Agenda item

The report aims to introduce the purpose for a decant policy and review the draft updated version following lessons learnt from experience and a complaint and new financial thresholds.  

Recommendation to the Landlord Services Advisory Board

It is recommended that the Board:

·        review the decant policy and make any comments to Joint Executive Head of Housing Services and Co-Portfolio Holder for Housing (Operations and Services),

·        supports the adoption and implementation of the policy, and

·        to consider and advise, the Service Improvement Manager, on the procedural queries raised.

The Services Improvement Manager, Annalisa Howson, addressed the Board and presented the draft updated Decant Policy as set out in Annex 1. The Board has been asked to review and support the adoption and the implementation of the Policy and to consider and advise the Service Improvement Manager on the procedural queries raised in part 6.9 of the report. These include;

1. A goodwill gesture one-off payment to anyone who has had to move homes, on top of the compensation due to the inconvenience.

2. Within hotel accommodation WBC covers reasonable costs for food – the proposal was to set a limit/set amount of money per person per day and pay upfront rather than waiting for receipts.

Rob Stratford, Tenants Panel Member, relayed his experience with the decant process during the initiation of the Ockford Ridge retrofit redevelopment scheme. He noted that an older house was offered first, which was turned down and then he was moved to a show home. He endorsed the decant process including the disturbance payments administered by WBC and noted that the current payment system in place worked well.

Members raised concern about the name ‘Decant’ when referring to tenants and homes. Terry Daubney, Leader of the Tenant’s Panel, recommended that the Policy be renamed to ‘Home-relocation Policy’, which was endorsed by Members of the Board and the Executive Head of Housing (Operations & Services).

The Leader informed the Board that the Executive had similar discussions around the use of the word ‘decant’. He advised that ‘Decant’ is a political term that is jargon and used across the sector and would need to be included, however, it would be possible to change the name of the Policy and keep ‘decant’ in brackets. The Chair agreed with the advice given and advised that the Housing Team takes on the Board’s suggestion for re-naming the Policy.

Members queried how WBC deals with cases where tenants are re-located to a property that they feel is unsuitable. Annalisa Howson confirmed that this would be dealt with sensitively and Officers would build a relationship with the tenant and talk through the home options and payment arrangements as well as conducting a needs assessments.

Following discussions around the procedural queries raised in paragraph 6.9 of the report, Members of the Board were in favour of the proposal mentioned in 6.9.1, ‘Payments in advance for subsistence’. The Board agreed that payments in advance as a set amount would help tenants who may be financially unable to fork money out for food and rely on re-imbursements in the future and emphasised that no one should be out of pocket. It was noted that this would also mitigate the impracticalities of saving receipts for every meal and submitting them. The Board also acknowledged that a payment in advance would allow tenants to allocate the funds more effectively. 

Danielle Sleightholme, Tenants Panel Co-Optee, queried the experiences of the Tenants who influenced the development of the Policy in Annex 1. She further questioned whether the Board could see the procedure. Annalisa Howson informed the Board that the Policy was developed based on reviews and comments taken from tenants who had undergone an emergency decant and were dissatisfied with the service, which also allowed officers to review lessons learned. One of the issues picked up was the need to complete a comprehensive assessment of the Tenants’ individual needs, particularly around Occupational Therapy referrals and disability. The Officer involved also consulted with the Tenant’s panel when producing the Policy. Annalisa further explained that the procedure is an internal document and Tenant Satisfaction Surveys and feedback from tenants fed into the development of the procedures. Further, the way that procedures are developed is currently under review. She noted that the procedure can be shared with and discussed with the Tenants panel if requested.

The Board resolved to:

1.     Support the adoption and implementation of the Decant Policy set out in Annex 1.

2.     Recommend that officers duly consider the suggestion of the Board to re-name the Policy to the ‘Home Re-location Policy’.

3.     Recommend that the Services Improvement Manager duly considers the comments made by the Board pertaining to the procedural queries set out in part 6.9 of the report.