Tenants Forum 2010
The Tenants Forum was held on Thursday 10th June 2009, and attended by tenants, the senior management team from Arcon and board members.
Tenant Consultation on Housing Services provided.
David Lovelady, Housing Director introduced the staff present and welcomed the tenants from Larkhill Court to their first Tenants Forum.
Mr Lovelady informed the meeting that the main topic for discussion was the consultation paper sent out with the invitation to the forum. He explained that the Tenant Services Authority (TSA) who are the regulators of social housing, had produced a new set of service standards that they expect all housing providers to meet in relation to service delivery and tenant involvement. Each housing provider will have to produce an annual report by October 2010 stating whether they are achieving the standards, and if not, how they aim to achieve them in the future.
The TSA also want housing providers to consult with their tenants on the standards, and also identify any further services that could be offered to tenants, which are described as a Local offer. A local offer could be an extra service provided to a specific scheme, or services provided demographically to a specific age group.
The meeting today will be the first stage of Arcon’s consultation on the service standards we currently provide, and a chance for tenants to identify possible local offers. Further consultation will take place at scheme meetings, with the Tenant Scrutiny Committee and via telephone surveys.
It was agreed to work through the consultation paper discussing each standard individually.
Tenant involvement and empowerment standard
Mr Lovelady outlined the way that Arcon provide information to tenants, and the methods of communication used. There was agreement that this was satisfactory, and a suggestion that perhaps three newsletters could be produced per year rather than two.
In terms of tenants advising Arcon of their satisfaction with the service provided, there are a wide variety of satisfaction surveys used, plus the mystery shopping exercises. It was agreed that these were very comprehensive, and there were no further suggestions for any further methods to be introduced.
Arcon offer a menu of opportunities for tenants to get involved in assessing and scrutinizing services provided. These were discussed and it was felt that they were very good and allowed tenants the opportunity to engage with Arcon at whatever level suited them.
A requirement of the standard is that the housing provider should have a complaints procedure. Whilst none the tenants have had to use this, they confirmed they knew how to make a complaint, and that the various stages with timescales to respond were acceptable and did not need to be amended.
Arcon are committed to consulting tenants if there are any proposed changes to the management of their properties. This will be done either locally on a scheme basis or across all of Arcon’s tenants. We will consult tenants every three years on how to involve them in the governance and scrutiny of services we provide. The meeting agreed that this was acceptable.
Home Standard
Jim Bradley, Property Director, introduced this section of the consultation paper, which covered a wide variety of repair and maintenance issues.
Mr Bradley outlined the day to day repairs service and the target response times given to each type of repair. He informed the meeting that the Tenant Scrutiny Committee have recently completed a scrutiny exercise on day to day repairs, and produced a report with 12 recommendations for improvement with 10 of these being implemented over the next few months. One of the recommendations rejected had been to reduce the emergency repair response rate from 24 hours to 4 hours. It was felt with the geographic spread of Arcon’s stock this would not be feasible. There was some discussion on repair response targets, and it was felt they should remain as they are. There was also discussion on an appointment system. The tenants felt that they prefer the current system where Arcon use local contractors who will contact the tenant direct to make an appointment which is suitable to them. This helps to get repairs completed on the first visit, and reduces missed calls. They rejected any proposal for a formal appointment system, which they felt was not flexible or responsive to tenants needs.
Arcon have a legal obligation to complete an annual gas service on each property. It was agreed that the current procedures in place are adequate, and it is important that Arcon ensure all gas checks are completed. There was some discussion around the replacement boiler programme, and the type of new boilers that will be installed in the future.
Mr Bradley outlined our standards on repairing empty properties, known as voids. This area of work is currently being scrutinised the by Tenant Scrutiny Committee. Arcon have reduced the average void period without major repairs to 28 days. It was agreed that any recommendations for improvement should be proposed by the Tenant Scrutiny Committee when they have completed their review on Voids. There was some discussion around whether void properties should be fully redecorated, or as Arcon currently do, provide decoration vouchers and allow the new tenant to decorate to their own tastes. There was general agreement that vouchers should be provided and tenants can then decorate to their own taste. However it was agreed that on schemes for the elderly or if a tenant was not physically able to decorate themselves, that Arcon should consider decorating the property. This could be a local offer dependent on age or physical ability to do the work.
Mr Bradley explained how the cyclical maintenance programme is planned, and with the better paint products available and replacement of wooden windows with upvc, the programme is now being spread across a 4–5 year period. This was agreed, with the proviso that if there was deterioration of a scheme, this would be considered for the cyclical work. A member of the Tenant Scrutiny Committee is now involved in the selection of contractors, the tendering process, and pre contract meetings.
There is a similar process for identifying major repairs programmes with a stock condition survey used to plan the programme over a 30 year cycle.
All social housing providers have a target to bring all of their stock up to Decent Homes Standard, as outlined by the government by December 2010. Mr Bradley confirmed that Arcon would achieve this deadline.
Arcon have an adaptations policy and procedure which has been advertised in the newsletter and is available on our website. We will work with local authorities to identify tenants that require an adaptation, and between us complete the work. Any major adaptations such as a walk in shower will need an occupational therapist’s recommendation before the work can be completed. Smaller items like grab rails or lever taps will be completed as a routine repair. There was discussion around adaptations, the costs involved and reletting an adapted property. There was agreement that Arcon provide a good service and no changes were required.
Tenancy Standard
The TSA standard requires that housing providers let their homes in a fair, transparent and efficient way. They should also assist local authorities with their strategic function. Mr Lovelady outlined how Arcon let their properties and the joint work with local authorities on common housing registers, choice based lettings schemes and by providing 50% nomination rights across our stock. There were no recommendations to change the current system.
Anne Southern, Finance Director, confirmed that Arcon meet the standard on rent setting, and that we follow the government prescribed formula.
Mr Lovelady confirmed that Arcon have policies and procedure that are reviewed and up dated. When dealing with rent arrears, Arcon offer support and advice, but will also pursue legal action if necessary. Last year only two tenants were evicted for rent arrears.
Neighbourhood and Community standard
On all of our schemes with communal areas, Arcon provide a gardening service, cleaning service, window cleaning service (where requested) and an estate services officer who will litter pick and carry our small repairs. On two schemes we provide a live on site caretaker. Each year tenants complete a satisfaction survey and the results will be discussed at scheme meetings or estate walkabouts. Where there are low levels of satisfaction, contracts can be terminated and retendered. If tenants would like extra services, these will be costed up and the tenants will be given the option of paying for the extra service. There was agreement that the contractors provide a good service, and that tenants have the opportunity to influence the service they receive. At Larkhill Court some properties have their own garden, which they maintain. However some elderly tenants are now struggling with this. It was suggested that the provision of a gardening service for tenants who are unable to do the work themselves could be made as a local offer.
Mr Lovelady confirmed that Arcon have policies and procedures on anti social behaviour (ASB) and will work with the police, warden services and local authority partnerships to combat ASB. We use a variety of preventative tools and legal powers to address ASB, and help to fund local warden services where they will help to benefit our tenants and the wider community.
General / Cross Cutting standards
Mr Lovelady confirmed that Arcon have a customer care policy which is available on our website and from the office. It sets out how Arcon will respond to customer enquiries and the standards of service they can expect to receive. This has been tested through mystery shopping exercises and has been revised to improve customer care.
In terms of equality and diversity, Arcon try to ensure that the service we provide to tenants and applicants reflect their different needs and are in accordance with the seven strands of equality. We have conducted a profiling exercise of our tenants and will use this information to tailor the services we offer to our tenants. For example we can use language line or interpreters where English is not the first language, we can get information translated, put into large font or Braille. We also have a portable hearing loop that can be used in the office or a tenant’s home. There was general agreement that Arcon are providing extra services to any minority group, and that this should continue in the future.
Mrs Southern informed the group of the work that Arcon are doing on Value for Money, to ensure that we make the best use of resources and provide a high quality service to tenants. We are members of Housemark and other benchmarking groups that allow us to compare performance and cost against other housing organisations, and see if we can improve. We regularly review our procurement procedures to ensure we are getting best value. Linked into this work is our consultation with tenants on service charges, and use of the satisfaction survey results to allow tenants to influence the services delivered.
Finally there was a discussion around Local offers that Arcon already make to our tenants. These included the live on site caretakers, the mobile warden to several of our over 55 schemes, the local surgery at Blackley, the estate services officer service, recycling facilities on most estates, opportunities for employment or training through a company called Blue Orchid, and regular visits to some of our very frail tenants.
Budgetting Exercise
Mrs Southern circulated a sample budgeting exercise which highlighted 13 different service areas that require funding from the annual budget, and tenants were asked to put these in priority order. This helped to give some idea on the different priorities that Arcon have to consider when we produce a budget. There were no right or wrong answers, just an appreciation of the difficult decisions that need to be taken. However if we can do this exercise at scheme meetings, it may give some insight into what tenants feel should be the priority in terms of future expenditure. Initial results indicate that the repairs and improvements to properties are the priority however further feedback from scheme meetings will help establish overall priorities which can then be used to inform the budget setting process for the Association in future years.
The meeting then closed.
Amended 21st June 2010
