Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Hugh Wagstaff, Andrew Smith, Daniela Sleightholme and Jeanette Englefield.

To agree the notes of the previous meeting.

The minutes for the meeting of the 28 July 2022 were agreed by the Board.

The Chair noted that in relation to the Garden waste charges the Board had not received a clear way forward and little could be done in the short term.  The Chair felt that it was important to keep the matter in mind.  A comment was made relating to the cost of living and the possibility of losing subscribers.

To receive any declarations of interests under the Waverley Members’ Code of Conduct.

There were no declarations made.

The Corporate Performance Report, set out at Annexe 1, provides an analysis of the Council’s performance for the first quarter of 2022-23

Annalisa Howson, Housing Service Improvement Manager introduced the report and noted that Q1 covered April - June.  She informed the Board that the council started its new response and voids contractor with Ian Williams at the start of the period and Kris Shipway was in attendance from Ian Williams to provide an update on the contract and service delivery. 

Annalisa Howson highlighted some of Q1 activity such as Homes for Ukraine project, the success of the fraud officer in regaining council properties, the Tenancy Review and Senior living away day.  Annalisa Howson discussed the performance targets with the Board, she noted that Housing Services was on target with service plans actions and the report also now included the financial information on capital works.

Councillor John Robini raised a query regarding the bike shelters placed in car parks, he noted that he had received feedback from local residents who were not happy with loosing parking spaces to bike shelters, that he advised were not well used.  Annie Righton, Joint Strategic Director agreed to investigate Councillor Robini’s query.  Councillor Stephen Mulliner sought further information on the recovery of council properties, he queried if it was a large problem for the council.  Annalisa Howson confirmed that it was a minor problem with few than 10 homes affected. The Board noted that range of ways in which tenancy fraud was addressed, most importantly by tenants.

Councillor Jackie Keen raised a query regarding ‘No Mo May’, she noted that the grass was cut late, once it had turned into hay, and blown away, blocked a number of drains and caused flooding.  She made a plea to ensure that the grass was cut on time or collected not blown away.  Councillor Mulliner concurred with Councillor Keen’s request.  Members raised a number of complaints from residents regarding responsive repairs with Kris Shipway from Ian Williams. 

Terry Daubney from the Tenants Panel, commented on the complaint’s information, he felt that the data should contain information regarding the nature of the complaint, so that the Board may identify any trends.  Annalisa Howson provided further information on the complaints data, she confirmed the designated tenant’s complaints panel would be reformed into a customer experience group to continue to review and feedback on the complaint’s information.

Councillor Mulliner queried the complaints performance data against its targets, Annalisa Howson noted that the responsive repairs team were focused on mobilising the new contract in Q1.  She noted that the complaints were dealt with, but the team were slower to formally closed the complaints on the systems.  Annalisa Howson confirmed that the contract was operating well, focus had shifted, and the complaints performance data had improved.  She also informed the Board that it could expect to see improvements in Q2.

The purpose of the report is to share updated guidance on the use of the HRA Hardship fund following the Boards comments in July.

Annalisa Howson introduced the report, she noted that the report had been brought to the Board in July 2022 and the Board made suggestions how to promote, advertise and access the fund.  Annalisa Howson noted that since the July meeting the policy document had been updated incorporating the Boards comments.  Councillor Mulliner sought clarification on returning applicants.  Annalisa Howson noted that the council did not want to be too prescriptive or limit those who needed support on more than one occasion. 

Councillor Robini raised a query regarding the application processing time and the process for submitting applications if a tenant’s Housing Officer was unavailable.  Councillor Keen queried the advertising and promotion of the fund.  Annalisa Howson confirmed that the application process was 10 working days and that applications would be picked up by the Housing duty officer if the tenant’s regular Housing Officer was away. She also confirmed that an article regarding accessing the fund would be in the next issue of Homes and People. 

The purpose of the report is to share the progress that has been made on the action plan that was created following the 2021 Senior Living tenant consultation for the Board’s review and comment.

David Brown, Senior Living and Careline Service Manager introduced the report.  He noted that the progress report was for the Boards to review and comment on progress, he confirmed that the annexe was the updated action plan. David Brown advised the Board that his team had participated in an awayday and made good progress in relation to identifying some of the priorities for improving the service.  He noted that those priorities included improvements such as providing clarification to the Senior living job roles and improving communication.  David Brown also commented on the articles in Homes and People promoting the service, the modernising of the schemes and building and major fire safety work.

Councillor Mulliner welcomed the report and noted the clarity of the action plan. He sought clarification on 4.11 regarding retrofitting spyholes to existing doors.  David Brown confirmed that it would compromises the fire safety of the door, and this was the response from the compliance team.  Annie Righton noted that anything that breaches the integrity of the fire door, invalidates is warranty.  Terry Daubney commented on Riverside, he noted that there were still a number of snagging issues.  David Brown confirmed that there was a snagging list, and he was also keen to see the jobs completed.

Chris Austin sought clarification on the term Senior Living Scheme and guidance on how he could support senior residents on the scheme where he lived.  Annalisa Howson advised that she could provide a crib sheet to assist Mr Austin with queries brought to him by residents.  She also confirmed that the term Senior Living Schemes referred to building owned and supported by the council.  She also advised Mr Austin that senior residents living independently were also entitled to support by their Housing Officer.  She suggested arranging to meet Mr Austin’s housing officer.

Presentation to be delivered to the Board Members on the day.  Hard copies will be made available.

Kris Shipway Addressed the Board, he provided the Board with a presentation on the progress to date.  He noted that the presentation would contain details of the new contact and how Ian Williams would be working with the council, challenges in staffing and the key priorities.  Kris Shipway advised the Board that the team had gone from a 4-hour emergency response to 2 hours, which was a big shift for the team and one of the team’s biggest successes.

Kris Shipway took the Board Members through the scope of the contract, including working with sub-contractors.  He discussed the structure of the team supporting Waverley including the challenges with staffing.  He noted that the key priorities had not changed, and clear and concise communication was vital.  Kris Shipway highlighted the key performance Indicators for Q1, he confirmed that April was a good month, he also highlighted the good performance on the jobs completed in one visit.

Councillor Keen queried the standard of the void properties returned to the council and the level of work required to bring them up to standard for reletting to tenants.  Councillor Mulliner sought further clarification on the post inspection indicator.  Kris Shipway confirmed that the standard of void properties varied from bad to good, he also confirmed that a post inspection was where a completed job is quality checked by an independent engineer.  Councillor Mulliner raised a query regarding the IT interfaces between the Councils repair response team and Ian Williams.  Kate Green from Ian Williams addressed the Board and confirmed that there was an interface, and it was working.  However, there was work being done to upgrade the interface to improve the quality of live data and information.

Terry Daubney sought clarification on the outstanding jobs from the previous contractor.  He also wanted clarification on the policy for removing carpets.  Kate Green confirmed that the backlog had been cleared.  Kris Shipway advised that he needed to go way and investigate the details regarding removing carpets.  Members discussed the reusing and recycling of unwanted items in good condition.  Annalisa Howson advised the Board members that she had been tasked with carrying out a void review.

The Chair noted the work programme at pages 53-54 of the papers.  Annalisa Howson noted that the main item in October would be the Strategic Review of the HRA Business plan.  She also noted the six-month review of the service plan, and the development of the new plan would also be on the agenda in October.

The date of the next meeting was confirmed as the 27 October 2022.