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Tenants at the heart
Agenda ALMO BOARD MEETING 4 March 2021, at 4.30pm via Microsoft Teams *
1. WELCOME 4.30
2. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
3. ANYTHING TO DECLARE
4. ITEMS FROM THE CHAIR
5. SIGN OFF OF THE 21 JANUARY 2021 MINUTES Attached 4.30
6. FEEDBACK FROM - Group Board - Repairs & Maintenance Improvement Programme
Update - CEP Update ART and Condition of Lettable
Properties
Attached Verbal
4.30
7. REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS
7.1 Garden Assistance and Ground Maintenance Update Attached 4.45
7.2 Customer Excellence Panel Report into Garage Maintenance
Attached 5.05
7.3 ALMO Performance Monitoring Report Attached 5.25
7.4 ALMO Board Support and Development Attached 5.45
7.5 Self-Assessment of Tenant Involvement Mechanisms 6.05
7.6 Deep Dive into Justified Complaints and Their Analysis Attached 6.15
8. CLOSING ITEMS
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
ITEMS TO FEEDBACK TO GROUP BOARD
ITEMS ON THE NEXT ALMO MEETING AGENDA - ALMO Performance Monitoring Report - Star Survey Satisfaction report - Capital Programme - Rents / Universal Credit update
Tenants at the heart
DATE OF NEXT MEETING – 20 MAY 2021 * Members of the public wishing to attend this meeting should email [email protected] for joining details
ITEM: 5 THE ALMO BOARD
4 MARCH 2021 UNOTTINGHAM CITY HOMES LIMITED
UTHE ALMO BOARD
MINUTES of the PUBLIC MEETING held on 21 JANUARY 2021 at via Microsoft
Teams Board Members Lynn Clayton
Karen Humble Georgia Power Ethan Radford Sarita-Marie Rehman-Wall (Chair) Michael Savage Janet Storar, MBE Julia Townsend
Also in Attendance: Jacquie Beacroft (Item )
Adrian Cheetham Jo Clifford Andy Culshaw (Item 6.1) Steve Edlin (Item 7.3) Cathy Dobb (Minute Taker) Stephen Feast Darrell Smith (Item 6.1) Phil Saunders (Items 7.2 & 7.3) Kathy Sheldon Cllr Linda Woodings (Item 4.2)
Customer Experience and Insight Manager Director of Property Director of Corporate Resources Change Manager Assistant Director of Asset Management Governance Manager Director of Housing Assistant Director of Property Services Assistant Business Improvement and Performance Manager Assistant Director of Tenancy and Estate Services Portfolio Holder for Housing and Planning.
1 WELCOME, INTRODUCTIONS & CHAIR’S ANNOUNCEMENTS The Chair opened the meeting and welcomed Board Members. The Chair welcomed
Julia Townsend as the new Tenant Board Member. The Chair also informed the Board that Geoff Bagnall would be stepping down from his role as Independent Board Member on the ALMO from the 21 February 2021. The Chair and the Board thanked Geoff for all his work on the ALMO Board.
2 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE None received. 3 ANYTHING TO DECLARE
Nothing declared. 4 ITEMS FROM THE CHAIR 4.1 The Chair reminded those present of the process to contact the Chair if they wish to
add items to the agenda. The Director of Housing (DOH) committed to ensuring Nottingham City Homes’ (NCH) Officers are aware of this process.
4.2 The Chair invited Cllr Woodings to update the Board on Nottingham City Council’s
(NCC) Recovery Plan. 4.2.1 Cllr Woodings informed the Board that the report was made public last Tuesday. It
was not known prior to publication that the report specifically mentioned NCH in its report and NCC had apologised to NCH for not informing them of this in advance.
4.2.2 Cllr Woodings updated the Board on the high level of scrutiny that NCC is currently
under following the public interest report and explained the impact of Covid 19 and Robin Hood Energy (RHE) has had on NCC. Cllr Woodings explained the process of the publication of the recovery plan, and that Plan addresses the recommendations from the public interest report. The Recovery Plan states that all nine companies that NCC has an interest in should be reviewed. As a council owned company Cllr Woodings explained that NCH will be the fourth review to be completed with the review being undertaken by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA). It was confirmed that the review process commenced in November 2020. NCC will be required to state the case for holding each of the nine companies, and the review will be transparent and fair.
4.2.3 The Chair stated that she feels NCH is a high performing company but understands
the reasons behind the review. Board expressed the need for tenants’ voices to be included in the review, and they should be part of the entire review. If there is a suggestion that NCH could be taken in house, then it is important that tenants’ opinions and views are sought. It was suggested that communication should be issued to tenants with regard to why the review is taking place and how they can be involved. Cllr Wooding agreed with the need to include the tenants in the review process and commented that historically those councils who have brought services back in house did so for financial reasons not those related to service quality, although no figures on savings have been produced to evidence this. Some Board Members had not received an email from the Chief Executive (CE) of NCH advising of the review; if a Board Member has not received the email, please let the Chair of the ALMO Board know and it will be reissued. The Chair is also available to talk to any Board Member outside of the meeting if required.
4.2.4 The Board thanked Cllr Woodings for attending the meeting and providing them with
an update. 5 SIGN OFF OF THE 3 NOVEMBER 2020 MINUTES The minutes were agreed as a true record. The Chair electronically approved the
minutes.
6 FEEDBACK FROM BOARDS AND COMMITTEES 6.1 UREPAIRS AND MAINTENANCE IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME 6.1.1 The Change Manager (CM) fed back to the meeting the key actions from the Repairs
Working Party:
Work continues at as fast a pace as possible given the current situation.
Review of Gas Servicing: a personalised approach will be provided for 24 tenants by contacting them to arrange a suitable time for their gas service appointment. These were those properties that were hard to arrange contact with. So far, 13 tenants have been contacted with 12 successful gas service completions. A new telephony system has been installed, which enables the admin team to monitor customer call volumes and respond to peaks in demand. The call pick-up rate has increased from 54% in October 2020 to 81%.
Review of the Customer Journey: there is work underway mapping out an end-to-end customer journey to get an understanding of where the problems and bottle necks occur. High-level findings revealed that a significant number of calls received were for an existing repair (double-checking or chasing a repair appointment). A deep-dive of ‘follow-on’ jobs has commenced and initial data has been shared with key stakeholders. Measures to reduce failure demand are currently being developed.
Review of Performance continues. A performance score card has been trialled, to highlight where there are issues in performance. Also trialled was providing Trade Colleagues with a full diary view, to see if this improves performance.
Review of Engagement is underway and a number of activities have been completed.
Other activities: We are working closely with Complaint colleagues and are in the process of reviewing the Repairs Service Managers roles. This was a key area that was identified that may not have had the impact expected, due to a high turnover of staff in this role.
The next Repairs Working Party meeting will be in February. 6.2 UCUSTOMER EXCELLENCE PANEL 6.2.1 Janet Storar, member of the Customer Excellence Panel (CEP) provided the Board
with an update on the Average Re-let Time (ART) and Condition of Lettable Properties review. The main items brought to the Board’s attention were:
The Board commissioned CEP to undertake a review that looked at all the performance levels of ART.
The ART is higher than it should be, but it was acknowledged that Covid 19 restrictions has prevented house moves at this time. However, there has been some progress. A SWOT analysis has been undertaken, and further meeting with staff has been arranged for the 27 January 2021.
The next CEP meeting will be in February. 7 REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS
7.1 UDETAILED DISCUSSION OF PROPOSED CORPORATE PLAN COMMITMENTS TO BEST MANAGE AND MAINTAIN EXISTING HOMES
7.1.1 The Director of Housing (DOH) presented to Board the report on the proposed
Corporate Plan commitments with regard to how to best manage and maintain existing homes. The key items brought to the Board’s attention were:
There has been comprehensive consultation on the development of the new Corporate Plan including consultation with tenants, the Board, staff and other stakeholders. The Board considered the impact of the White Paper on the Corporate Plan at an event prior to Christmas and it was decided to make the main part of the Plan the NCH Tenants Charter to provide a focus on the management and maintenance of existing homes.
The NCH Tenants Charter cover six key areas: To be safe in your home; To have a good quality home and neighbourhood to live in; To have a home you can afford; To have your voice heard and to be treated with respect; To know how we are performing; and, To have any complaints dealt with promptly and fairly.
The main focus of NCH’s new Corporate Plan is to build on the achievements of the Company to date by further improving existing homes and services provided to tenants.
7.1.2 Board Members commented that the Tenant Charter reflects what the ALMO Board
wants to see in the Corporate Plan, and they supported the Tenant Charter approach. Board Members welcomed the opportunity to discuss the Tenants Charter and make broader comments in relation to the Corporate Plan.
7.1.3 Board were informed that the draft Corporate Plan was issued to all Board Members
on the 24 December 2020, and that some ALMO Board Members had submitted comments on the Plan following receipt of the email. The Corporate Plan will take into account ALMO Board Members comments before it is taken to the Partnership Forum meeting on Friday. The Plan with then be submitted for Group Board consideration and approval next week. Board were informed that comments on the Tenant Charter would be appreciated.
7.1.4 Board Members commented that the Corporate Plan will set the strategic direction of
the Company for the next three years, and therefore needs to accurately reflect the ambitions of the Company. Board wished the following items to be considered:
To ensure that the Corporate Plan includes reference to Tenant engagement and consultation in relation to NCC’s review of NCH.
Needs to be consistent and transparent in the measures we use to demonstrate performance improvement. The example of tenant satisfaction with repairs was cited. The transactional survey result shows a satisfaction level of 97%, but other satisfaction figures provided to the Repairs Working Party have been at different levels. It was confirmed that transactional surveys do give a higher satisfaction result compared to, for example, the STAR survey rate as it is taken immediately after a repair has been undertaken. NCH will review whether other methods could be more appropriate. It was stated that this was taken as a percentage of the 130k repairs undertaken per year.
There needs to be a focus on the quality and condition of the estates, including ground maintenance. Board were reminded that there was a Deep Dive into Grounds Maintenance and Garden Assistance at the last ALMO Board meeting, and an update on this would be brought to the next meeting. Part of the remit of the Repairs Working Party was to look at the number of complaints that are received by Councillors, and these issues have been fed back to the Working Party. Board requested that information on this be issued to them.
Homes and grounds maintenance needs to be a priority. This will ensure that tenants are residing in well-maintained homes. The Board recognised that there is an obligation to build new homes, but the Corporate Plan needs to be clear on its priority in this area. It was noted that the Tenant Charter places emphasis on the management and maintenance of existing homes and will form the centre piece of the new Corporate Plan. Board were informed that over the next three years, £112m will be spent on repairs to the exiting stock, whilst, £84m will be spent on new builds. Safety and decency will remain two priorities. Board Members welcomed the Corporate Plan governance section in relation to the ALMO Board. Board discussed whether the governance arrangements have improved since the creation of the ALMO Board after the governance review in 2019. Some Board Members thought that the Board has been more tenant focused and has had robust meetings and discussions, with officers being challenged by the Board, but some felt that the tenants views on the Group Board had been diluted as there were only two Tenant Board Members. There was also a feeling of disconnect between the ALMO Board and Group Board. Board discussed the merits of an opportunity to discuss these issues and feed into the governance review being undertaken by the Governance and Selection Committee.
ACTION:
1. Change Manager to provide Board Members with information on the
number of complaints Councillors received that were referred to the Repairs Working Party.
2. Board comments to be incorporated in the preparation of the Corporate Plan.
7.2 UHOUSEMARK BENCHMARKING SUMMARY 2019-2020 7.2.1 The Business Improvement and Performance Manager (BIPM) informed Board that
the report provides key cost and performance comparisons for NCH compared to all organisations who benchmark with HouseMark. The key items brought to the Board’s attention were:
NCH continues to compare very well compared to all 353 housing organisations when it comes to providing efficient services and value for money.
We are top quartile for both housing management and repairs and void works costs.
The total cost per property for housing management and responsive repairs and voids works comes to £1075.11. This compares with £1357.14 (£481.74
Management, £875.40 Repairs and Voids) per property for the median across the sector.
This equates to an efficiency of £282.03 per property or £7.2 million over the whole of the stock. This is top quartile.
Our direct costs of housing management compare well at £242 per property compared to the median of £285, and this represents second quartile performance.
Spending on major and cyclical maintenance is £1795 (Quartile 3) and responsive repairs and void works is £629 (Quartile 1). Average days to complete repairs is 14.3 but in 2020/21 is now at 12.8 days. This has been adversely affected by Covid and staff isolating.
Gas certification remains at 100%.
Average re-let time is 25.5 days.
Satisfaction with the repairs service received (transactional) is 97.1%. NCH undertake both a transactional survey (carried out at the time the repair is completed) and ask a question in the STAR survey (perception based), which gives a satisfaction result of 81%. HouseMark’s STAR review found that transactional surveys carried out following a repair typically deliver satisfaction that is around 12% higher than perception surveys.
Time taken to answer phones has increased to 166 seconds, up by 58 seconds.
Overheads are lower than the average across the sector and stands at £364, compared to the average of £598. Overhead costs include IT, Finance, HR, salaries and other central back-office costs.
Average days lost to sickness is 11.4. which is a small improvement since the previous year, and we have moved from quartile 4 to quartile 3 in the latest report.
7.2.2 It was confirmed that Customer Service performance relates to one question on time
taken to answer calls made to the contact centre. The time taken to answer calls had increased during 2019/20 but since this time new technology, the multi-skilling of Customer Service Advisors and revised working patterns has had a positive impact on reducing the time taken to answer calls.
7.2.3 ACTION:
PIBM to provide Board Members with the data benchmarked against ALMOs of a similar size.
Board to complete a Deep Dive into the increase in people on Universal Credit (UC) and how we are supporting them and the impact on rent collection and services.
Board Members to forward their additional suggestions on Deep Dives for the year to the Chair.
7.3 UALMO MONITORING REPORT 7.3.1 The Director of Corporate Resources (DOCR) presented to Board the update on the
ALMOs current financial position at the end of Quarter 2 of the financial year which includes income and expenditure up till the end of September 2020. The key finance items brought to the Board’s attention were:
The majority of income is provided from the HRA through fees. This income is used to fund services provided to tenants as well as repairs and improvements to tenants’ homes.
The ALMO is currently underspending against its budget shown by the underspend of £911k. The position up to the end of Quarter 2 reflects a reduction in activity and spend due to the impact of Covid 19. The largest underspends are on materials, subcontracted works, fleet costs and employees.
Savings on pay costs and non pay cost such as materials. There is a predicted shortfall over the year and we are looking to complete the works outstanding during the lockdown. Looking to come in on budget which will be an achievement due to Covid 19.
The forecast anticipates an overspend against budget for the full year of £302k. This mainly reflects that underspends to date will be needed in the remainder of the financial year to complete repair and maintenance works that it was not possible to do in the first half of the financial year due to Covid 19 restrictions.
Government grant of £426k claimed and received through the Furlough scheme has provided additional income this year. Part of this will relate to staff costs on ALMO activities and budgets but this has not yet been recognised in the figures provided to Board.
The Grant received is currently being held centrally as continued restrictions and lockdowns mean there is a significant risk of additional cost pressures arising again, which the grant might be needed to offset.
7.3.2 The BIPM presented to Board the key performance items as follows:
The report provides the ALMOs current performance at the end of Quarter 2 of the financial year. We have included Quarter 3 information for those satisfaction measures conducted using the STAR satisfaction survey as these were available at the time of writing the report.
Nine of the 12 measures are in the upper quartile.
NCH is performing well, however our performance has been severely impacted in some areas due to the ongoing impact of Covid 19 and the Board should be aware that this will continue to be a theme for some time to come.
Whilst Gas Servicing is currently showing as quartile 4, this should be read in the context that all organisations will be subject to difficulties in meeting their obligations at this time. Latest from HouseMark from November suggests across the section gas compliance is at 99.6% and we are at 99.9%
Tenant satisfaction is over 89% and remains high. HouseMark reported in November that satisfaction has declined during the pandemic across the sector as a whole.
The transactional repairs satisfaction survey is 91%
Relet time for the period is 42 days, which gives a year to date ART of 37.62 days.
The number of lettable voids stands at 253, which is an increase from 129. HouseMark reports an increase in lettable voids across the sector of 43%.
Rent collection remains high although rent arrears increased from 2.9% to 3.46%. There is a predicted rent arrears rise across the sector of 4%.
7.3.3 The Assistant Director for Asset Management (ASAM) presented to Board the key compliance issues as follows:
The dashboard reports on the ‘Big 6’ compliance areas in line with NCH recently agreed Building Safety Compliance Policy.
Gas Safety Compliance has one property that is not compliant due to the tenant not granting access to the home.
Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR): NCH is currently running at 94.10% compliance with 1,495 EICRs remaining with an inspection date greater than five years. A dedicated team has been established.
Fire Risk Assessments are up to date, with no high risks actions.
Inspection of Communal Areas with Asbestos is at 100%.
Passenger Lifts are compliant with 100% of lifts checked.
7.4 UCONSULTATION ON COMPLAINTS POLICY AND PROCEDURE 7.4.1 The Customer Experience and Insight Manager (CEIM) presented to Board the
consultation on the Complaints Policy and Procedure . The key items brought to the Board’s attention were:
In response to the recently published Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code and the Social Housing White Paper, a new approach is being considered around Complaint Handling which will replace the current process.
Our priority will continue to be to ensure that all NCH employees understand that it is their role to listen, support and try to resolve any customer issues, concerns or dissatisfaction at the first point of contact. Staff will continue to engage and support the customer to reach an early resolution informally and support and signpost customers to the formal process if required. Employees will be trained accordingly.
Board Members are asked for their views on what the complaints process should look like, and Board Members attention was drawn to the questions in the report.
The CEIM would welcome feedback on the consultation document issue to Board, and requested that feedback should be sent to the CEIM or the ADTES by the 31 January 2021.
This consultation with Board Members forms part of the required consultation with stakeholders.
Action:
Board Members to provide any feedback to the Chair or directly to the CEIM
8 ANY OTHER BUSINESS 8.1 Board agreed the items for the next meeting as follows:
Performance Monitoring Report
Deep dive into Justified Complaints and their reasons.
Ground Maintenance and Garden Assistance Update 8.2 This was the ADTES’ last ALMO Board Meeting. Going forward, Stephen Feast,
Director of Housing, will be the NCH representative. The Board thanked the ADTES
for all her work on the ALMO Board, and they felt that she was instrumental in helping setting up the Board and giving it direction. The Board thanked her for all she has done for the ALMO Board.
9 DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING
The next scheduled meeting will be 4 March 2021. The meeting closed at 20.33
SIGNED………………………………………………… DATE ……………………..
ITEM: 1.5 THE GROUP BOARD
18 MARCH 2021 NOTTINGHAM CITY HOMES LIMITED
THE BOARD
MINUTES of the PUBLIC MEETING held on 28 JANUARY 2021 via Microsoft
Teams. Board Members Bill Blincoe
Andrew Dickinson Vicky Evans Rebecca Langton Georgia Power Sarita-Marie Rehman-Wall Michael Savage Malcolm Sharp, MBE (Chair)
Also in Attendance: Adrian Cheetham
Jo Clifford Cathy Dobb (Minute Taker) Stephen Feast Nick Murphy Dan Lucas (Item 10) George Pashley (Item 8) Darren Phillips (Item 9)
Director of Property Director of Corporate Resources Governance Manager Director of Housing Chief Executive Policy and Planning Manager Head of Governance and Compliance Assistant Director of Finance and Procurement
1 WELCOME, INTRODUCTIONS & CHAIR’S ANNOUNCEMENTS The Chair opened the meeting and welcomed everyone to the meeting. The meeting
was held via Microsoft teams due to Covid-19. 2 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Apologies were received from Mike Khouri-Bent. 3 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST None. 4 ITEMS FROM THE CHAIR 4.1 The Chair updated the Board on the impact of the current lockdown on tenants and
staff due to Covid 19. Nottingham City Homes (NCH) is still providing a full range of
services to residents, and are still undertaking a full suite of risk assessments. Colleagues continue to be careful due to the new variant of Covid, and officers are fully aware of the risk to tenants and employees. There is no suggestion that we need to move to a more restrictive level of service at this stage although we are keeping our position under constant review. We are supporting colleagues with any mental health concerns, along with child care arrangements. Some colleagues are suffering with bereavements in the family and are finding this third lockdown more difficult. Measures are in place to support staff. We also need to be aware of the impact this lockdown is also having on tenants. The Chair thanked staff for all their continuing efforts to ensure a good service is still provided to tenants.
4.1.1 Board Members discussed the role NCH has in the roll out of vaccines and how we
can support tenants and frontline staff to receive their vaccines. NCH has been promoting the vaccine roll out through social media and reposting information from Nottingham City Council (NCC). Many residents in Independent Living Schemes (ILS) are included in the early roll out and NCH is proactively helping them to get appointments and take advantage of the travel options available. We are rolling this support out to eligible tenants in general needs housing.
4.2 The Chair informed the Board that the NCC Recovery Plan includes reference to a
review of all Council owned companies. It was noted that the Nottingham Post published an article that stated that NCC is considering the option to take NCH back in house. NCH is proud of what it has achieved over the last 16 years, and NCC has stated that no decision has been made. It was also stated that tenants’ views will be sought before any decision is made. The Recovery Plan is a public document and while it does contain some generic timescales, nothing is detailed specifically for NCH. The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) have been commissioned to undertake a financial review but any review of NCH should be wider than the financial aspects and take account of tenants’ views.
4.3 The Chair informed Board Members that he, together with the Chief Executive (CE)
and the Director of Corporate Resources (DOCR) recently gave a presentation to NCC’s Companies Sub Committee. It was a constructive session and the Chair felt they were able to successfully present to the Committee NCH’s achievements, the financial benefits we brought the Council together with the challenges being faced.
4.4 The Chair apologised to Board Members for the late posting of the Budget Report
and the Corporate Plan. This was due to both items being discussed at last Friday’s Partnership Forum. Officers went out of their way to make sure that both reports were completed as soon as possible after that meeting.
5 CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 7 OCTOBER 2020 The minutes were agreed as a true record. The Chair electronically approved the
signing of the minutes. 6 MATTERS ARISING None. 7 FEEDBACK FROM BOARDS AND COMMITTEES
7.1 ALMO BOARD 7.1.1 The Board noted the minutes from the ALMO Board meeting held on 3 November
2020. The Chair of the ALMO Board thanked Cllr Woodings for attending the ALMO meeting held on 21 January 2021. The Tenant Charter was considered by the Board at that meeting and was fully supported by Board Members.
7.2 NOTTINGHAM CITY HOMES ENTERPRISES LIMITED BOARD 7.2.1 The Board noted the minutes from the Nottingham City Homes Enterprises Limited
(NCHEL) Board meeting held on 16 November 2020. The Chair of NCHEL informed board that:
The Meadows Police Station project had started.
It was confirmed that the 18 Arkwright Walk flats (now known as Ryehill) are not required by NCC, so they remain as market rented properties.
Discussions have been undertaken with the developer of the Grove Pub site with regard to NCH potentially managing the properties on their behalf.
7.3 NOTTINGHAM CITY HOMES REGISTERED PROVIDER BOARD 7.3.1 The Board noted the minutes from the Nottingham City Homes Registered Provider
(NCH RP) Board meeting held on 5 November 2020. The CE stated that:
Hannah Wilson from Homes England attended the meeting and talked about the grant funding. Should grant funding be applied for, we would need to pay for the remainder of the monies needed for the development.
An update on homeless accommodation was received. Laura Chambers Lodge decision is currently under reconsideration by NCC.
7.4 GOVERNANCE AND SELECTION COMMITTEE 7.4.1 The Board noted the minutes from the Governance and Selection Committee
(G&SC) meeting held on 17 December 2020. The Chair of the G&SC updated the Board on the meeting that was held yesterday:
There have been three Board Member leavers since the last Board meeting and there was a discussion regarding the role of the G&SC, and how to pick up learning from these leavers. The Group Chair and Chair of G&SC were due to take proposals back as to how data should be collected and assessed.
The Committee agreed to defer advertising these roles until the end of February.
Improvements to our governance following publication of the revised National Housing Federation (NHF) Code of Governance, the RHE Public Interest Report, the Social Housing White Paper and our own review of Risk Management is being dealt with by the G&SC. There is a detailed Governance Action Plan being developed that will be reviewed by the Committee.
7.5 AUDIT RISK AND COMPLIANCE COMMITTEE
7.5.1 The Board noted the minutes from the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee (ARCC) meeting held on 20 October 2020. The items brought to the Board’s attention were:
Sam McGrady from DTP, who are reviewing our risk processes, attended to observe the meeting. She will be reporting her final outcomes to the next ARCC meeting on 9 February.
The ARCC received a report detailing NCH’s compliance with standards set by the Regulator of Social Housing. ARCC were satisfied overall with levels of compliance but noted that the regulations would be tightening following the recent publication of the White Paper on Social Housing. Officers will be reporting back on this shortly.
The ARCC particularly noted the work going on to maintain our gas compliance record during the pandemic. It currently sits at 99.9%.
7.5.2 The Chair of the Group Board was in agreement for the DTP Risk Review to be
issued to Board Members. The summary of the recommendations from the review have already been incorporated in to the Governance Action Plan that is being considered by the G&SC.
8 GOVERNANCE INFORMATION REPORT 8.1 BOARD MEMBER RESIGNATIONS AND RECRUITMENT 8.1.1 The Head of Governance and Compliance (HOGC) informed Board that Audra
Wynter, Chair of the NCH RP and Group Board Member, and Geoff Walker, Chair of ARCC and Group Board Member, tendered their resignations. In addition to this, Geoff Bagnall, Independent Board Member on the ALMO Board will be stepping down from that role on 21 February 2021. The ALMO Board had a Tenant Board Member vacancy, and Julia Townsend has been appointed to this position. The G&SC are reviewing the Board recruitment process. Vacancies will be recruited after the G&SC have been able to consider approach to recruitment and selection.
8.1.2 The Group Board agreed for Andrew Dickinson to be the new Chair of the ARCC via
the urgency procedure. Andrew Dickinson had already been subject to the Board recruitment and appointment process and is currently a member of ARCC and NCH RP. Traditionally the Chair of ARCC also represents ARCC on the Group Board. Therefore Board Members were asked to agree to Andrew Dickinson’s appointment onto the Group Board with immediate effect. Andrew will also be standing down from NCH RP Board.
RESOLUTION:
The Board agreed:
1. To note the update on Board Member resignations and recruitment. 2. To approve the appointment of the Chair of ARCC to the Group Board.
8.2 NCC RECOVERY PLAN 8.2.1 Board were informed that, as noted earlier in the meeting, NCC had produced a full
Recovery Plan following the Robin Hood Energy (RHE) Public Interest Report and
the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) Non-Statutory Review. As expected, the Recovery Plan includes a commitment to review all Council owned companies, including NCH.
RESOLUTION:
The Board agreed:
1. To note the update on NCC’s Recovery Plan. 8.3 BEST COMPANIES 8.3.1 Board were informed that since the report issued last week, it has been decided to
defer the Best Companies survey. This has been done with the full support of staff and trade unions. Instead, NCH will run a specific in-house survey which will focus on employee wellbeing.
RESOLUTION:
The Board agreed:
1. To note the Best Companies update. 8.4 BOARD MEMBER APPROVALS 8.4.1 NCH reviewed its governance and compliance arrangements to find ways of
reducing the risk of people contracting the Covid-19 virus which included the execution of official documents that require a wet signature from a Board Member. The Board approved the arrangement at the Group Board Meeting on 7 October 2020 and requested that this approval be reassessed in six months, which will be at the March Group Board Meeting.
8.4.2 The arrangements have been used in the following instances, to purchase
properties in Tranche 4 of the Dispersed Homelessness programme:
TR1 Transfer of Registered Title for the purchase of 12 Bradbury Street, Sneinton, Nottingham, NG2 4AZ for £87,500 on the 20 October 2020.
TR1 Transfer of Registered Title for the purchase of 62 Lichfield Road, Sneinton, Nottinghamshire, NG2 4GG for £85,000 on the 20 October 2020.
TR1 Transfer of Registered Title for the purchase of 52 Leighton Street, St Anns, Nottingham NG3 2FZ for £99,000 pm 20 October 2020.
TR1 Transfer of Registered Title for the purchase of 10 Delta Street, Nottingham, NG7 7GJ for £102,500 on 20 October 2020.
TR1 Transfer of Registered Title for the purchase of 8 Whittier Road, Sneinton, Nottinghamshire, NG2 4AS for £86,000 on 20 October 2020.
TR1 Transfer of Registered Title for the purchase of 35 Bancroft Street, Nottingham NG6 9HF for £97,500 on 20 October 2020.
TR1 Transfer of Registered Title for the purchase of 12 Sturton Street, Hyson Green, Nottingham, NG7 6HU for £99,000 on 13 January 2021.
8.4.3 The following property was purchased as part of the Move-On project:
TR1 Transfer of Registered Title for the purchase of 18 Cedar Road, Forest Fields, Nottingham, NG7 6HZ for £85,000 on 13 January 2021.
RESOLUTION:
The Board agreed:
1. To note the use of the Board Member Approval process. 8.5 FORTHCOMING EVENTS 8.5.1 Board Members were advised of events planned for the following 12 months and
were advised to contact either the Head of Governance and Compliance or the Governance Team for further information.
RESOLUTION:
The Board agreed:
1. To note the use of the forthcoming events. 9 2021/2022 NOTTINGHAM CITY HOMES GROUP BUDGET 9.1 The CE informed the meeting that the Board had previously agreed the budget
strategy at their Board meeting in October. It was confirmed that our management fee is closely interlinked with the Housing Revenue Account (HRA). Next year’s HRA is tight, and this will have an impact on our fees. It does however include some one off funding to help mitigate the financial impact of Covid 19. The proposed management fee is subject to formal NCC decision making, however it enables NCH to propose a balanced budget for Board to consider. The proposed budget includes efficiencies and savings in our management and maintenance costs. The ALMO Board had previously received a HouseMark benchmarking which showed that NCH is already £7.2m pa more efficient that other housing organisations. The proposed budget provides for a £1.2m return for NCC based on our proposed operating surplus.
9.2 The Responsible Tenant Reward (RTR) funding will be transferred to NCH, however
NCC will carry out a full review of the RTR next year. 9.3 The Assistant Director of Finance and Procurement (ADFP) stated that the report
presents the proposed NCH budget for 2021/22. The proposals have been developed in consultation with NCC to accommodate cost pressures, proposed growth items and ensure the Company continues to deliver NCH objectives.
9.4 Savings proposed have been established following completion of a Priority Based
Budgeting (PBB) process across the whole Company, which focused on reducing costs while still meeting Corporate Objectives.
9.5 The risks currently facing NCH include;
Covid 19 has given rise to additional direct and indirect costs which will continue to impact budgets next year.
Accommodation – NCH occupies a number of operational buildings. Discussions continue with NCC regarding accommodation recharges, which would be a saving for NCH but a cost pressure for NCC.
9.6 The ADFP presented to Board the 2021/22 NCH Social Housing Rent and Service Charging Policy for their consideration and approval.
RESOLUTION:
The Board agreed:
1. To approve the proposed 2021/22 NCH budget subject to the comments received from the Board.
2. To delegate authority to the Chief Executive and Chair of the Board to make any final amendments to the budget required following:
Incorporation of any final comments from Board;
NCC budget setting; and
Consultation with unions and staff affected by proposals. 3. To approve the 2021/22 NCH Social Housing Rent and Service Charge
Policy as set out in the report. 10 NOTTINGHAM CITY HOMES’ GROUP CORPORATE PLAN 2021-2024 10.1 The CE informed Board that the report provides the Board with the proposed draft of
the NCH Group Corporate Plan 2021-2024. The main items brought to the Board’s attention were:
The key role Board members have had in shaping the Corporate Plan and determining its priorities based on consultation feedback.
Key objectives of the Plan were highlighted and the structure of the Plan was outlined, with its focus on safety, improving core services, maintaining and investing in the homes we are responsible for, and diversifying and growing our business to generate funds to invest in the communities we serve.
The Plan sets out how NCH will meet the requirements of the recent Social Housing White Paper, setting out a new NCH Tenants Charter at the heart of the Plan.
Comments from NCC have been taken on board and the Plan has been updated to refer to the NCC Recovery Plan.
Comments received from the ALMO Board have been incorporated into the Plan.
It is an ambitious plan but it is still deliverable, taking into account current constraints.
The Plan will be reviewed regularly, and performance against the Plan reported to the Board, to tenants and leaseholders and to NCC.
The Policy and Planning Manager was thanked for all the work undertaken. 10.2 Board discussed the following points:
Resourcing in the Plan is currently only detailed for the first year of the Plan. The medium term projection will be finalised and included in the next two weeks when NCC produces its forecast for the HRA.
Repairs satisfaction. It was agreed that last year was the most difficult one NCH has encountered, and that whilst we have caught up with backlog of repairs from the first lockdown, we are on an improvement journey. Our transactional surveys do continue to report a high level of satisfaction, however as this is not currently a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) that is
reported to Board it has therefore been removed from this draft of the Corporate Plan.
The development of IT and Data Management is key to how we improve our services to tenants.
Reducing the Gender Pay Gap is included in a series of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion commitments in the Corporate Plan.
Carbon Neutral Standard and whether there was a commitment to expand this to new builds. It was noted that most of the homes NCH build are council homes, and currently there is a pause on those builds. NCH promotes the quality of the homes its builds, including environmental standards and encourages the Council to consider this as part of its value for money assessment including overall lifetime costs. At national policy level, the Government have confirmed the Future Homes standard, in addition to the zero carbon targets for new build in 2025.
Commercial activities is an area that NCH would like to expand, as well as help tenants’ sustain their tenancies over the expected period of economic difficulties.
10.3 NCH is looking to produce a summary document for wider circulation. The summary
will be very much tenant focused. RESOLUTION:
The Board agreed:
1. To review the suite of Key Performance Indicators and feed into the preparation of final Board level KPIs.
2. To delegate approval, subject to any further minor drafting amendments required, to the Chair in consultation with the Chief Executive.
11 FEEBACK TO OTHER BOARDS AND COMMITTEES 11.1 Board Members were asked to feedback to their relevant Boards and Committees
the information on the Budget and the Corporate Plan. 12 ANY OTHER BUSINESS None. 13 DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING
The next scheduled meeting will be on the 18 March 2021. The meeting closed at 18:53
SIGNED………………………………………………… DATE ……………………..
Repairs & Maintenance Improvement Programme Update
Darrell Smith – Assistant Director, Repairs & Maintenance Andy Culshaw – Change Manager 24 February 2021
Repairs & Maintenance Improvement Programme
Update
2
Programme overview
Following a review of customer feedback on the repairs service in 2020, an improvement
programme has been launched to enhance customer experience. The programme is inclusive of
and scrutinised by, the ALMO Working Group and focusses on the four key areas below:
· Process: implementing more efficient processes to reduce waiting time and improve
communication with our tenants.
· Performance: ensuring individual performance is well managed.
· Technology: giving colleagues the technology required to communicate effectively and
complete repairs ‘right-first-time’.
· Staff engagement: implementing measures so that colleagues are empowered to perform.
The objective of this paper is to give Board Members an update on progress related to the
improvement programme, which focusses on enhancing customer experience, performance and
staff engagement.
As part of the review of the repairs service, tenants who have received a repair in the last 12
months are being invited to engage with Nottingham City Homes (NCH) to ensure they are at the
centre of how we make improvements to our processes, so the repairs service becomes more
efficient and customer focussed.
Progress to date
The Repairs and Maintenance Service completes circa 120,000 repairs annually, and this year has
experienced unprecedented challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic. These include resource
issues due to shielding and people having to self-isolate, the introduction of safe ways of working in
tenant's homes, ensuring adherence to social distancing protocols and changes in customer
expectations. As an employer, NCH has also had to manage staff morale during these difficult
times.
NCH provided emergency and urgent services throughout the first lockdown, which generated a
backlog of over 4,000 routine repairs that were placed on hold. However, in contrast to many other
housing associations, NCH elected to commence the raising and scheduling of all repairs after the
first lockdown to ensure tenants homes continued to be maintained to the current high standards.
Through robust planning and good communication, this backlog of repairs were completed by
October 2020.
Although the Repairs and Maintenance team have experienced unprecedented challenges, the
STAR survey results for 2020/21 Q3 only was 91.6% this is an increase of 5% from the previous Q2
results and the highest result achieved to date. One of the potential reasons for this increase is due
to the focus on tenant communication during lockdown. In the summer of 2020 for example,
Repairs & Maintenance Improvement Programme
Update
3
Business Services implemented a proactive campaign of out-bound calls, giving tenants clear
updates on repair schedules and priorities.
Review of Gas Servicing
Along with repairs service, the gas servicing team has also experienced significant challenges
during lockdown. Compliance was impacted by Covid-19, resulting in nearly 100 properties
dropping out of the annual servicing target date in 2020. However, the Gas team with support from
Housing Patch Managers, have worked relentlessly to recover and there is currently only one
property out of compliance.
Due to several failed appointment issues, the team are currently implementing a comprehensive
review of process aimed at improving communication with tenants. A pilot has been run to
demonstrate that a more customer-focussed appointment process will increase first-time access.
o Results from the first pilot (customer-focussed appointment process) is as follows;
25 = properties in the pilot.
3 = incorrect home / mobile numbers.
22 = successful gas services completed.
o Initial learning from phase one suggests that there is a 12% error rate on accuracy of
phone numbers. However, when contact was made with the tenant, a successful service
was completed. Phase two of the experiment has now commenced (with 40 properties
being included) to determine the validation of this approach and identify potential scaling
options.
o The pick-up rate of the Gas Services phone line has increased from 54% in October 2020
to 82%.
o Re-profiling of the service to smooth the peaks (currently in September / October) and
move towards an area-based planning process has now commenced.
The next steps of this review will be to;
o Analyse the results of a larger pilot and obtain a strategic decision on scaling to a larger
pilot.
o Review the impact of the change to process through scheduling by ‘postcode’ alongside
servicing ‘anniversary’ date. It is envisaged that this simple change will have a positive
impact on travel-time reduction, increasing the productivity of our engineers.
o Continue with the re-profiling of the service to smooth the peaks and move towards an
area-based planning process.
o Re-commence discussion on call transfer to the Customer Service Centre (CSC).
Review of Business Services and Customer Journey
Results from a desktop review, which analysed the major touchpoints of the customer journey
including initial call from the tenant, Right First Time data and deep-dive of follow-ons, have been
Repairs & Maintenance Improvement Programme
Update
4
shared with Departmental Management Team (DMT). High-level findings revealed the following
points:
a significant number of calls received were for an existing repair (double-checking or chasing
a repair appointment).
current diagnosis process encourages an ‘assessment first’ approach.
instances have been found where the system classes jobs as ‘completed’ although further
work may be required.
The next steps of this review will be determined at the March Repairs and Maintenance DMT.
Review of Performance
Performance data, reflecting the new ‘ranges’ which highlight the proposed band of acceptable
performance levels are now being shared with Repairs Service Managers (RSM) in Responsive
Repairs. This data will support with expectation setting and help to management by exception,
highlighting trade and individual performance.
Results from the ‘full diary view’ experiment have been collated and shared with relevant
colleagues. Feedback from trade colleagues was very positive, however further data will be
captured to identify improvement in performance levels. Data will be shared at DMT so that a
decision can be made on next steps.
Other activities
Best practice is currently being sought from other organisations, including;
Chelmer Housing Partnership (CHP): have five priority levels (emergency x2, urgent and
priority x2) with appointment intervals built into their scheduling system that helps to ensure
high priority jobs are scheduled in advance of lower risk repairs. This has shifted the culture
towards aiming to successfully finish repairs at the earliest opportunity. The system
mandates that jobs can only be raised via the diagnostic tool (Repairs Finder equivalent).
Believe Housing have a very strong culture of continuous improvement, driven by the
Director of Culture and Transformation. The organisation have recently undertaken an
improvement programme that has focused on the end-to-end management of the customer
journey alongside ensuring process fundamentals are in place and efficient.
More detailed information on the review of the Repairs Service Manager role will be shared in the
near future.
The pandemic will continue to present challenges in delivering the service whilst the team maintain
social distancing and follow strict risk assessments. However, the experiences and lessons
Repairs & Maintenance Improvement Programme
Update
5
captured throughout 2020 will help to support a cultural shift towards continuous improvement and
enhanced customer experience.
Garden Assistance & Grounds Maintenance Update
Eddie Curry, NCC Head of Public Realm
Kathy Sheldon, NCH Assistant Director, Tenancy & Estate Services
Garden Assistance and Ground Maintenance
Update
2
Background
In November 2020 the ALMO Board conducted a Deep Dive into the Garden Assistance Scheme and Grounds
Maintenance Services which are delivered by Nottingham City Council (NCC) on behalf of Nottingham City Homes
(NCH).
As a result of this Deep Dive the ALMO Board requested a further update to be provided to the March 2021 meeting to
detail some points for clarity and update on agreed actions. This report therefore seeks to address these points.
Report detail
The following table details the actions agreed at the ALMO Board on 3 November together with the updates provided
by the NCC Head of Public Realm (HPR). The ALMO Board are invited to discuss and comment.
Ref Action Point Update
AB1 NCC HPR to provide clarity of the split between the contribution of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and the General Fund.
Total cost £8.123.000 HRA Funding £3.157,000
AB2 NCC HPR to provide updated NCC Benchmarking data re quality of service and its costs and overlay this with STAR and Respect data.
There is no comparative benchmarking data available relating to the evaluation of cost of service/performance since 2017/18. However the relevant summary of the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) Best Value review 2020 is detailed at Appendix 1 See Appendix 1 - APSE Best Value Review 2020
AB3 The NCC HPR to provide details of Garden Assistance and Grounds Maintenance complaints pre-Covid.
See Appendix 2 Complaint analysis
AB4 NCC to provide a schedule of works for Garden Assistance to service users.
See Appendix 3 draft Service Level Agreement NB performance targets for 2021-2024 to be agreed
A new communication method with Garden Assistance users will be trialled in one ward area. The System will use SMS Text notifications in advance of the work being carried out. This will hopefully help reduce any access or garden obstruction issues prior to the team visiting.
A programme of work will be published prior to the start of the season. The programme will provide an outline schedule of work tasks and visits as a guide.
Staff to be provided with additional customer care training and our Neighbourhood Operational Managers
Garden Assistance and Ground Maintenance
Update
3
(NOM) and Teams Leaders will be tasked with making contact with the tenants to double check on standards.
Central admin to carry out spot check phone calls to keep in contact and ensure that the resident is happy with the work carried out.
AB5 For a Post Covid 19 review of Grounds Maintenance and Garden Assistance Scheme to be undertaken.
2020 Lockdown 1 work restrictions and service delays due to Covid Absence and Redeployment of staff to Waste.
2021 – Lockdown 3 – work continues with some continued interruption as above.
Service likely to be disrupted throughout the 2021 growing season. Work will not be stopped but will be disrupted throughout the year.
proposed service review in 2022
AB6 Focus on increasing consistency in service delivery of Grounds Maintenance and Garden Assistance across the City.
Service consistency will be monitored and reported on as part of the quarterly reporting process.
Some disruption during 2021 is expected as Covid restrictions will still be in place and it is unlikely that normal working practices will be in place throughout the growing season.
AB7 Bio-diversity- Improving consultation on proposed areas for biodiversity and improving communication to tenants.
Biodiversity Consultation to be planned out during the spring. Some delays expected as the Biodiversity Officer post is currently vacant whilst we recruit a new member of staff.
AB8 Wild Flowers to supplement the current programme of native flowers in Biodiversity schemes.
Native Wild Flowers are the better for Biodiversity - Whilst these species are less colourful they do provide a greater level of habitat for wider mix of pollinating native insects.
Colourful non-native wildflower mixes have a short life span, they are expensive and they provide little biodiversity benefit. The colourful displays can play a part in helping to overcome community concern as they are often very visually attractive.
NCC / NCH will work in partnership to confirm a mixed programme of both Native and Non Native wildflowers meadows.
We recognise that the quality of grounds maintenance is a priority for our tenants. Both the current NCH Corporate
Plan and the new NCH Corporate Plan outlines the ambition, on behalf of our customers, to increase customer
satisfaction with grounds maintenance and the appearance of our estates, measured by the NCH 5 Star estate quality
standards, as assessed by Tenant ACE Inspectors.
Garden Assistance and Ground Maintenance
Update
4
NCC and NCH therefore remain committed to continuing to work closely to increase quality and consistency of service
delivery and increase customer satisfaction.
Appendix 1 Summary of Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) Best Value Review 2020
• APSE Best Parks, Horticultural and Grounds Maintenance Award 2020 • APSE Best Public Realm Service Award - Shortlisted 2020
Key: APSE LAMS Grades -Street Cleansing & Grounds Analysis
Excellent - Top Quartile Below Average – 3rd Quartile Good - 2nd Quartile Poor - 4th Quartile
PI L02 - Percentage of sites classed as acceptable (grounds maintenance) NCC’s output score of 97.06% would place them in the second quartile on both Family Group and Whole Service performance against this PI = good.
PI L10 - Percentage of sites classed as acceptable (grass cutting) NCC’s output score of 96.55% would place them in the second quartile on both Family Group and Whole Service performance against this PI = good. PI L11 - Percentage of sites classed as acceptable (shrub bed maintenance) NCC’s output score of 100.00% would place them in the top quartile on both Family Group and Whole Service performance against this PI = excellent.
PI L03 - Percentage of sites classed as acceptable (litter) NCC’s output score of 100.00% would place them in the top quartile on both Family Group and Whole Service performance against this PI = excellent.
PI L02 - Percentage of sites classed as acceptable (combined litter and detritus) NCC’s output score of 96.85% would place them in the top quartile on both Family Group and Whole Service performance against this PI = excellent.
PI L04 - Percentage of sites classed as acceptable (litter) NCC’s output score of 98.86% would place them in the top quartile on both Family Group and Whole Service performance against this PI = excellent.
PI L05 - Percentage of sites classed as grade A (fly tipping) NCC’s output score of 94.99% would place them in the second quartile on Family Group performance PI = good
PI L14 - Percentage of sites classed as grade A (fly posting) NCC’s output score of 100.00% would place them in the top quartile on both Family Group and Whole Service performance against this PI = excellent.
PI 04 - Cost of street cleansing service per household (excluding CEC) NCC’s output score of £32.47 would place them in the third quartile on Family Group performance = below average and fourth quartile on Whole Service performance = poor.
PI 05 – Cost of street cleansing service per head of population (excluding CEC) NCC’s output score of £14.43 would place them in the third quartile on both Family Group and Whole Service performance against this PI = below average.
PI 17 – Quality assurance and community consultation NCC’s output score of 129 would place them in the top quartile on both Family Group and Whole Service performance against this PI = excellent.
Appendix 1 Summary of Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) Best Value Review 2020
PI 18 – Human resources and people management NCC’s output score of 67 would place them in the second quartile on both Family Group and Whole Service performance against this PI = good .
PI 44a – Quality Indicator (England )NCC’s output score of 132.50 would place them in the second quartile on Family Group performance = good and top quartile on Whole Service performance = excellent.
Appendix 2 NCH GAS COMPLAINTS REVIEW 17th Feb 2021
Complaint Volume by Month
2019 2020
Total In Target Over
Target Performance
Total In Target Over Target Performance
January 0 0 0
3 1 2 33.3%
February 0 0 0
0 0 0
March 1 0 1 0.0%
0 0 0
April 1 1 0 100.0%
0 0 0
May 1 1 0 100.0%
0 0 0
June 7 6 1 85.7%
1 0 1 0.0%
July 13 10 3 76.9%
2 2 0 100.0%
August 27 22 5 81.5%
2 2 0 100.0%
September 7 5 2 71.4%
5 3 2 60.0%
October 10 5 5 50.0%
2 2 0 100.0%
November 2 1 1 50.0%
0 0 0
December 0 0 0
1 1 0 100.0%
TOTAL 69 51 18 73.9%
16 11 5 68.8%
Complaint Volume by Ward
2019 2020
Volume % Volume % Aspley 9 13.0% 1 6.3% Basford 5 7.2% 0 0.0% Bestwood 12 75.0% 1 6.3% Bilborough 15 93.8% 2 12.5% Bulwell 3 18.8% 4 25.0% Clifton West 7 43.8% 1 6.3% Dales 1 6.3% 1 6.3% Leen Valley 3 18.8% 1 6.3% Mapperley 1 6.3% 1 6.3% No Ward 2 12.5% 1 6.3% Sherwood 0 0.0% 1 6.3% St Anns 3 18.8% 0 0.0% Wollaton East 8 50.0% 2 12.5%
Appendix 2 NCH GAS COMPLAINTS REVIEW 17th Feb 2021
Complaint Reasons (for Justified and Part-Justified only) 2019
2020
DELAY 28 53% Delay - Caused by process 4 50%
SERVICE 23 43%
Delay - Caused by sub-contractor 1 12.5%
QUALITY 1 2%
Staff - Accidental damage 1 12.5%
STAFF 1 2% Staff - Behaviour 2 25%
POLICY 0 0%
Complaint Reasons (for Unjustified complaints only) 2019
2020
DELAY 4 25.0% Delay - Caused by customer 1 12.5%
SERVICE 12 75.0% Delay - Caused by process 3 37.5%
QUALITY 0 0.0%
Policy - Disagrees with decision 1 12.5%
STAFF 0 0.0% Service - Missed appointment 1 12.5%
POLICY 0 0.0% Service - Work not completed 1 12.5%
Staff - Behaviour 1 12.5%
Complaint Justification
2019 2020
Justified 20 29%
Justified 4 25%
Part-Justified 33 48%
Part-Justified 4 25%
Unjustified 16 23%
Unjustified 8 50%
Appendix 2 NCH GAS COMPLAINTS REVIEW 17th Feb 2021
The complaint themes:-
• The time it takes from one cut to the next, (supposed to be every 3 weeks) • Weeds growing through plastic in back yard, not being done, (this would be done once a
year as Winter work) • Not happy with the quality of work done, • Grass or Hedge left on path, • Garden keeps getting missed • Front garden done but not back, want to know why • Damage to belonging in the garden • Member or member’s staff
Customer Excellence Panel Report into Garage Management Philip Saunders
Date 4 January 2021
CEP Report of garage management
2
Summary The Customer Excellence Panel (CEP) supports NCH through regular tenant led reviews of NCH services. Earlier in 2020 the panel agreed to look at the way garages are managed across NCH. The attached report sets out the recommendations of the CEP in relation to the management of garages. The attached report has been written by the members of CEP. Since this service review, there has been significant planned activity to further improve our approach to garage management and respond to the CEP recommendation. A full verbal update will be provided at the meeting and an example of the marketing campaign and impact is provided below. This is the final report of CEP before commencing on a new approach whereby CEP is commissioned by the ALMO Board to undertake pieces of scrutiny to support the work of the Board.
Recommendation for ALMO Board 1. To consider the findings of the CEP contained within the report.
Detail CEP have met with staff to understand the process in relation to garage management across the city. They analysed information held on our system and undertook benchmarking, reviewing for example 30 other housing organisations websites, and used the services of the East Midlands Tenant Participation Forum to undertake further analysis across the sector locally. CEP also utilised the services of the ACE Inspectors, other tenants who have experience in assessing our estates and officers of the Business Transformation Team to visit garage sites and take photographs for further analysis.
CEP identified nine recommendations. These include:
a) Advertise the best garages on the Nottingham City Homes (NCH) website, social media such as Facebook and in housing offices.
b) Garages should be inspected on a regular basis to ensure that any damage can be rectified at the earliest opportunity and to avoid their condition deteriorating further.
c) A review of the worst garage sites should be undertaken from a Health & Safety perspective, with particular importance given to the removal of any asbestos and other hazardous materials that may be found.
d) With reference to point (c) above, the involvement of the ALMO Board’s Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee (ARCC) is essential to mitigate any ramifications.
CEP Report of garage management
3
e) Nottingham City Council (NCC) should be advised of any garages that require demolition once hazardous materials have been safely removed so that they can decide how they wish to proceed.
f) Consideration should be given as to whether the fee NCH receives is adequate to fully cover their brief - the management and maintenance of garages.
g) Carry out a customer survey to assess user satisfaction and problem areas as a starting point to further actions.
h) Ground maintenance of garage sites is an NCC function and as such, clarity is needed as to how this is managed.
i) NCH and Board need to consider whether the effort involved in the Maintenance & Management of garages is something they wish to continue with or should NCC consider an alternative option.
The Head of Service has been offered the opportunity to comment upon the report which are included in the report.
This report shall be tabled at the next ALMO Board in line with existing practice.
Upon approval of the recommendations, CEP will continue to monitor progress against the Head of Service’s action plan to ensure that recommendations are addressed.
Financial, Legal or Organisational Development Implications The Occupiers Liability Act 1984 places a the duty ‘to take such care as is reasonable in all the circumstances of the case to see that he does not suffer injury on the premises by reason of the danger concerned’. So each case will turn on its facts to determine what exactly is ‘reasonable’. The duty will only be discharged when the occupier takes ‘such steps as are reasonable in all the circumstances of the case to give warning of the danger concerned or to discourage persons from incurring the risk’. This places a liability on the Company over the premises we control and should be particularly noted for premises in poor conditions where visitors both lawful and unlawful could be injured, particularly in void premises.
From an insurance point of view, we also need to ensure that we remain indemnified against any claim notwithstanding the state of repair of individual premises.
Marketing campaign The following are examples of recent marketing to promote uptake of garage lettings. These posts achieved an average reach per post of 1023 people and have successfully generated enquiries for new garage letting. Overall, since September 2020 the number of empty garages has reduced by 580, from a combination of decommissioning and lettings.
CEP Report of garage management
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Appendices Appendix 1 - CEP Garages Report
Version 1, 29_09_2020 1
Nottingham City Homes
Customer Excellence Panel
“Garages”
REPORT
September 2020
Prepared by
Customer Excellence Panel
Customer Excellence Panel Members:
Sue Stevenson (Chair)
Janet Storar, MBE
Anne Dean
Version 1, 29_09_2020 2
Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 2
2.0 Context ............................................................................................................................................. 2
3.0 Methodology .................................................................................................................................... 3
4.0 Findings ............................................................................................................................................. 3
5.0 Recommendations ........................................................................................................................... 4
6.0 Service Head’s Comments ................................................................................................................ 4
7.0 Appendices ....................................................................................................................................... 6
1.0 Introduction
The Customer Excellence Panel (CEP) is the Nottingham City Homes (NCH) scrutiny panel whose members are responsible for undertaking tenant-led service scrutiny of NCH services. All Panel members are volunteers who dedicate their spare time to aiding improvements of NCH services on behalf of the wider customer base.
The chosen topic for this review is – “Garages”.
This report provides an overview of the methods used to carry out the review as well as the findings and recommendations reached upon conclusion of the service review tasks.
2.0 Context
NCH offers garages for rent across Nottingham. Garage records are maintained through our housing management system, Northgate, which as of 1 September 2020 contains 3475 individual garage records, of which 1626 showed as occupied and 1849 showed as void.
In common with other Councils NCC, pay an amount into the Housing Revenue Account to enable NCH to manage and maintain their garages. Sites are spread all over the Nottingham City area. The last review of garage procedure was undertaken on 4th November 2015 and was due to be reviewed on 4th November 2017. This review was never undertaken. However, these documents deal with the process of garage rental and do not impact on the scope or findings of this review.
Version 1, 29_09_2020 3
3.0 Methodology
CEP members carried out a range of tasks as part of the evidence gathering for this review, including:
- an initial meeting with the Head of Tenancy & Estate Services and a Housing Officer who has now been given overall responsibility for garage management (excerpt from meeting minutes attached as Appendix 1)
- analysis of existing data, including the Garage Management Procedure (NCP007) and records from our Housing Management System (Northgate) relating to garages and repairs
- a benchmarking exercise conducted by CEP members, reviewing 30 ALMO/Council/Housing Association websites for information on garages including availability, cost, restrictions etc. A summary of these findings is included as Appendix 2
- a benchmarking exercise conducted at CEP’s request by the Facilitator of East Midlands Tenant Participation Forum to the members of that Forum
- site visits to the Bilborough & Meadows estates, conducted with the help of ACE inspectors whilst on their normal estate inspections, evaluating the condition of garages and garage blocks as seen. Photographic evidence is included on the attached documentation. It is apparent that standards vary considerably from site to site.
4.0 Findings
There does appear to be a very ad hoc approach to the management and maintenance of garages, which results in loss of income to the city - void numbers are really quite high. Some garage sites are in a very run down condition and would be extremely difficult to let without spending considerable sums to bring them up to a lettable state.
From the attachments, it is apparent that the amount of information given online varies considerably across the sector. NCH was also included in the survey and very little information was available online.
Version 1, 29_09_2020 4
5.0 Recommendations
a) Advertise the best garages on the NCH website, social media such as Facebook and in housing offices.
b) Garages should be inspected on a regular basis to ensure that any damage can be rectified at the earliest opportunity and to avoid their condition deteriorating further
c) A review of the worst garage sites should be undertaken from a Health & Safety perspective, with particular importance given to the removal of any asbestos and other hazardous materials that may be found.
d) With reference to point (c) above the involvement of the ALMO Board’s Audit & Risk Committee is essential to mitigate any ramifications.
e) NCC should be advised of any garages that require demolishing once hazardous materials have been safely removed so that they can decide how they wish to proceed.
f) Consideration should be given as to whether the fee NCH receives is adequate to fully cover their brief - the management and maintenance of garages.
g) Carry out a customer survey to assess user satisfaction and problem areas as a starting point to further actions
h) Ground maintenance of garage sites is an NCC function and as such, clarity is needed as to how this is managed.
i) NCH and Board need to consider whether the effort involved in the Maintenance & Management of garages is something they wish to continue with or should NCC consider an alternative option.
6.0 Service Head’s Comments I welcome CEP’s review of the service We are aware that previous management of garage sites failed to prioritise lettings for a substantial number of years. The desirability of garages across the city has declined over the years for reasons already identified; this is comparable with a number of housing providers. We need to balance out needs of local tenants with the need to ensure sites are viable. We have a new Garage Management Officer who now has responsibility for all sites across the city with specific focus on a review of the garage management process to increase uptake, maximise income and ensure that the sites are well managed Initially time was spent ensuring records were brought up to date, identifying refusal rates and reasons and blockages to reletting garages; this has been completed. We have already seen a reduction in the number of void garages.
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Work was paused at the onset of the Covid pandemic as the Garage Manager has been supporting other essential services. However, we have identified changes to service delivery to comply with Covid restrictions and have started to promote sites and recommenced lettings. The Garage Management Action Plan is in place which includes improvements to online letting and site promotion not previously obtainable but now available through the new NCH website. We are working with NCC to finalise agreement to approve changes to rent management, tenancy agreement and terms of use to develop a more flexible ability to let sites. We have created a cross- service garage site management group to identify improvement to process and procedures to improve management, maintenance and investment. Where sites are no longer viable we will look to find alternative uses. We have started to consult with garage tenants to understand their needs and help deliver change. We are working with Nottingham City Council Street Scene teams who have responsibility for the day to day clearing for sites. The Housing Patch Manager carries out regular inspections and along with Estates and Caretaking Managers, liaise with NCC and escalate where issues identified. We were aware of the specific site issues identified in the report and have been working with the Police and Nottingham City Community Protection to recover the cars sites that have been abandoned . The two sites identified are not typical of all sites but do highlight the worst extremes. These particular site are prioritised for improvements.
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Appendix 2 – CEP benchmarking of other ALMO websites
Garages ALMO Benchmarking conclusions
The Customer Excellent Panel (CEP) conducted a benchmarking exercise which involved checking other ALMO websites for information relating to garages.
The ALMO websites checked were:
• Barnet Homes http://www.barnethomes.org • Berneslai Homes http://www.berneslaihomes.co.uk • Blackpool Coastal Housing http://www.bch.co.uk • Cheltenham Borough Homes http://www.cbh.org • Colchester Borough Homes http://www.cbhomes.co.uk • Cornwall Housing http://www.cornwallhousing.org.uk • Derby Homes http://www.derbyhomes.org • East Kent Housing http://www.eastkenthousing.org.uk • Eastbourne Homes http://www.lewes.eastbourne.gov.uk • Homes for Haringey http://www.homesforharingey.org • Homes in Sedgemoor http://www.homesinsedgemoor.org • Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing http://www.knh.org.uk • Lewisham Homes http://www.lewishamhomes.org.uk • Northampton Partnership Homes http://www.nph.org.uk • Northwards Housing http://www.northwardshousing.co.uk • Nottingham City Homes http://www.nottinghamcityhomes.org.uk • Poole Housing Partnership http://www.poolehousingpartnership.org.uk • Rykneld Homes http://www.rykneldhomes.org.uk • Shropshire Towns and Rural Housing http://www.starhousing.org.uk • Six Town Housing http://www.sixtownhousing.org • Solihull Community Housing http://www.solihullcommunityhousing.org.uk • South Essex Homes http://www.southessexhomes.co.uk • South Tyneside Homes http://www.southtynesidehomes.org.uk • St Leger Homes of Doncaster http://www.stlegerhomes.co.uk • Stockport Homes http://www.stockporthomes.org • Sutton Housing Partnership http://www.suttonhousingpartnership.org.uk • The Gateshead Housing Company http://www.gatesheadhousing.co.uk • Tower Hamlets Homes http://www.towerhamletshomes.org.uk • Wolverhampton Homes http://www.wolverhamptonhomes.org.uk • Your Homes Newcastle http://www.yhn.org.uk
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Findings:
Is information regarding garages readily available on the website?
67% of websites benchmarked had information relating to garages readily available on the website.
NCH does not currently publicise information regarding garages on its website.
Is there an online garage applicaion form?
Of websites benchmarked that had garage information on them, 50% of these had an online application form.
NCH does not currently publicise information regarding garages on its website.
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Do you have to be a tenant to rent a garage?
All ALMO’s allow garage applications from non-tenants. 40% of ALMO’s give pirority to their tenants.
NCH allows garage applications from non-tenants. All applications are given equal priority.
Weekly Cost
Weekly average ALMO garage rents are £8.93 for tenants and £11.15 for non-tenants.
NCH charges are £9.16 for tenants and £10.99 for non-tenants.
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ALMO Performance
Monitoring Report
Date: 24 February 2021
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Contents
Finance Monitoring…………………………………………………….. Page 3
Performance Monitoring…............................................ Page 5
NCH ALMO Stock Compliance Dashboard Monitoring.... Page 17
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Finance Monitoring 2020/21 ALMO FINANCES – QUARTER 3
This report provides an update to the Board on the ALMOs current financial position at the end of Quarter 3 of the financial year which includes income and expenditure up till the end of December 2020.
A summary of the financial position at the end of Quarter 3 together with the forecast outturn for the full year is shown in the attached Appendix 1. As shown in Appendix 1, the majority of income is provided from the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) through fees. This income is used to fund services provided to tenants as well as repairs and improvements to tenant’s Homes.
The ALMO is currently underspending against its budget shown by £838k. The position up to the end of Quarter 3 reflects a reduction in activity and spend due to the impact of the Corona Virus. The largest underspends are on materials, subcontracted works, fleet costs and employees.
The forecast anticipates a small underspend against budget for the full year of £9k. This reflects that underspends to date will be needed in the remainder of the financial year (3 months) mainly as planned and increased voids repair and maintenance works are delivered across a reduced period i.e. following the impact on the first half of the financial year, particularly Quarter 1, of Corona Virus restrictions. The pandemic has also given rise to additional and unbudgeted costs which will continue to reduce the underspend e.g. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), cleaning.
The main risks in relation to the ALMOs spend this year coming within its forecast outturn position are as follows:
• Impact of Corona Virus on budgets and/or fees, notably further restrictions &/or lockdowns;
• Delivery of services within revised expenditure targets and anticipated demand; and
• Level of sickness absence and its impact on actual available staff resources funded by budgets.
Contact officers: Name: Darren Phillips
Address: Loxley House, Station Street, Nottingham NG2 3NJ
Tel: 0115 746 429
E-mail: [email protected]
Date: 16th February 2021
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Performance Monitoring This report provides an update to the Board on the ALMOs current performance at the end of Quarter 3 of the financial year.
ALMO (HRA) Quarter 3
BUDGET Year To Date
ACTUAL Year To Date
VARIANCE Year To Date
BUDGET Full Year
FORECAST Full year
VARIANCE Full Year
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000Income
Management Fee AL10 16,987 16,987 0 22,649 22,649 0Repairs Fee AL11 20,163 20,163 0 26,884 26,884 0Capital Fee AL13 1,217 987 231 1,623 1,303 320Capital Works AL12 4,650 3,884 766 6,201 5,482 718Other Income AL1 2,388 2,214 174 3,184 3,190 (6)
45,405 44,234 1,171 60,540 59,508 1,032
Expenditure
Employee Costs AL2 26,498 25,416 (1,082) 35,333 34,550 (782) Non-Pay Costs 15,754 14,645 (1,109) 21,005 20,502 (502)
42,253 40,061 (2,192) 56,337 55,053 (1,285)
NCC Refund ### 2,212 2,073 (139) 2,950 2,714 (236) Earmarked for Reserves 1,125 1,262 137 1,500 1,733 233
AL 185 (838) (1,023) 247 (9) (256)
Total
(Surplus) / Deficit Position
Less :
31st December 2020
Total
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The ALMO Board has agreed to receive and monitor a set of customer centred measures from the Nottingham City Homes (NCH) Corporate Plan 2018-2021.
The measures have been broken down into a number of areas, namely:
• Satisfaction • Housing quality and maintenance • Neighbourhood and community • Access to housing • Rent Collection • Tenant participation
NCH carries out a quarterly survey of tenants, known as the STAR survey. This is sent to 4,500 tenants at random each year and the survey enables NCH to gather information about the perception tenants have about the services NCH provides.
We benchmark our performance against other housing organisations via HouseMark. Our current performance is benchmarked against the benchmark done in March 2020, the latest data available. The majority of measures where benchmarking is available shows NCH in the top two quartiles which demonstrates that NCH is continuing to perform well.
Our performance has been severely impacted in some areas due to the ongoing impact of Covid-19 and the Board should be aware that this will continue to be a theme for some time to come. However every department has been working through plans to mitigate the impact of the effects from the Covid-19 restrictions. Whilst Gas Servicing is currently showing as quartile 3, this should be read in the context that all organisations are subject to difficulties in meeting their obligations at this time and that the comparison is against sector wide performance which predates the pandemic. Our intelligence tells us that comparing our current performance against the sectors own current performance would result in NCH shown as top quartile performance for gas servicing.
In October, we were named a top 100 apprenticeship employer in the country, re-affirming our commitment as an employer to the importance of apprenticeships and improving the skills and employment chances of Nottingham tenants and leaseholders. Similarly, in November we were able to celebrate the fifth birthday of our Women in Construction initiative – supporting women from the city into a career in construction
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ALMO BOARD PERFORMANCE DASHBOARD Q3 2020-21
Customer Satisfaction
Overall satisfaction is a global measure conducted as part of the STAR satisfaction survey. It tends to reflect tenants’ perception that people have about other specific questions within the survey. So for example it reflects their views on the quality of repairs and maintenance, satisfaction with the neighbourhood and how they perceive NCH is offering value for money. It may also be impacted by other factors such as their sense of safety of the home they live in and safety in their local neighbourhood. The in quarter result for Q3 was the highest recorded at 92.5%, albeit following a lower than usual return of surveys due to the Covid pandemic. In addition to the measures outlined in other areas of this report, NCH uses a number of tools to improve services to customers. For example, we are continuing to monitor progress against the Satisfaction Action Plan for Property Services, we are currently using our Customer Excellence Panel (CEP) to review the condition of properties at letting stage which should report to the ALMO Board in March 2021 and we are undertaking reviews of services within our Property Services division to review the customer experience and deliver improved value for money.
Tenant satisfaction with value for money of rent was 89.8% for quarter three - up slightly from 89.2% for Q2 but still down against a target of 94%. Similarly to Q1 and Q2, these latest results are against the back-drop of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. During Q3, restrictions were once again tightened further, however we continued to maintain our core services as we have done throughout the previous period. We were also able to show the value that our Housing to Health project is having in the city in November, when we published our latest report on the service – showing how we have re-housed more than 450 people into suitable homes, working with 49 people at risk of becoming homeless. Over the last year, the financial savings or value generated by this scheme for the National Health Service (NHS) is £7.1m. Thanks to this scheme, there were 23,000 reduced bed days in the NHS or Adult Social Care. The project has also evidenced improvements in the health and wellbeing of patients and their carers, enabling them to live independently and reducing their ongoing use of health and care
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services. The pressure on hospitals has improved because re-admissions per person have reduced from four to two per year. The project has been recognised as a national exemplar and recommends this and other similar models be used for national learning.
There has been a further increase in satisfaction from 75% in Q2 to 77% in Q3, which is the best quarterly result since December 2018 but performance for the last 12 months (74.1%) remains below the target of 82% for year end. We have increased communication with over 2000 involved residents via a monthly e-newsletters, in addition to articles in NCH News, through our website and through social media activity, inviting residents to get involved in a variety of consultation and engagement activities and to have their say about our services and how they can be improved. This approach continues to be embraced across the Company and we are listening to what customers are telling us and acting on what they say wherever possible. All quarterly feedback received via the Star survey where residents have expressed dissatisfaction and have provided their details are followed up with the individual residents for resolution and learning and outcomes are shared across services. Our CEP and Street and Block Champions and ACE Inspectors have been provided with a bespoke process for reporting any issues and receiving feedback and we are in the process of extending access to the HouseMark App for day to day use by these involved residents.
Housing Quality and Maintenance
Satisfaction with the service during 2020/21 Q3 is 91.6% (an increase of 5% from the Q2 results and the highest result on record). Overall, the rolling annual figure is now at 83.1%, up on last year’s outturn of 81.1% The Task & Finish Groups continue to progress with activities to improve customer experience, including: •Continuation of a system thinking based experiment to ascertain whether a more customer centric appointment process would increase first-time access within Gas Servicing. •Improving the call pick-up rate on the Gas Servicing phone line (currently 81%). •Amending how Gas Servicing appointments are raised, which will focus on filtering by ‘postcode’ alongside anniversary date. It is envisaged that this change will have a positive impact on reducing engineer travel time and subsequently reducing missed appointments. •Continuation of an experiment giving trade colleagues a ‘full diary view’ to ascertain whether this improves engagement, empowerment and performance. •Two-way internal communication continues to improve with trade colleagues actively participating in the improvement projects. It is envisaged that increasing engagement levels on the front line will positively impact customer experience and productivity. The day-time Emergency Team is now operational and proposals are continuing to extend this team to a 24/7 service. Planned Works and
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Asset Management continue to work closely to improve service delivery – this stronger collaboration has had a tremendously positive impact within the Damp & Mould work stream. All tenants who provided feedback via the Q3 STAR survey will be re-contacted to resolve any specifically identified issues.
Responsive Repairs continue to work through the increase in demand for new repairs and manage the larger works that require additional time and resource. The Head of Responsive Repairs is working alongside the Business Intelligence and Change Manager on the Improvement Programme to identify where process improvements can be made to improve Right First time results and customer experience.
Tenant satisfaction with the overall quality of their home for Q3 was 90%, which was an increase of 2.3% from Q2.
The survey information has showed that out of 13 negative comments received, the main areas of concern relating to tenant dissatisfaction are Kitchens & Bathrooms (1 comment), Repair (1), Energy efficiency (1), Roof (1), Neighbourhood (4), Heating (1) and Other (4).
Asset Management will continue to contact all of the respondents who have given their permission for us to do so and ascertain the true nature of their dissatisfaction with a view to resolving their concerns and using them for planning investment in the future.
NCH have a planned investment programme of £24m for 20/21, however it must be noted that this has been and continues to be severely impacted by Covid-19. We are also continuing to carry out pre-emptive works and pilots to try and prevent future damp issues occurring. In addition to this we are progressing our Decent Neighbourhoods planned work streams programme so it can be delivered as major investment programme from April 2021, which will have a greater impact within our Neighbourhoods satisfaction.
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Currently we have 510 properties that fall below EPC D. This has increased from 490 reported previously, largely due to the impact of Nottingham City Council (NCC) Buy Back properties that have been added to the stock portfolio, and which do not currently achieve a EPC D. This figure has also been impacted by delays to work now being undertaken as part of the energy efficiency programme, which will take place over the next twelve months. These programmes will combine grant and match funding to ensure that we meet, as a minimum, EPC C across our stock by 2030. A large proportion of these reported below EPC D properties have been included in either the current heating upgrade programme or the schedule for 2021-22.
We currently have a team working on non-access, and processes are in place to communicate the Covid 19 precautions to our tenants prior to visits. At the end of December we had four properties without a valid gas certificate. The number of non-access has improved since the end of December and all but one property now has a valid gas certificate in place; with which we are in regular contact, with help from our legal team. The HouseMark quartile is based on performance levels at March 2020, before the pandemic hit. We know that other organisations have struggled to meet their obligations. If NCH were to compare its performance with the sector in real time we are confident that our performance would be top quartile.
No schemes were completed in Q3. Work is well in progress at Foxton Garden, Valley Farm Court and Clover Green. Work will commence on Bramley Green, Kibworth Close and Stanwick Close in Q4. Lathkill Close will not commence until 2021/22. In total we have achieved 12 completions against our overall three year plan target of 19. We have received some really positive feedback about the works done to improve our schemes since we started on the project. Some examples are: “Outside seating 100% improvement. Inside smart, tidy and very welcoming.” “It's beautiful!” “Wouldn't be embarrassed to meet royalty here” “A lot better than I thought it would be, quite surprised, couldn't believe my eyes, a real transformation”
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Neighbourhood and Community
Performance has dipped slightly to 84.7% in Q3 and 87.6% year to date against a challenging target of 91%. The highest reason for dissatisfaction with the neighbourhood that residents cite is problems with maintenance of communal grass and surrounding trees on our estates and parking. Ground Maintenance services are delivered by NCC and were suspended from 23 March 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions and have not yet been fully restored. NCC resources continue to be diverted to support other services such as waste management and this continues to impact on the full recovery of the service. Following the end of the first lockdown, NCH recommenced our estate inspections to identify the most affected areas. Sites identified as in a poor state are reported directly to NCC for resolution. The ALMO Board conducted a Deep Dive into the Grounds Maintenance Service in November 2020 and a further update on actions identified in the Deep Dive are due to presented to the ALMO Board at this meeting. Our new Neighbourhood Policy sets out a corporate approach to enhance work already started to improve our estates to a 5-star estate quality standard, as assessed by our tenant inspectors and supported by the capital programs to ensure standards increase. Parking remains a high priority for our residents. We are evaluating the driveway pilot scheme and aim to create more off street parking by developing old garage sites. In response to the Garage Management Service scrutiny conducted by our CEP, we have updated our Garage Management Action Plan and we are engaging in a new marketing strategy to increase use of these sites, increase income and reduce the impact of on-street parking. We are piloting an estate improvement project in Crabtree which will in turn enable us to identify successful initiatives leading to estate improvement projects across the city
No assessments took place in Q3 due to Covid-19 restrictions therefore the percentage meeting the 5-star standard remains at zero for 2020-21 but 6.7% overall within the current corporate plan. A smaller estate assessment in the Clifton area was planned for January 2021, but this has now been cancelled following further lockdown restrictions.
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Following the end of the first lockdown, NCH recommenced our estate inspections to identify the most affected areas. Sites identified as in a poor state are reported directly to NCC for resolution. The ALMO Board conducted a Deep Dive into the Grounds Maintenance Service in November 2020 and a further update on actions identified in the Deep Dive are due to presented to the ALMO Board at this meeting. Our new Neighbourhood Policy sets out a corporate approach to enhance work already started to improve our estates to a 5-star estate quality standard, as assessed by our tenant inspectors and supported by the capital programme to ensure standards increase.
The garden assistance survey was delayed for 2020 due to the service being suspended from mid-March until the end of June 2020. The survey has been issued to approximately 215 tenants (10% of those using the service) during the week commencing 25 January 2021. Results will be reported as soon as these become available.
We have achieved 12 Green Flag awards against our three year target of 17. Awards are approved during the Summer and it is unlikely that further awards will be made in 2020.2021.
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Access to Housing
The three-year Corporate Plan target was to achieve an average re-let time (ART) of 25 days and for there to be 150 lettable voids. Robust performance management is in place with daily dialogue between all team members to ensure homes are let as swiftly as possible. The calculation for the performance indicator for the average re-let time is calendar days as opposed to working days, meaning that weekends, bank holidays and the Christmas/Easter periods are all included. The challenges with works within voids due to Covid-19 have unsurprisingly continued to have an impact on ART during Q3, which was over target at 37.38 days and gives a year to date ART of 37.53 days. Whilst we had a significantly reduced workforce at the start of Covid-19, this has still not returned to full capacity as an increasing number of staff are required, at times, to self-isolate, and it is therefore a challenge to increase the volume of works over and above usual levels, which is what is needed to reduce the backlog. The priority is for us to increase the volume of void work completions so that we can let these homes and reduce the ART. Plans are underway to recruit additional temporary resource within the Void team including a manager and multiple joiners, plumbers, painters and driver/labourers, and overtime is also being offered to colleagues. Other housing providers are facing similar challenges and we compare favourably with regards to lettings activity. Some housing providers diverted workforce from other areas of the business to work on voids at the start of lockdown, which had a positive impact on their void turnaround.
At the end of Q3, the number of lettable voids stood at 279. It was positive to let the 20 new build homes at Knights Close prior to Christmas but there has been an impact on the number of voids as these home were all for existing NCH tenants and so we received an additional 20 voids above the usual terminations. The Christmas break was a welcome rest for the teams but this has also impacted on void numbers as there was a temporary halt on void work and lettings. Covid-19 has had a significant impact on voids and lettings, initially due to the temporary halt on letting homes at the start of lockdown and then until the middle of May, lettings could only take place for people in urgent need. We also needed to ensure that risk assessments were in place for colleagues working in void properties, and it took time to establish safe processes for work in high rise and corridor schemes with works in these homes not restarting until mid-July. Whilst we had a significantly reduced workforce at the start of Covid-19, this has still not
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returned to full capacity as an increasing number of staff are required, at times, to self-isolate or shield. The volume of annual leave that is being taken, and is planned between now and year end, is also affecting repairs to properties as this is more than in normal years despite the ability to carry forward 10 days, due to limited take-up during the summer and autumn. It is therefore a challenge to increase the volume of works over and above usual levels, which is what is needed to reduce the backlog. Plans are underway to recruit additional temporary resource within the Void team including a manager and multiple joiners, plumbers, painters and driver/labourers, and overtime is also being offered to colleagues. The biggest challenge for the Lettings Team continues to be a lack of demand for Independent Living and we have seen that older people are reluctant to move at this time as they do not view this as essential. We have 25 ready to let Independent Living homes that are repeatedly going back to advert. We have an action plan in place to address this. HouseMark has reported this as a common theme across the sector. HouseMark have provided some forecasting and predicted our void rent loss at end June would be 2%, with this increasing to 2.09% over the year, slightly below the sector average forecast. Our actual void loss end June was 1.26%, end of September was 1.37% and end of December was 1.39%. While this is an increase from 1.09% in March, we are still performing significantly better than their forecast.
The performance in Q3 has been very high at 95.65% which has lifted the overall satisfaction figure to 90.6% from 88.7% at the end of the last quarter. On reviewing the surveys for this quarter, the main area of concern continues to be the condition of the gardens at sign up. This is not unexpected as this was influenced by the changes brought about by the company response in dealing with Covid-19 and complying with the Governments controls surrounding the pandemic. We do inform and undertake the garden works once the customer has moved into the property.
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Rent Collection
We have achieved the target of 100% collection and actually slightly improved on our performance for this time last year. Given the challenges of the Covid pandemic and the resulting restrictions in enforcement action, this is a good outcome. However we are not complacent and continue to adapt our processes to reflect the changes in Government legislation in relation to rent collection and legal action through the Courts.
Rent arrears have gone up this year and are higher than at this point in 2019/20. This is due in part to the increase in people out of work due to the Coronavirus restrictions and also due to our inability to chase debt as we would usually do. We only recommenced our enforcement process in September, and Court referrals are still severely limited. Evictions scheduled for April last year are still on hold and the latest date for resumption of enforcement is mid-March. Although this date is likely to be extended further. Whilst the majority of tenants want to resolve their debt issues, there still remain some who will not respond to our offers of support. We have adapted our processes to include additional contact and we have a number of measures in place for the final quarter to maximise our income collection.
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Tenant Participation
Performance has increased again from Q2 to a record high of 97% satisfaction in Q3 and exceeds target (performance year to date is 83%) We continue to provide a wide variety of accessible and flexible ways for residents get involved in the design, scrutiny and improvement of services or to help make neighbourhood a better place to live and communities to thrive. We put our residents at the heart of everything we do through the delivery of our Involvement structures, ranging from being a Street or Block Champions, ACE Inspectors, a Board or CEP members. We manage this through a number of opportunities such as being involved in a local community group or Tenant And Residents Associations (TRA), by responding to questionnaires or surveys or by attending an event or taking part in Tenant Academy training courses. Our residents are encouraged and supported to get involved in whatever they are interested in, at a level that suits them and in a way that suits them. Since the commencement of Covid restrictions, we have focused on increased frequency of telephone and digital contact with involved residents and community groups to ensure we continue to understand and meet their specific support needs. We currently circulate a Tenant and Leaseholder Involvement (TLI) e-newsletter to over 2000. We celebrate the contribution of our residents through the Tenant and Leaseholder Awards, the Garden Competition, the Nottinghamshire Live Heroes Awards and the TPAS awards to demonstrate the importance and value of this contribution, and to inspire others to get involved.
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Employability webinars remain successful and are maintaining a good attendance level. We have now managed to support 308 people via this communication method, 100 of these are within 2021. Over the last few months, we have had specific focus within the webinars on Diversity and Black History Month and have ran those webinars at times that support individuals struggling with childcare commitments and home schooling. We have partnered with Sure Retrofit Academy, where we have facilitated sessions to support ‘Retrofit domestic installation’ training that feeds into our overall green agenda. This has resulted in 44 customers from NG post codes signing up to carry out further training. Customer referrals are remaining steady in the early part of this year, but with the ‘Way to Work’ programme we have introduced a voucher/incentive system that supports and encourages referrals.
• Celebrated Disability history month. • Celebrated Black History Month. • WIC’s fifth birthday in October celebrating
success stories and the South Asian History Festival.
• Ran soft skills session webinars in partnership with National Careers Service to support skills such as CV writing and interview skills.
• A number of different skills taster days in partnership with Construction and Skills Academy – WIC – celebrated cultural diversity and working with organisations such as HEYA. Six customers have signed up to attend a course and also gained additional referrals for various schemes.
• Introduced Employability across NCH, showcasing Managers and employees how we’re supporting our customers
NCH Stock Compliance Dashboard Monitoring
Meeting target, performance is better than 2019/20
Meeting target, performance is worse than 2019/20
Not meeting target, performance is worse than 2019/20
Not meeting target, performance is better than 2019/20
Benchmarking: Quartile 1 (Top Quartile performance versus latest Housemark data)
Quartile 2 (upper median performance)
Quartile 3 (Lower median performance)
Quartile 4 (Bottom quartile performance)
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NCH ALMO has responsibility for ensuring that all of the homes and properties it owns and manages, meet current regulations. The Group Board has approved the Building Safety Compliance Policy and each constituent Board is responsible for monitoring compliance of the properties it owns or manages.
NCH is committed to establishing, implementing and maintaining a policy of continuous improvement and performance of its Compliance related duties concerning Gas Safety, Fire Safety, Control of Legionella and Water Hygiene, Asbestos, Electrical Safety and Lifting Equipment.
It is important that Boards have the appropriate controls and reporting in place to ensure effective oversight and compliance to give them assurance of compliance across the stock that NCH manages.
In light of this, a fit for purpose, robust, balanced dashboard with commentary has been developed to give the board assurance that compliance is being managed across the stock and therefore allow the appropriate challenge, at Board level.
The dashboard reports on the ‘Big 6’ compliance areas in line with NCH recently agreed Building Safety Compliance Policy. The dashboard includes the following:
• Total number of properties affected by each compliance checking programme
• Total number of properties complying
• Percentage of properties with a valid inspection record (level of compliance & non - compliance)
• Percentage compliance last reported
• Trend since previous report
• Servicing frequency (in line with Building Safety Compliance Policy)
• Responsible area
• Comments/narrative explaining any non-compliance, action to be taken and agreed timescales/outcomes
• Red & Green (compliant/non-compliant) indicators
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ALMO Compliance Dashboard 30/12/20
Compliance Area No. of Properties Affected
No. Complying
Percentage Compliance
Percentage Compliance last reported
Trend since previous report
Servicing Frequency Responsible Comments
GAS
Gas Safety Domestic 23,664 23,660 99.98% 99.86% ↑ Annually Mechanical and Electrical Team
The were 4 properties that fell out of compliance on the 30/12/20 due to tenants not granting access in light of Covid-19
ELECTRICAL
Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) 25,340 23,845 94.10% 93.38% ↑ 5 Yearly Mechanical and
Electrical Team
NCH is currently running at 94.10% compliance with 1,495 EICRs remaining with an inspection date greater than five years. The programme scheduled to complete these, continues to be heavily effected due to no access. We continue to monitor the forward programme to reduce the backlog and the short term increase in volume with a team of 12 electricians now working on completing EICR’s
FIRE SAFETY
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Fire Risk Assessments 257 257 100.00% 100.00% ↔ Yearly Building Safety
Team
High Risk Actions (Overdue) 0 0 100.00
% 100.00% ↔ N/A Building Safety Team
ASBESTOS
Inspections of Communal Areas with Asbestos 253 253 100.00
% 100.00% ↔ Annually Building Safety Team
WATER HYGIENE
L8 Risk Assessments 91 91 100.00% 100.00% ↔ Biennial Technical Services
Team
LIFTS
Passenger Lifts 56 56 100.00% 100.00% ↔ Monthly Technical Services
Team
ALMO Board Support and Development
Stephen Feast, Director of Housing
ALMO Board Support and Development
2
Background At the January meeting of the ALMO Board some Board members expressed their views that connectivity between the ALMO Board and the Group Board could be improved. In response to these comments the Chair of the ALMO has taken steps to engage the Tenant Participation and Advisory Service (TPAS); the nationally recognised body specialising in the involvement of Tenants in housing services, to support the ALMO Board in how it can improve. This actions seeks to ensure that the tenants voice is heard and acted upon in line with the Government’s White Paper and the content of the new Corporate Plan approved by Group Board at its January meeting. An initial outline brief has been provided to TPAS, which has also been shared with members of the ALMO Board. Following feedback, the Chair has tabled this item on the meeting agenda to enable the ALMO Board to consider and discuss the brief provided to TPAS. Alongside this support and development provided by TPAS to the ALMO Board, the Company is also undertaking a self-assessment of its tenant involvement mechanisms to ensure we understand how we are performing against the regulatory requirements highlighted within the White Paper and, where necessary, to drive further improvements. This self-assessment includes consideration of tenant involvement in governance and decision making and therefore compliments the support being provided to the ALMO Board in ensuring that the tenants voice is heard and acted upon. The self-assessment is being undertaken using a TPAS developed toolkit and a presentation on the mechanics and expected outcomes of the self –assessment will be made at item 7.5 of this agenda.
Report detail ALMO Board Support and Development
Following the January meeting of ALMO Board, the Chair of the Board requested that the Director of Housing engage with TPAS to provide support to the ALMO Board on its further development. The outline brief provided to TPAS has been shared with the ALMO Board and is detailed below: 1. Review how the ALMO Board is working in line with its remit and within the governance structures; 2. Support the ALMO Board to understand the powers and responsibilities it has to initiate change and deliver
improvements; 3. Suggest where we can make improvements to make sure the tenants’ voice is heard and acted upon. Members of the ALMO Board are encouraged to: 1. Discuss the outline brief above and make comments which can be incorporated into a more detailed brief for TPAS
to fulfil; 2. Detail their expectations as to how the support could be provided; for example, through interviews with ALMO
Board, other Board Members and key staff and observing an ALMO Board meeting in action; 3. Consider how and when they receive feedback from TPAS.
ALMO Board Support and Development
3
Anna O’Halloran from TPAS will attend the ALMO Board meeting to receive the feedback directly from Board members to inform the further development of the Brief. Self-Assessment of Tenant Involvement Mechanisms In addition to the support to be provided to the ALMO Board, the Company had existing plans in place to undertake self- assessment of its tenant involvement mechanisms using a TPAS developed toolkit. The self-assessment enables the Company to undertake a systematic review of its approach to involvement which is then independently validated by the leading tenant involvement organisation in England. Successful validation of the self-assessment is through an accreditation process which involves ALMO Board Members, NCH Tenants and Leaseholders, NCH Colleagues and Services, and External Stakeholders and Partners, and will provide confidence that NCH has achieved a level of involvement which exceeds the expectations set out by: 1. The Regulator of Social Housing; 2. The NHF Code of Governance; 3. The Proposed Building Safety Regulator, and 4. The Housing Ombudsman. The self-assessment includes consideration of tenant involvement in governance and decision making and therefore compliments the support being provided to the ALMO Board in ensuring that the tenants voice is heard and acted upon. Further detail on the self-assessment and accreditation process is provided at item 7.5 of this agenda. Through seeking support and further development, members of the ALMO Board will provide greater opportunities for the tenants’ voice to be heard throughout the governance structure of the Company, which will initiate change and deliver improvements in the services provided. The self-assessment will work across the Company to review involvement including that within governance and decision making. Both these elements will effectively prepare NCH for the requirements which will be delivered through the Government’s Charter for Social Housing residents: Social Housing White paper and are aligned to the commitments made within the new Corporate Plan; specifically, the content of the Nottingham City Homes Tenants Charter which places a strong emphasis on the role of tenants in driving continuous improvement and delivering high quality homes and services.
Background Papers • TPAS website https://www.tpas.org.uk/ • Nottingham City Homes Corporate Plan 2021-2024 • The Charter for Social Housing Residents: Social Housing White Paper
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-charter-for-social-housing-residents-social-housing-white-paper
Deep Dive into Justified Complaint and their
Analysis Jacquie Beacroft
Customer Experience and Insight Manager
Date 24 February 2021
Complaints Deep Dive
2
Overview This report looks into the root causes of justified and part justified complaints for the period 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020 across all Nottingham City Homes (NCH) service areas. The report follows a request by ALMO Board to look into further detail regarding the types of complaints being investigated and the reasons behind these in terms of customers’ dissatisfaction and / or service failure. To establish a better understanding of what the underlying causes for complaints are work has been undertaken to further interrogate the categories used to determine the reasons why the complaint resulted These primary drivers will help to address any service failures and prevent any patterns of future complaints being made. Historically complaints were categorised into five broad categories: – Delay, Service, Staff, Quality and Policy. Whilst these helped to group the reasons into general groups, it was felt further insight and scrutiny was required to further understand reasons contained within these areas. At the end of 2019, changes were made to improve the way we record and review learning outcomes from complaints. This included a further drill down into each of the five reasons into sub categories (as shown below). This allowed us to maintain a broad overview of the types of complaints we were receiving, but enabled further scrutiny on a case by case basis to determine the particular issue which had resulted in the customers’ dissatisfaction. This level of information and understanding has also enabled us to provide more bespoke information and analysis to each service area to support them in reviewing the service delivery, understanding any barriers which were causing dissatisfaction, review issues relating to communication and where appropriate undertake any training and development for colleagues and address performance issues.
Complaints Deep Dive
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Complaint Reasons To ensure a full understanding of what is driving complaints, below is a guide on the sort of complaints that fit into each category:
Delay – For matters where the primary reason for dissatisfaction is time taken to start or complete an action.
• Caused by staff error – If a staff member has failed to take the steps expected of them in their duties. • Caused by customer – Delays caused by actions such as repeated rescheduling or missing appointments. • Caused by process – Such as matters that have to pass through multiple departments, or excessive
timeframes. • Caused by sub-contractor – If the delay has been caused by an external service or sub-contractor.
Service – For matters driven by failure to provide a service.
• Missed Appointment If an appointment or visit that has been missed/not attended. • Recurring issue not resolved – Matters raised on multiple occasions and never fully or efficiently resolved. • Work not completed – If the service failure comes from an inability to complete works that are expected.
Staff – For matters primarily caused by the actions or inactions of NCH staff or those acting on our behalf.
• Behaviour (conduct) – Actions that could be considered offensive or in breach of the code of conduct. • Accidental Damage –Damage to personal property by a staff member while carrying out their regular duties. • Administrative error – If an error made by staff has resulted in the wrong actions being taken. • Communication failure – If the issue has been caused by poor (or no) communication. •
Quality – For matters primarily caused by the standard of work carried out by the company.
• Work carried out by individual – Such as poor workmanship or miss-handling of a process. • Service Standards – Work carried out to agreed service standards but customer remains dissatisfied.
Policy – While we do not take complaints about policy directly, sometimes during an investigation it may become clear that the policy is the cause of the dissatisfaction.
• Disagrees with policy – When a policy has been followed correctly and customer disagrees with the decision made.
As part of the process those who have investigated the complaint will determine upon closure of their investigations and response whether the complaint was found to be justified, part justified or unjustified and the primary driver for the complaint being one of the causes above. This will also include any actions to be taken including works carried out or remedies for the customer and what specific learning outcomes to be addressed internally.
Complaints Deep Dive
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Complaint Reasons by Service Area The table below shows the reason for the complaint, as selected by the Investigating Officer, for each service area. Please note, due to volume Responsive Repairs is split into North, South and Central.
Complaints Deep Dive
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Primary Complaint Drivers The top three drivers for complaints for the business taken as a whole are:
1. ‘Delay – Caused by Staff’, with 33% of all Justified/Part-Justified complaints. 2. ‘Delay – Caused by process’ with 23% of all Justified/Part-Justified complaints. 3. ‘Staff – Communication’ with 9% of all Justified/Part-Justified complaints.
The charts below show the top three complaint drivers for each service area, along with the percentage of complaints for that area that fit the category.
*’Others’ includes ‘Development & Acquisition’, ‘Estate Caretaking’, ‘Risk Management, Governance & Customer Insight’ and ‘Supported Housing’ grouped together due to low volume.
20%
14%
49%
30%
17%
42%
49%
38%
24% 23%
37%
27%
19%
9%12%
15%
6%
16%13%
24%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
AssetManagement
BusinessSupport (CRM)
Mechanicaland Electrical
PlannedMaintenance
RSM Central RSM North RSM South
Property Services - Top 3 Complaint Drivers by areaDelay - Caused byprocess
Delay - Caused by staff
Delay - Caused by sub-contractor
Service - Missedappointment
Service - Recurringissue not resolved
Service - Work notcompleted
Staff - Communication
19% 20%25%
12%16%
26%22%
38%33%
60%
25%29%
37%
22%17%
21%20%25%
12%17% 18% 16%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
CustomerExcellence
Lettings (inchomeless /dispersed)
NCC GardenAssistance
Rents &Leaseholders
Tenancy andEstates
Management
Voids Others
Housing & Customer Services and Corporate Services - Top 3 Complaint Drivers by Area
Staff - Behaviour
Staff - Communication
Delay - Caused byprocess
Delay - Caused by staff
Delay - Caused by sub-contractor
Quality - ServiceStandards
Service - Recurringissue not resolved
Service - Work notcompleted
Complaints Deep Dive
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Areas of Concern and Actions Taken The charts above inform us in each area where the main causes of concerns derive from. Overall the trends clearly show that ‘Delay - Caused by staff’ is a factor for all service areas with the exclusion of Asset, whose top cause for complaints is identified as ‘Staff – Communication’.
As many of the service areas are customer facing and includes large volumes of interactions with customers on a daily basis, this will be an inevitable product that may result in some cases of poor customer service delivery or not meeting the high expectations of the customer.
For those areas in which ‘Delay – Caused by staff’ are identified work is already underway to ensure that greater ownership and understanding of what the impact is on the outcome of service delivery for the customer. This has resulted in undertaking of refresher training, carrying out lean reviews to reduce the number of hand offs for colleagues and teams to streamline the actions from end to end and clearly identifying responsibility for each stage
For some services who undertake large scale programmes of work such as Asset Management the importance of communicating information, timescales and phasing of works is crucial to customers, therefore where customers feel they have not been informed, communication will unsurprisingly be a main cause for them.
In addition, the interaction with social media enquires has been reviewed, to ensure we respond in a timely and accurate manner in every instance, and Asset Management have looked to increase the level of verbal and email communication directly with customers, to ensure they are clear on how their enquiries are being handled, and provide a clear road map for resolution. They have also recently reviewed their approach to capturing customer satisfaction, through our Damp & Mould and Decent Neighbourhood work streams, so we can better understand the quality of our service and if we are effectively resolving customer issues / complaints / expectations, with the view that ultimately we can continue to learn and improve our customer service offering moving forward.
Work to improve the level of communication and consistency of information provided to customers has been undertaken to establish clear messages and expectations with customers.
“Historically there have been a number of instances where communication to customers and councillors, in respect of complaints and general enquiries through Asset, have fallen down. One of the main root causes of this was connected to a number of generic, communal email inboxes and had the net result of no one specific taking responsibility or ownership for dealing with these matters, or communicating effectively back to internal colleagues, customers and councillors. This was corrected in December 2020, when these inboxes were discontinued, and clearer guidance was provided to the business as to which individuals in the team were responsible for particular enquiries. This has resulted in not only a greater level of accountability being taken by colleagues across the Directorate, but also helped to improve response times to complaints / enquiries, whilst providing a more personal level of communication with the enquirer at the same time.”
- Darren Ibell, Stock Investment Manager
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Some service areas such as Lettings, Voids, Repairs and Planned Maintenance have the top cause of complaints identified as ‘Delay – caused by process’. These service areas are reliant on processes to guide their service delivery. Margins for error with these processes and systems are higher and can result in breakdown of information flow. For example, a repair raised by a customer and assessed through Responsive Repairs processes before being passed to another business area such as Asset Management for work to be completed, which then enters into their work process. The passing of work between departments continues to be a focus for improvement, ensuring better communication both internally and with customers.
In all these service areas, work is in place to identify and support processes to ensure wherever possible potential risks of service failure are identified and monitored for continuity of delivery. Recent system improvements and software are in place to identify these.
Our data gathering and learning process is always evolving and developing, meaning that as time goes on we will continue to improve the way we learn and how we pass these learnings on to the wider business. These learnings will help in shaping service delivery and identifying early trends by providing insight to service managers both for NCH as a whole and bespoke to individual service areas.
While only the second highest reason in Mechanical and Electrical and third highest in Asset Management and Responsive Repairs North, ‘Delay – Caused by sub-contractor’ accounts for 6.4% of all Justified/Part-Justified complaints. This may suggest that sub-contractors used by Property Services may not be delivering the same service of standard we provide in-house and should continue to be monitored closely.
Overall, with two out of three complaints fitting into one of the four ‘Delay’ categories, it is clear that the main cause of customer dissatisfaction is time taken by NCH to carry out works or do what we say we will. This could include service requests such as routine repairs, major works and projects and day-to-day services offered by Housing offices. All services offered have the potential to experience delays, but similarly present opportunities for work to be carried out more efficiently.
“Results from the desktop review, which analysed the major touchpoints of the customer journey (including initial call from the tenant, Right First Time data and deep-dive of follow-on) have been shared with Departmental Management Team. High-level findings revealed the following;
• a significant number of calls received were for an existing repair (double-checking or chasing a repair appointment).
• current diagnosis process encourages an ‘assessment first’ approach. • instances have been found where the system classes jobs as ‘completed’ although further work may be
required.
The next steps of this review is to strategically agree the methodology to trial customer journey ‘end-to-end’ experiments (with minimal negative impact on Business As Usual activity). The purpose of which is to commence a systems redesign that will lead to a better customer experience.”
- Andy Culshaw, Business Intelligence and Change Manager
Complaints Deep Dive
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Case Studies Ms H – Delay – Caused by staff
Ms H contacted the Customer Relations Team regarding work to her garden and fencing that had been promised when the property was Void before she moved in. She wished to know why the garden had not been cleared as agreed before the start of her tenancy.
The Investigating Officer advised that after looking into it, they found that the work had been arranged and was carried out the day after the complaint was raised. Administrative staff had been advised correctly of the work required, but it was at that stage the correct steps were not taken by staff, resulting in the delay to completion of the work. The complaint was categorised as ‘Delay – Caused by staff’.
As the work had been completed, no further steps were required by the Investigating Officer beyond an apology which is always offered as standard in responding to dissatisfaction. Learnings from the complaint involved ensuring the process was correct for arranging this type of work and feeding back to the managers of the administrative staff to ensure greater vigilance in completing all requests made.
Miss C – Delay – Caused by process
Miss C contacted the Customer Relations Team regarding the time taken to carry out a Mutual Exchange. She advised she had been dealing with the Homelink team about her issue for some time and while some steps had been taken, the process remained ongoing and the resolutions previously offered had not been followed through on. Miss C claimed all relevant documentation was in place and both parties involved were ready for the exchange.
The Investigating Officer found that much of the delay was caused by the suspension of the Mutual Exchange process in March 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, they also found that the application Miss C had submitted prior to the March 2020 lockdown had not been passed to the Mutual Exchange team, resulting in a new application being required. Miss C had been advised her request was being given priority and the Investigating Officer confirmed this was still the case, with Miss C’s application being the first booked for inspection once service resumed. The complaint was categorised as ‘Delay – Caused by process’.
The Investigating Officer was not required to take any further actions to resolve the matter as the process was already underway at the time of investigation. Learnings from the complaint found that, while some of the delays were unavoidable due to pandemic, better communication around expected timeframes could be implemented.
Mr A – Staff - Communication
Mr A contacted the Customer Relations Team regarding a leak behind a washing machine and an appointment date he had been advised for a plumber and joiner to attend. He advised the joiner had attended to remove the cupboard door and the plumber had attended but did not resolve the repair.
The Investigating Officer found that the joiner had isolated the leak to prevent damage, but this had not been communicated to the plumber, who found no leak and took no action. As a result, when the water was turned back on, the leak resumed. He found that the cause of the issue and subsequent complaint was failure to communicate
Complaints Deep Dive
9
between staff. He also determined that the matter did not require two craft operatives and should have been able to be resolved by a plumber alone. The complaint was categorised as ‘Staff - Communication’.
The leak was resolved the day the complaint was raised on an emergency plumbing appointment. On the date the Investigating Officer looked into the matter, he arranged for a joiner to attend the same day to replace the cupboard door. Learning from this complaint consisted of providing feedback to the Repairs Service Manager about what had happened, which was passed on appropriately to cross-trade craft operatives.
Next Steps The information and data provided above hopefully provides the picture around the importance of using information and feedback received from customers and how it can be used to pro-actively improve where things have gone wrong. Most of our customers who complain and let us know we could have done better just want us to put things in place to prevent the same thing happening again to another tenant/neighbour. By having the information to enable us to drill down into the real causes of complaints it will enable us to start to review the customer journey and experience for our customers look at early warning signals, replicate good practice and learning from some services across the business so we are consistent. The data and information retrieved will highlight those services which are underperforming or not delivering their services according to the service standards. This armed with the new Complaint Policy and Procedure allows for a much greater transparency and accountability for all who provide a customer service. There will be a greater emphasis on producing timely information and feedback around complaints particularly with the monthly reporting to Property Services including complaint sub-categories, this will help in providing insight into areas of concern/focus. Strengthening of other reporting around complaints will be possible providing greater detail and insight around what is causing complaints for EMT/Board and customers. As sub-category data continues to grow and trends are identified, we will be working with all areas of the business to share findings and encourage improvements where necessary. Trends along with actions taken as a result will be shared with Board, EMT, staff and customers to show we are listening and learning.
The historic cycle of responding to complaints around the same subject matter without giving no thought or effort into the ‘why’s’ is now starting to diminish.
The new approach of drilling down to the real cause for complaints being made, being pro-active by engaging with customers and communicating to seek early resolution will change the perceptions of some of our customers that we don’t care or listen.
This relationship along with the commitment to use the insight and patterns we have will also make us think about putting things right for others and learn and grow as an organisation.
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Housing Ombudsman
To further help and guide us with improving and learning from our complaints, we also ensure any learning and good practice is noted and actioned from the Housing Ombudsman services. They produce a “spotlight on” which is a series of reports in which they focus on issues identified through complaints they have investigated and resolved.
Since September 2020 there have been three areas covered:
Room for Improvement: spotlight on complaints around repairs.
A new lease of life: spotlight on leasehold, shared ownership and new builds, complexity and complaint handling.
And the most recent, Cold comfort: spotlight on complaints about heating, hot water and energy in social housing.
The reports are based on investigations carried out by the Housing Ombudsman over 18 months since April 2019 and identifies social housing landlords who have had orders/maladministration made against them, examples of case studies and recommendations for improved practice for landlords to use as learning to improve their services and complaint handling in these spotlight areas. Useful to see the complaints raised within other housing organisations – we can both compare our performance to theirs and learn from mistakes others have made.
These reports are useful toolkits and guides, providing greater insight into how cases are investigated and help in providing information to improve our service delivery, customer service and processes.
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