Agenda item

The Housing Review Board were presented with key performance indicators (KPIs) for quarter four of 2024/25.  It was noted that at the time of writing the report not all year end activities had closed and therefore some of the data was partial or subject to change once the year end activities were completed.  The end of year complaints data would be reported in July.  The Assistant Director Housing (Regulatory Services) gave a presentation which summarised the performance and actions being taken to improve performance, and gave some examples of successful planned works, adaptations and accessible homes. 

The service was in a strong position and had demonstrated incredible movement from the previous years’ performance. 

·        Void loss was just 0.1% above target.

·        The median number of days taken to relet a home had more than halved.

·        Contractors had completed over 14,500 reactive repairs in Council homes.

·        A priority focus for 2025/26 would be the improvement in completing jobs within target timescales.

·        Rentals continued to achieve sector leading outcomes, despite the economic climate and cost of living crisis facing residents. 

·        Income collection was excellent, with arrears at just 1.36%.

·        Rental support had helped tenants access food bank vouchers, electricity vouchers, white goods and discretionary housing payments.

·        25 cases were referred through the partnership with Homemaker Southwest, resulting in £95,502.97 of financial help for tenants and 2 evictions prevented.

·        Major refurbishments projects had been undertaken.

·        478 adaptations to tenants’ homes were completed in 2024/25.

·        Improvements in all but one tenant satisfaction category.

·        Complaint handling required improvement but additional resource had been brought in to support the complaints team and an incredible shift in performance was already being seen.

During his presentation the Assistant Director Housing (Regulatory Services) highlighted the Involved Devon Event which took place in March and focussed on 2 main topics selected by tenants; anti-social behaviour and the cost of living crisis.  Involved Devon was a networking group of professionals working in tenant engagement for social landlords, sharing best practice, ideas and resources, and delivering training and events.  The learning from the event would help inform the work that involved tenants carried out in their roles on the tenant scrutiny and participation groups.

During discussion the following points were raised:

·        Reusing outgoing tenants carpets/flooring where possible.

·        Discrepancy of data with contractors’ data.  Both sets of teams were working closely together to resolve this.

·        Concern that tenants may not know subcontractors were working for EDDC if they did not display branding.  All contractors had ID and tenants should be aware of a visit as an appointment would have been made.

·        Since the introduction of the member enquiry form there had been a reduction in the number of complaints being received directly by officers.  Complaint numbers were being monitored.

·        Compliance was at almost 100% across the board.  There was just one property with an outstanding electrical check.

The Assistant Director Housing (Regulatory Services) thanked all the housing service teams for the incredible journey over the past year.  Members present also thanked staff for all the service improvements, despite having less finances.  A request was made for scrutiny of performance two years ago in order to reflect back and learn lessons.  The Assistant Director Housing (Regulatory Services) replied that he thought that the improvement in performance despite having less staff and spending less could be attributed to a number of processes including reorganising functions, teams coming together and working really hard, and a change of staffing.  There was a new set of operational controls which allowed the budget to be managed well.

On behalf of the Board the Chair thanked the Assistant Director Housing (Regulatory Services) for his presentation and congratulated all those involved with the housing service.

RESOLVED:  that the Housing Review Board note performance at the end of quarter 4, 2024/25.