sampling is regularly carried out when jobs are completed however in instances about the quality of the works undertaken by a particular contractor, further sampling is undertaken.

·         Due to the scale of the service, measures to monitor performance include customer satisfaction surveys, number of first time fix, jobs completed on time and appointments made and kept. Customer satisfaction is primary driver and it is carried out independently of the Council with a 93% satisfaction level as indicated in the survey carried out last month

·         The Assistant Director acknowledged that the service receives about 1% complaints however this should be looked at in context of the 75,000 repairs undertaken yearly.

·         Challenges experienced by the service include the number of complaints, diversity of the workforce, recruitment, IT development, unstable market and the scale of the operations.

·         With regards to diversity in the work place, the Assistant Director acknowledged that although an industry wide issue, more needs to be done in terms of gender and ethnic background of staff as there is a recognition that the responsive team needs to reflect the society it serves. This is being addressed through its outreach and apprentice programme.  

-          In response to a question, the meeting was advised that the IT issues still remain especially with regards to the rollout of the capability of the dashboard which monitors performance across teams and wards. The Assistant Director indicated that by December, the system should fully operational.

·         In light of the concerns about the recent high prices in the building industry, the service has positioned itself into carrying out 85% of the repairs in house as compared to using contractors. Also the Council continues to work with neighbouring boroughs such as Hackney and Haringey on possible savings and sharing of services especially in terms of procurement.

·         The Assistant Director highlighted a number of developments and work in progress to improve the service such as the soft launch of the Dashboard in winter of 2018; improvements to online services and appointments; offering its services to leaseholders at competitive rates; also commencing direct works on void properties and recently signed up 6 more young people on apprenticeship schemes.

·         With regard to online repairs, Members were informed that public take up was low however further developments would be introduced to increase its functionality by the end of the  year.

·         The Service will be providing DIY videos to resident to assist residents with repairs that are not undertaken by the Council. Members were advised that although the multi skilling programme involving all operatives was presently half way through its duration, there is a recognition that this would assist in improving the levels of first time fixes. New vans, tools and materials are to be made available in 2019.

·         Members were advised that with regards to the recommendations from the previous review on responsive repairs in 2016, the Ring and Bring service was currently being trialled. In addition the use of texts to update residents about appointments was being considered and the Service will be making better use of notice boards and Area Teams in an attempt to address and improve communication.  

·         With regard to the scrutiny process, Members were advised that a presentation will be provided from the repairs front line staff, a comparative neighbouring borough and site visits to be facilitated as part of the evidence gathering exercise.

·         The Assistant Director acknowledged that during peak times there can be long waiting time experienced by tenants logging a repair, however advised that the online repair service should bring improvements. A suggestion on the possibility of incorporating a traffic light system on the Council website as a guide for tenants denoting peak and quiet times was noted.

·         On concerns regarding how work was being allocated, the meeting was advised that the scheduling system should allocate work to the nearest operative.

·         Members were concerned with the discrepancies reported about customer satisfaction levels by Officers, compared to experiences of their case work, the Assistant Director informed the meeting that the survey is carried out by independent company, and Officers look at further analysing where the level of dissatisfaction lies.

·         On the long running casework mentioned by Members, the Assistant Director apologised and advised that details of such cases be referred to him or the customer services and it would be looked into.

·         A suggestion that with the introduction of the Ring and Bring service, whether there was scope for repair operatives who presently work out of transit vans to switch to the use of electric assisted bicycles especially for minor works was noted.

·         Photographs are being taken before and after carrying out repair works by operatives which has positively received by the operatives and beneficial as it allows the service to monitor the quality of the works undertaken by the operatives and importantly help to improve customer satisfaction.

·         In response to a question on the possibility of tenant’s being able to assess their repair history, the Assistant Director advised that this would be taken on board. In addition the Director advised that Members would be provided a demonstration of the online system so any input or suggestions are welcomed.

·         A question was raised on whether the present dashboard system could seamlessly integrate with the 2 IT housing system especially in instances where a tenant is involved with another section of the council, such as social services, or the tenant has a support worker ie mental health.

·         In response to a question about the challenges experienced by operatives accessing a leaseholders flat to fully address a fault in the tenants dwelling, the meeting was advised that in the short term not much could be done,  however in the future with new blocks of flats being built, officers are liaising with the new build team on issues of the siting and location of communal cables and pipes to avoid access issues that repair operatives currently experiencing.

·         On the issue of multiskilling, the Assistant Director advised Members that the Council is currently half way through a 3 year training programme which has been welcomed by operatives and beneficial to residents especially where works being undertaken are ancillary. A concern was raised that the programme could result in low morale amongst operatives as main skills acquired over the year was being diluted and concerns in the future that this initiative could be abandoned as it is evident in the private sector.

·         In response to a question on the impact of cyclical repairs on responsive repairs, the Chair stated that although not being considered in this review , the Committee would be interested in the relationship between cyclical improvements and responsive repairs in the future.

·         With regards to concerns raised by a leaseholder of being repeatedly charged for works undertaken, the Assistant Director requested that details be sent to Officers.

·         A suggestion to involve the Disability Housing Panel very early on during the design of any IT systems and to be invited when Members visit Brewery Road to view the demonstration of the dashboard was noted.

·         Members welcomed the dashboard system as it would result in the ability to measure performances of staff but concerns were raised about what the situation was with Partners as Islington residents should not be subjected to a two tiered system. 

The Chair on behalf of the Committee thanked the Assistant Director for his presentation and requested that the Director of Property Services be invited to attend the next meeting.

RESOLVED

1.    That the Scrutiny Initiation Document be agreed.

2.    That the Director of Property Services be invited to the next meeting.