Short Notice Inspection of Responsive Repairs, Voids and Gas Servicing

Transcription

1 Short Notice Inspection of Responsive Repairs, Voids and Gas Servicing Accord Housing Association Limited March 2009

2 Contents Housing Association Inspections 3 The Association 4 Summary of our findings 5 How good is the service? 6 Recommendations 11 Prospects for improvement 13 Positive practice 16

3 Housing Association Inspections Housing Association Inspections The Audit Commission is an independent body responsible for ensuring that public money is spent economically, efficiently and effectively and delivers high-quality local services for the public. Within the Audit Commission, the Housing Inspectorate inspects and monitors the performance of a number of bodies and services. These include local authority housing departments, local authorities administering Supporting People programmes, arms length management organisations and housing associations. Our key lines of enquiry (KLOEs) set out the main issues which we consider when forming our judgements on the quality of services. The KLOEs can be found on the Audit Commission s website at For housing associations our current inspection role and remit is set out in sections 41A and 41B of the Audit Commission Act 1998 (as amended by section 109 of the Local Government Act 2003). Provisions contained in the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 will amend our role and remit in due course, but are not yet in force. Our role is in line with the Audit Commission s strategic regulation principles. In broad terms, these principles look to minimise the burden of regulation while maximising its impact. Short notice inspections (SNIs) have been developed to encourage improvements in the performance of housing associations (HAs) at delivering services to their customers tenants and leaseholders. They focus on the outcomes for residents and work on the basis that associations will concentrate on improving services rather than preparing for an inspection, which could happen at any time. The scope of each inspection of a housing association, undertaken by the Audit Commission has been agreed in consultation with the Tenant Services Authority. The Tenant Services Authority is the statutory body which regulates housing associations to ensure that they are well governed, well managed and financially viable as set out in its Regulatory Code. 3 Accord Housing Association Limited

4 The Association The Association 1 Accord Housing Association is the parent association of The Accord Group, which provides homes and services to 30,000 people across the Midlands through six housing organisations. It employs around 900 staff and has an annual turnover of about 55 million. 2 Accord Housing Association has almost 5,500 homes ranging from affordable homes for families to supported housing for older and vulnerable people. These are mainly in the West Midlands conurbation, although some homes are in the surrounding counties of Staffordshire and Shropshire. The Association operates from its head office in West Bromwich and another office in Darlaston, both in the West Midlands. It has around 650 staff, many of whom provide care and support services. The scope of the inspection 3 The scope of this inspection focused on the following areas, which have been identified in consultation with the regulator: responsive repairs; void repairs; and gas servicing. 4 The inspection also included an assessment of how Accord Housing Association is addressing three cross-cutting themes: Access and Customer Care, Diversity and Value for Money within the services included in the inspection s scope. 5 We would like to thank the staff of Accord Housing Association who made us welcome and met our requests efficiently and courteously. Dates of inspection: 21 to 24 October Regional contact details: Audit Commission Rivermead House 7 Lewis Court Grove Park, Enderby LE19 1SU Accord Housing Association Limited 4

5 Summary of our findings Summary of our findings 6 We have assessed the strengths and weaknesses of the service areas included in the scope of the inspection. Our judgements are based on the evidence obtained during the inspection and are outlined below. Table 1 Assessment How good is the service? Access and customer care 1 Diversity Value for Money Responsive repairs Voids repairs Gas servicing Assessment Strengths and weaknesses are in balance. Strengths and weaknesses are in balance. Strengths outweigh weaknesses. Strengths considerably outweigh weaknesses. Strengths outweigh weaknesses. Strengths considerably outweigh weaknesses. 7 We asked Accord Housing Association to consult with its customers on the findings of our original report on the strengths and weaknesses of the service areas we inspected; and on the preparation of an action plan to implement our recommendations. Following receipt of that action plan this final report has been published to include our assessment of the Association's prospects for improvement. 1 Access and Customer Care, Diversity and Value for Money are assessed in relation to the service areas inspected only. 5 Accord Housing Association Limited

6 How good is the service? How good is the service? Access and Customer Care in the service areas inspected 8 We found a balance of strengths and weaknesses in this area. 9 There are a number of strengths. Frontline staff dealing with customers are professional and knowledgeable. The Association has made a significant investment in customer care training, which is starting to deliver customer focused services. Customer satisfaction is high for responsive repairs and gas servicing. This was supported by reality checks carried out while on-site. Customers can make repair appointments at a range of convenient times, including evenings and Saturday mornings. There is a high quality and comprehensive repairs handbook that assists customers in diagnosing a repair. Customers are involved in shaping the inspected services through a range of involvement events, such as ongoing involvement in meetings with contractors, devising the lettable standard, and a repairs speed dating event. 10 There are a number of weaknesses. Service standards are not comprehensive and do not reflect the services currently being delivered. They are not measurable or monitored, and so delivery against the standards cannot be demonstrated, which means that customers may not be aware of the service they should expect to receive. Leaflets available for customers vary in terms of quality, availability, and branding. As a result, customers are provided with inconsistent information. The approach taken to deal with complaints is not always customer-focused, which means some customers are receiving an unsympathetic response to their complaint. The Association does not currently assess the customer satisfaction it collects on the reletting of empty homes, which represents a missed opportunity to learn from customer feedback on this service. Some information provided through the website is not complete or up-to-date. This is not promoting access to services. Accord Housing Association Limited 6

7 How good is the service? Diversity in the service areas inspected 11 We found a balance of strengths and weaknesses in this area. 12 There are a number of strengths. There is a corporate focus on equality and diversity. The Association is focused on tailoring services to meet the needs of vulnerable customers, helping to ensure services reflect their needs. The Association has collected profiling information on 65 per cent of its customers and is using this information and data on the community to tailor and develop services to meet the needs of its customers. Offices are fully accessible and meet the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act. The responsive repairs contractor works in partnership with a BME contractor to ensure a culturally sensitive service is delivered to BME customers. The Association monitors contractor performance on equality and diversity issues and is able to demonstrate that its services are being delivered fairly. Representative and trained staff assist customers to access services by speaking a range of community languages and the use of British Sign Language and Makaton. Aids and adaptations are recycled for the benefit of vulnerable customers, where they are no longer required by the new tenant when a property is relet. 13 There are a number of weaknesses. Some leaflets are not fully accessible to customers as they contain no reference to their availability in alternative formats and community languages. Although alternative formats can be requested, the Customer Charter does not set out how long customers can expect to wait for their availability. The Association has yet to fully assess the impact of equality and diversity issues on the three inspected services, although it has a programme in place to do so. The website is not fully accessible. It is not yet speech enabled and can only be fully translated into some community languages. The 'out-of-hours' repairs service cannot identify the specific needs of vulnerable customers, which means contractors may not be able to respond appropriately when undertaking emergency repairs. Accord does not possess profiling information on all of its customers, which means the diverse needs of all customers are not yet fully informing the approach to delivering these services. 7 Accord Housing Association Limited

8 How good is the service? Responsive repairs 14 We found strengths considerably outweigh weaknesses in this area. 15 There are a number of strengths. Repairs are completed quickly. The Association performs well against challenging response times. Routine repairs are carried out in target times, with performance above average for comparable organisations. Ninety nine per cent of customers who recently had a responsive repair were satisfied with the service they received. There is a quick response to customer feedback. There are regular meetings between the Association and its repairs contractors to ensure issues raised by customers are quickly addressed. Services are now more customer-focused, for example, flexible appointments can be made when repairs are reported. Repairs to tenants homes are generally carried out right first time and to a good standard. Vulnerable customers benefit from a handyperson scheme, which can respond quickly to minor repairs. Void repairs 16 We found that strengths outweighed weaknesses in this area. 17 There are a number of strengths. There has been a significant reduction in the time taken to relet empty homes, which means that customers are only waiting a short time for their new home. Empty homes are well maintained. The ready to let homes are handed over to customers in a good condition and exceed the lettable standard. The lettable standard and community information is provided to prospective customers when they are shown the property on an accompanied viewing, so they are in a position to make an informed choice about the property and local area. Customers are offered choice in the fixtures and fittings of their new home where possible, which helps to ensure new homes meet the needs and expectations of customers. The Association is promoting health and safety by carrying out gas safety checks before properties are relet where these are imminent. Accord Housing Association Limited 8

9 How good is the service? 18 There is a weakness. The current lettable standard is basic. Although it has been developed with customers, it does not reflect recent improvement works and may not meet the aspiration of potential customers. Gas servicing 19 We found strengths considerably outweigh weaknesses in this area. 20 There are a number of strengths. There is a strong focus on ensuring all customers receive their annual gas safety check, with current performance at 99.7 per cent. This helps ensure the safety of all customers. The Association and its contractor work in partnership to ensure the importance of gas safety checks is well advertised, appointment times are flexible, and vulnerable customers receive additional support. This should improve the likelihood of gaining access to carry out the annual gas safety check. The quality of servicing and repair work is checked effectively by an external organisation with appropriately qualified inspectors, which provides independent assurance that gas safety risks to customers are minimised. The Association maximises the opportunity to undertake other health and safety checks while on a gas safety check and installs carbon monoxide detectors for vulnerable or elderly customers. This reduces potential risks to customers. The Association promotes and offers gas safety checks at reduced costs to all leaseholders, although this has yet to be taken up by anyone. Value for Money in the service areas inspected 2 21 We found strengths outweighed weaknesses in this area. 22 There are a number of strengths. The Association has delivered value for money through the innovative procurement of its contractors. There has been improved performance, improved services to customers and generally high levels of customer satisfaction while costs compare well. The Association is focused on delivering efficiency savings, such as 68,000 through integrating its approach to asset management through the Matrix Partnership. This ensures savings are available to be re-invested in improving services to customers. Improved value for money has been secured within the services being inspected by the investment in new technology by contractors, which deliver improved services directly to customers. 2 In assessing value for money we are looking at two questions: 'How do costs compare?' and 'How is value for money managed?' 9 Accord Housing Association Limited

10 How good is the service? The repairs contractor is focused on getting repairs right first time, which it currently achieves on 76 per cent of all responsive repairs. This reduces disruption for customers and helps to reduce repair costs. The Association has secured additional external resources to improve services to customers, such as replacement boilers where these have found to be faulty during gas safety checks. 23 There is a weakness. By having a short-term partnering agreement with the responsive repairs contractor, the Association has missed out on extra benefits resulting from additional investment by the contractor, such as improved integration of IT and performance reporting. Accord Housing Association Limited 10

11 Recommendations Recommendations 24 To rise to the challenge of continuous improvement, organisations need inspection reports that offer practical pointers for improvement. Our recommendations identify the expected benefits for both local people and the organisation. In addition, we identify the approximate costs 3 and indicate the priority we place on each recommendation and key dates for delivering these where they are considered appropriate. In this context, the inspection team recommends that the organisation shares the findings of this report with tenants and board members; and takes action to address all weaknesses identified in the report. Associations forming part of a group structure should share the lessons and findings of the report amongst the wider group. The inspection team makes the following recommendations. Recommendation R1 Strengthen the focus on customers by: in conjunction with customers, reviewing and establishing measurable service standards for all services; in conjunction with customers, reviewing and updating the suite of information leaflets with a consistent branding and ensure the same version is available in the offices and on the website; introducing a robust quality assurance process to ensure all responses to complaints are customer focused; ensuring that improvements to the telephony system are implemented on time; assessing customer satisfaction with the releting process; and ensuring the website is regularly updated to reflect the current service being provided to customers. The expected benefits of this recommendation are: customers are clear on the services they can expect; more consistent information to customers; and more accessible services. The implementation of this recommendation will have high impact with medium costs. This should be implemented by April Low cost is defined as less than 1 per cent of the annual service cost, medium cost is between 1 and 5 per cent and high cost is over 5 per cent. 11 Accord Housing Association Limited

12 Recommendations Recommendation R2 Strengthen the approach to equality and diversity by: ensuring all leaflets contain reference to their availability in alternative formats and community languages; assessing the equalities impact of all new and existing policies and procedures for the three inspected services; and ensuring the website can be translated into all main community languages and is speech enabled. The expected benefit of this recommendation is that: services are delivered fairly and equitably and meet the diverse needs of all customers. The implementation of this recommendation will have high impact with medium costs. This should be implemented by April Recommendation R3 Strengthen the focus on responsive repairs by: in conjunction with customers, reviewing the Home Club Plus tenants incentive scheme. The expected benefit of this recommendation is: greater clarity on the level of service customers can expect. The implementation of this recommendation will have high impact with medium costs. This should be implemented by April Accord Housing Association Limited 12

13 Prospects for improvement Prospects for improvement Summary of our findings 25 We have assessed Accord Housing Association as having promising prospects for improvement for the service areas included in the scope of the inspection. Our judgements are outlined below and are based on the evidence obtained during the inspection and the short notice inspection action plan agreed with customers. What prospects are there that the services inspected will improve? What is the track record in delivering improvement in the areas inspected? 26 We found strengths outweighed weaknesses in this area. 27 There are a number of strengths. A range of customer-focused improvements have recently been delivered and already having a positive impact on customers, such as flexible appointments and homes professionally cleaned before they are relet. There is a track record of involving customers in procuring contractors as well as improving the inspected services. There has been a positive direction of travel of performance indicators over the previous 12 months, which mean customers have experienced improved services. The Association has a track record of delivering value for money and efficiency savings, improved performance and generally high levels of customer satisfaction. 28 There are a number of weaknesses. Although procurement of the new contractors was planned over a longer period, the significant improvements resulting from this have only recently had a positive impact on performance and the service to customers. Some weaknesses identified through the inspection process had not previously been identified by the Association, such as ineffective reporting of performance to the Board. The Association has yet to undertake equality impact assessments for the inspected services, which means potential barriers to customers accessing services may not have been identified and addressed. 13 Accord Housing Association Limited

14 Prospects for improvement How well is performance managed in the areas inspected? 29 We found a balance of strengths and weaknesses in this area. 30 There are a number of strengths. There is a regular and detailed focus on monitoring operational performance with the contractor, including customer feedback. This means that the contractor can quickly respond to issues affecting customers. The Association has a detailed service improvement plan in place to improve services for customers, supported by a specialist performance and quality team. The Association has established challenging future targets, which if achieved would see performance within the top 25 per cent of all housing associations by 2011/12. The approach to risk management is sound, with plans in place to mitigate against these occurring. This helps to maintain services to customers. The Association responded positively to the inspection. Consultation on a SMART inspection action plan to address the recommendations in the interim report was undertaken during the Christmas closedown period and this was shaped and agreed by customers. 31 There are a number of weaknesses. The existing service improvement plan covering the inspected services is not SMART, as it does not contain a resources column. Performance is not effectively reported to the Board. The lack of detailed minutes from the sub-committee along with limited performance and benchmarking information provided to board members means they are not fully informed to scrutinise performance. Performance information provided through the newsletter lacks customer-focus with few explanations to assist customer understanding of performance measures, action where performance is below target, and how performance compares to others. This represents a missed opportunity for all customers to be fully informed about the performance of services they receive. Performance against service standards are not comprehensively monitored so the Association cannot demonstrate that its services are achieving these standards. Current performance targets for the percentage of emergency, urgent, and routine repairs completed in target are not challenging as they are below that being achieved by the top 25 per cent of housing associations. Accord Housing Association Limited 14

15 Prospects for improvement Do the areas inspected have capacity to improve? 32 We found strengths outweighed weaknesses in this area. 33 There are a number of strengths. The Association has a strong approach to financial management and value for money, with sufficient financial capacity to deliver and improve services. We found staff to be supported, well motivated, and positive about customer care training. This is reflected in the low levels of staff sickness absence and turnover, which adds capacity to maintain services to customers. The services inspected and service improvements are generally supported by effective IT systems. This improves the efficient delivery of services to customers. Procurement activity is delivering improved performance and more efficient ways of working, which is adding capacity to the Association to improve services to customers. 34 There is a weakness. The Association is not fully exploiting internal and external learning opportunities, which are reflected in weaknesses identified in access and diversity. 15 Accord Housing Association Limited

16 Positive practice Positive practice The Commission will identify and promote good practice. Every inspection will look for examples of good practice and innovation, and for creative ways to overcome barriers and resistance to change or make better use of resources. (Seeing is Believing) Specialist BME maintenance contractor 35 Accord Housing Association, in partnership with 3 C s Asset Management, has access to Dorcas, a specialist BME maintenance contractor. They work across the housing stock, while offering culturally sensitive maintenance work for BME customers. Accord Housing Association Limited 16

17 The Audit Commission The Audit Commission is an independent watchdog, driving economy, efficiency and effectiveness in local public services to deliver better outcomes for everyone. Our work across local government, health, housing, community safety and fire and rescue services means that we have a unique perspective. We promote value for money for taxpayers, auditing the 200 billion spent by 11,000 local public bodies. As a force for improvement, we work in partnership to assess local public services and make practical recommendations for promoting a better quality of life for local people. Copies of this report If you require further copies of this report, or a copy in large print, in Braille, on tape, or in a language other than English, please call Audit Commission 2009 For further information on the work of the Commission please contact: Audit Commission, 1st Floor, Millbank Tower, Millbank, London SW1P 4HQ Tel: Fax: Textphone (minicom):