Delivering Effective Repairs And Maintenance: Finalist

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1 Delivering Effective Repairs And Maintenance: Finalist L & Q: A Maintenance Service Driven By Our Residents Summary Residents told us that repairs and maintenance was their main priority and as a direct result we hosted a resident focused workshop. Nine residents attended the event with senior managers. The purpose of this was to engage with our customers and learn from them at first hand what they wanted from L & Q in the delivery of such services. The consensus of opinion coming from the Resident Focus Group was that their overriding desire was for L & Q to enhance their responsive repairs service so that they Delivered a high quality maintenance service without being complacent (Jan Pitchell, Resident Board Member). It was clear from the workshop that the raising of standards in the quality of delivery of our responsive repairs service was essential. From the comments gathered we understood that a fundamental review was necessary and for it to be effective it needed to be undertaken in partnership with our residents.

2 What did you set out to achieve? A project delivery team was created comprising staff and residents. A partner consultant Faithorn Farrell Timms LLP (FFT) was also engaged to drive the procurement and document preparation processes forward. The team developed the following proposals which formulated the new way of delivering the responsive repairs service following the feedback received from our residents: We undertook to deliver the following: Re-design the responsive repairs process using a system thinking approach, removing unnecessary hurdles and unproductive micromanagement Agree all service standards portfolio wide and remove the practice of the setting of local standards Ensure all new contracts are corporately agreed and potentially corporately procured, using standard terms and conditions Reduce the list of contractors significantly over time Shift key indicators away from completion times to a small range of quality indicators, mainly focused on resident satisfaction and cost Develop the role of the surveyor to focus on undertaking systematic condition surveys and a higher percentage of inspections during works and upon completion Expand the work being carried out by planned maintenance and cyclical and programmed maintenance. How were these aims and objectives met? We now have a significant focus on this element of the service we provide. Our bespoke Housing Maintenance system has been enhanced to reflect our residents requirements in key performance outputs. We also have employed BMG Research as our strategic partners in measuring the success of our repairs service. As they are independent evaluators, our residents can take comfort in the findings of their reports. BMG s last published Responsive Maintenance Survey was for the period April 2008 to March BMG, as part of their service, also undertake monthly phone surveys with residents on the delivery of the repairs service. The latest dates in which surveys were undertaken (May-September 2009) have covered the period when our new contracts, procedures and IT systems went live. These results have been very positive and show a significant increase in resident satisfaction with responsive repairs. In partnership with BMG we are also now developing a Performance Dashboard for monitoring repairs and void performance in a more visual way. The maintenance service was redesigned using a project methodology from

3 the ground up. We applied Lean Methodology principles to remove any unnecessary steps to streamline the process in order to provide value for money and an efficient service accessible to both L&Q and contractor. Service standards are now uniform across the group. We have enhanced the role of the surveyor and doubled the number of inspections carried out ensuring value for money and improved service. We corporately procured all of our day to day maintenance contractors and opted, with resident consultation, to reduce the number of contractors utilised across the group. Contractor numbers have been reduced significantly to under 20 and this continues to reduce, again ensuring value and continuity of service. What challenges did the project face, and what lessons were learned? A holistic approach to this project resulted in mass change in many aspects of our maintenance delivery. This included the appointment of new contractors, procuring revised contracts with new parameters, new IT software and revised processes for over 1000 staff and contractors to follow. The structure of the organization also changed to facilitate these revised processes, which meant the creation of a partnering manager s position in each region to ensure contractor delivery for our residents. Given the size and scale of the project change management and communication were the most challenging aspects of the project planning and role out. The project team never anticipated the scale of the project and had to innovate around challenging issues to deliver all aspects of the project within a limited time scale. We were able to overcome many of the hurdles faced by working in collaboration with the regions, utilizing their experience and resources to support role out and communicating change in phases. This was key to our success and provided a valuable lesson for future delivery. How was the success of the project measured? L&Q is constantly reviewing its performance as benefits from the project are continuous and extremely important for our evolution. There are however several ways in which we have measured this so far in order to monitor ongoing project benefits, mechanisms include: Resident satisfaction: The impact of the project has driven up resident satisfaction. We have measured the success rate of our service by use of questionnaire. Results show a significant improvement with Customer satisfaction figures pre May %, post May %. Help desk performance: We continuously monitor the level of service we provide to customers through our service help desk. The improvement in services can be seen in a 5 % increase in customer satisfaction. Contractor performance: Contractor performance figures (customers rating

4 completion times as good) rose from 80% pre May 2009 to an average of 88% post May Return on investment: We utilise the reporting mechanisms on the Arena database to report on value for money - cost per job. We have maintained a consistent average cost per job, even though we have implemented new processes and an enhanced customer driven service. Constant assessment of progress against the Aims and Objectives of the original Maintenance Review - this has allowed us to realign our priorities accordingly and maintain focus on deliverables. Contractor Partnering: We work in collaboration with our partners to identify key objectives providing a greater understanding of the L&Q ethos. Most importantly we used this opportunity to gather feedback from our partners on performance, this process is ongoing. Figures for the above are collated and reviewed at monthly intervals and reviewed at regular intervals with senior executive groups and resident board members. What were the key positive outcomes? Although our new responsive repairs service was only introduced over a year ago we are already experiencing increases in resident satisfaction and the delivery of a more efficient service without cost increases. Our results are encouraging and the following figures demonstrate this: Before May 2009 After May 2009 Customer satisfaction 83% 86% Repairs completed on first visit 66% 73% Appointments placed on first attempt 82% 89% Resident satisfaction with repairs 85% 89% Satisfaction with L & Q as a landlord 72% 76% The following key benefits have already been shown to our contractors: Smoothed cash flow though new Visa payment system. Contractors receiving orders via . Instantaneous notifications, making it more environmentally friendly by not having to rely on faxes and paper based processes. Appointment managing: Through joint working with our contractors, we are able to better utilize the appointment system more efficiently, reducing high levels of telephone calls allowing contractors to focus on what is critical to their business. Web access for our contractors: More efficient way of working enabling real time updates and clearer communication.

5 Our residents are now playing an even more active and participative role in the continuing development and monitoring of the responsive repairs service that they were instrumental in shaping. They now receive a service that is helping to deliver a right first fix maintenance service. They have greater access to L & Q for booking appointments by many different methods and which delivers a first time appointment 89% of the time. The structure now in place, with more focused contractors delivering within L & Q neighbourhoods, means that communities are better served and delivery is better targeted. How did the project demonstrate positive practice in equality and diversity? As a result of the project the trust implemented a number of initiatives to support the wide variety of requirements our residents have to ensure fairness and accessibility to all. These include: A flexible appointment system: Our residents are now able to book flexible appointments with options to change and reschedule at a time to suit them. In practice a resident will be allocated a time which they choose and they can have complete control over changing to suit their specific needs A Saturday service: We appreciate that our residents have differing requirements and in order to accommodate this, the project highlighted the need for a greater more flexible service. L&Q now open on a Saturday in order to be more accessible providing convenience for individual needs. A resident can now have access to a range of facilities at the weekend compared to a previous service of week days only. A code of conduct for our contractors: Our partners are at the forefront of L&Q delivery. To ensure consistency between L&Q staff and that of our partners and to provide a fair and open service, contractors are now signed up to and bound by L&Q's stringent criteria of service. This delivers equality of service and diversity is supported. A comprehensive translation service: In order to support the needs of our residents a translation service has been introduced to ensure communication with all our residents is delivered at the same level Adaptations service: All residents are now supported with use of an adaptation service to ensure they are able to utilise their homes to full effect within a safe environment. This service ensures minor adaptations are identified and fitted with complete resident consultation to support any specific requirements.

6 What elements of the project could be replicated by others? In listening to its customers and responding to their needs and aspirations L & Q has developed a resident driven responsive repairs maintenance service. In so doing they have created an innovative model that would add value to any customer driven organization in the affordable housing sector. What we have achieved is not dependent upon our own unique circumstances, in being an extremely large social housing provider, and we are confident that this model could be adopted by much smaller organizations. The pre-requisite for this success has been the honesty and willingness of L & Q to embrace fundamental change in its existing processes and procedures, to the extent that it now bases its repairs service on performance driven outputs. This was a direct response to the initial resident workshop in which customer representatives stated that the fundamental change they wanted was in the quality of the service they received. In focusing their staff on post contract validation, embracing collaborative working, procuring a reduced number of contractors to deliver a higher quality product, achieving efficiency savings through innovative financial management and advancing performance monitoring and improvements through new IT developments in their Arena system, L & Q has driven quality improvements into all areas of the repairs service. It is our belief that the only expertise that is needed is the ability to challenge ones existing practices, by listening to ones residents and being open to change. Any training that we have embraced, other than technical enhancements, has been in ensuring that all of our staff can engage effectively with our residents. Resident engagement is now embedded in service delivery and runs like a golden thread from Board level down to Project Partnering Team. Continuous feedback from our customers is actively sought at both local and individual levels, as well as Group-wide. How does your project/ initiative support current government priorities in this area? L&Q identified the link between resident involvement and delivering a customer focused service. The workshop and feedback received made it clear that our customers wanted to see a cultural change in the way we deliver our maintenance service. We took on board their comments and acted on them by: Re-designing the responsive repairs process using a system thinking approach, removing unnecessary hurdles and unproductive micromanagement Agreeing all service standards portfolio wide and remove the practice of the

7 setting of local standards Ensuring all new contracts are corporately agreed and potentially corporately procured, using standard terms and conditions Reducing the list of contractors significantly over time Shifting key indicators away from completion times to a small range of quality indicators, mainly focused on resident satisfaction and cost Developing the role of the surveyor to focus on undertaking systematic condition surveys and a higher percentage of inspections during works and upon completion Expanding the work being carried out by planned maintenance and cyclical and programmed maintenance. We approached each of these tasks with resident representative consultation. This enabled us to ensure we were on track with resident focus in mind reviewing at regular intervals. How has this project widened choice and options for previously excluded people? L&Q have involved their residents in order to achieve this. We asked our residents for feedback and asked them to get involved in how they would like the services to be delivered. L&Q have invited residents to become members of a review group allowing for feedback on service delivery by our contractors. There has been significant positive feedback from review group members which is an indication of improvement in satisfaction from residents as a whole. This is also backed up by improved customer satisfaction scoring. Residents were part of the selection panel for our group wide procured contractors. This again indicates how we have ensured residents needs are at the forefront of our agenda. Customer satisfaction surveys carried out by an independent organization showed an increase in customer satisfaction. This task was carried out by an independent organization allowing for honest and completely unbiased feedback to capture the true nature of our customer satisfaction status. Through this we were able to gauge exactly how successful our services are and identify if there were any areas for improvement in requires for our residents. These are carried out on a monthly basis so we are able to feed any negative feedback into our continuous review process.