Agenda item

David Salenius, Housing and Adult Social Services was present and made a presentation to the Committee on this item, copy interleaved.

Garry Harris GMB and Abena Asante, Housing and Adult Social Services were also present.

During consideration of the report the following main points were made –

·         A Member stated that there was insufficient equipment available at St.Lukes in the leaf fall season for caretakers and recently the leaf blower had broken and there was no replacement available. David Salenius stated that he would investigate this and ensure appropriate equipment was available

·         In response to a question it was stated that there was an incident of an assault on a caretaker some years ago but caretakers now had devices that they could use to contact a call centre to alert  the Police if it was needed. David Salenius stated that there had been verbal assaults on caretakers and that he would provide figures for the last 12 months to Members of the Committee

·         The view was expressed that tenants often complained about things caretakers did not do and that a schedule of duties could be provided to tenants. David Salenius stated that tenants could be advised of this and if there were complaints these were discussed with them and what was in the SLA

·         In response to a question as to tenants surveys on residents satisfaction with caretakers it was stated that these should be returned to the Area Housing Office and any problems would be addressed

·         It was stated that inspection of work on estates took place, with the exception of small blocks, and TRA’s were invited to attend inspections and dates were publicised on the website and that details could be provided to Councillor Williamson in relation to her estate

·         In response to a question it was stated that Housing would look into holding inspections at weekends or evenings in the Summer, although this proposal had not been successful previously

·         It was stated that Digital Services had been requested to update the website to show progress of repairs for tenants

·         Reference was made to the fact that if a caretaker was off sick it should be picked up fairly quickly by the Quality Assurance Officer and although cover was often able to be arranged this could not be guaranteed in 100% of instances. Members stated that consideration should be given to notifying tenants of a caretakers absence on the website

·         GMB stated that the SLA agreement with caretakers had still not finally been signed off but GMB were in agreement with it and there were other tasks that were not included that could be considered and he would be willing to submit a report to a future meeting on these. Members concurred with this view

·         Reference was made to the level of management in relation to staffing levels and if the caretaking service needed to generate more income this needed to be looked at in relation to the numbers of caretakers employed

·         The need for income generation linked in with the scrutiny review that the Council were undertaking in relation to Income Generation

·         The Chair expressed the view that caretakers could carry out small handyperson jobs and liaise with responsive repairs to generate income and it was stated that discussions were taking place with caretakers on additional tasks however in order to do this some current tasks may have to be deleted or additional caretaking staff employed

RESOLVED:

That GMB be requested to submit a report to the next meeting of the Committee as referred to above in relation to additional caretaking duties

The Chair thanked officers and the GMB for attending