How are we doing?
The housing service monitors its performance against a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) which we publish on a quarterly basis. The following is a summary of the 2021-22 financial year (April 2021 to March 2022).
Commentary on 2021-22 performance
Since we brought the housing service back in-house in 2020 we have been working hard to deliver real improvements in the service our tenants receive.
Key achievements in 2021-22:
Removal of regulatory notice for health and safety non-compliance
In August 2021 the Regulator of Social Housing removed its regulatory notice, stating that our performance satisfactorily addressed the areas of non-compliance which led to the publication of the notice in September 2019.
100% health and safety compliance achieved on the 'big 6' areas
As at 31 March 2022, we had attained 100% compliance on our key performance measures for Gas, Fire, Water, Electricity and Lifts. 3 properties were non-compliant for Asbestos at year-end, but regained full compliance (100%) by 08 April 2022.
91.37% of properties with an Electrical Safety Certificate
We have awarded 91.37% of all our tenanted properties with a new Electrical Safety Certificate, having carried out 1,607 checks in the past year. We are working through a two-year programme to check all our properties for electrical safety, with a target for completion of May 2022.
96% of repairs completed on time
We have been working hard with our repairs contractor to improve performance, especially through the completion of routine (non-urgent) repairs that were impacted by resourcing, staffing and access issues during the global pandemic. Performance significantly picked up during the second half of the year and, as a result, more repairs are being done and we are meeting targets.
100% Capital programme spent
We spent 100% of our capital budget for the year, equating to approx. £8.13M on key maintenance programmes including replacement kitchens, bathrooms, roofing, windows and doors. A significant amount of our budget (approx. £1.3M) was spent on additional fire protection works.
1.78% rent arrears
We want to keep rent arrears low, so we set a target for this to be no higher than 2.3% of rental income. Arrears levels went down in the last quarter, achieving target at year-end. Overall tenant debt (including former tenant arrears and garage arrears) is at its lowest level for three years.
Improved homelessness prevention
Despite the numbers of approaches to the service increasing, homelessness prevention was up, with 4.2% of all approaches closed as 'homelessness prevented', meeting our target of 4%. 39% of cases requiring a prevent duty were also closed as 'homelessness prevented', meeting our target of 35%.
30 council home new builds and acquisitions started
We have met our annual target for council home new builds and acquisitions, with 30 projects started on site since April 2021, against a target of 20 for the year.
287 private sector homes improved
Working with our partners, we have made or facilitated improvements to 287 private sector homes across the district since April 2021, meeting our target of 200 for the year.
Challenges to performance in 2021-22:
Average re-let times
We aim to re-let properties as quickly as possible, whilst ensuring they are fit to live in. Lettings and void works were severely impacted by the global pandemic and performance suffered as a result. Our average re-let time for standard re-lets (excluding major work) was 28 days at the end of March 2021. By March 2022 our average re-let time had improved by 4 days to 24 for the year, just off our target of 23 days.
Long-term empty homes brought back into use
49 long-term empty homes were brought back into use against a target of 70 for the year. A number of projects were delayed due to labour and material shortages and many originally predicted to complete in 2021-22, will now be completed in 2022-23.
Affordable homes delivery
44 new affordable homes were delivered across the district, against a target of 80 for the year. 54 additional units were expected to be complete, but were delayed because of labour and material shortages. At 31 March 2022 there were approx. 138 new affordable homes under development, the majority of which are expected to complete in 2022-23.
Please view the reports below
Housing key performance report Q1-Q4 2021-22 (PDF, 129KB)
Housing performance report March 2021 (PDF, 358KB)
Housing key performance report Q1-Q3 2022-23 (PDF, 57.26 KB)