Agenda item

Jo Murphy, Kiran Aujla and Anna Turvey, Housing Services Directorate, were present and outlined the report and presentations to Members, copies interleaved

During consideration the following main points were made –

·         The Housing Triage team was set up in December 2019 as part of the restructure of the previous tenancy management, anti-social behaviour and customer service teams within the Homes and Communities service in Housing. The aim of the restructure was to streamline and improve how housing management enquiries are dealt with across the service. This is a centralised borough wide service and the Triage team is the gateway and acts as a single point of contact into housing management services for Council tenants

·         Prior to the launch of the Triage there were about 100 routes into the service and it was not possible to measure effectiveness, arrange cover or ensure consistency of service. The team triages all incoming enquiries and service requests by phone, e mail, correspondence, or e-form submitted through the Council’s website

·         The team triage all enquiries and carry out a rapid assessment to see if the enquiry can be dealt with fully at the triage team stage or should be passed to either the Targeted Team or Intensive Team. The Triage Team will establish via the triage process where a resident needs additional help, and escalation in a timely manner

·         The Triage team will assess the nature and urgency of the request, urgency or complexity of the issue, needs and vulnerabilities of the individual making the request and this may require intervention of a specialist officer and the Triage team will escalate the query to the Intensive Team due to the vulnerability of the resident or seriousness of the enquiry

·         The Housing feedback form was instituted in 2018 to manage the volume of members enquiries received. The aim was to ensure consistency in quality and speed of response times, and more robust data collection. The service also investigates and responds to complaints about the service, however in December 2019, in line with the Homes and Communities restructure, members enquiries and complaints were absorbed into the service

·         Prior to the formation of the Housing Feedback team there were numerous entry points across the Directorate for members to submit enquiries and for residents to submit complaints without a single point of oversight of each function. The team provides a single point of contact for Councillors wo have enquiries or who wish to address any issues raised by their constituents. The team is made up of experienced customer service officers, who will investigate complaints

·         Performance indicators and service targets – Members enquiries 10 working days, Stage 1 complaints 15 working days, stage 1 complaint reviews 10 working days

·         The Housing Feedback team is made up of 4 officers and manages a very high level of enquiries. During COVID there has been a significant backlog of increased casework, however despite this feedback on the service is good. Meetings are held bi-annually with the local MP’s

·         In order to clear the backlog additional staff resources on a temporary basis were brought in at the beginning of 2021, and as of 18 February the team has completed 71% of Members enquiries and is on target to complete all outstanding casework by the end of March and casework will be closely monitored

·         Responses are of a high quality and there is a single point of contact. The Feedback team is always available to receive enquiries and to escalate where necessary. Common examples include imminent evictions and risk of harassment and domestic violence

·         Noted that calls had reduced to approximately 800 per week and the average wait time was around 2 minutes. Quality controls had also been introduced and additional resource had been brought in

·         Noted that the local MP’s had indicated that they were pleased with the quality of the service and response times

·         A Member referred to the fact that whilst improvements had taken place residents did not necessarily feel these had taken place and that until KPI’s were in place improvements could not be effectively judged

·         In response to a question it was stated that  a mix of staff were being employed that included staff with experience of mental health, domestic violence issues, as this provided a broader mix of skills across the team

·         A Member expressed the view that it is important to be able to learn from any failures in the service which take place, and it was noted that the Triage system had taken this on board

·         In response to a question it was stated that counselling and well-being measures were in place for staff suffering from the effects of the COVID period and the extra pressures this has placed on staff

The Chair thanked Jo Murphy, Kiran Aujla and Anna Turvey for attending