A team from the Audit Commission recently conducted an inspection of a number of the housing services provided at Family Housing.
Not all services provided by the Association were inspected, but they did focus on those where there is room for improvement with a specific focus on the following areas:
· repairs; and
· home improvement programmes.
The Audit commission also looked at the following issues in relation to these areas:
· how easy it is for tenants to access these services;
· how easy it is for tenants to participate in decision making in these service areas;
· how Family caters for different peoples’ needs; and
· whether it provides value for your money.
The results of the inspection are set out below. Overall there was found to be a mixed picture, with weaknesses outweighing strengths in some key areas.
1. Repairs
The Audit Commission found that the repairs service provided to tenants was an area with more weaknesses than strengths. Although the service is generally accessible, it is not tailored to support those tenants with disabilities, language issues or other individual requirements. It is sometimes slow to respond to complaints, telephone calls and letters and repairs are not always done on time. Family is also unable to demonstrate that it is delivering repairs in the most value for money way.
2. Home Improvements
The Audit Commission found that this was an area with more strengths than weaknesses. Most tenants have had their homes modernised and all will be brought up to the government’s decent homes standard by 2010.
To help Family improve its service to all residents, several recommendations have been provided, including:
· Address weaknesses in access to services, including using the customer profile to tailor services to meet the specific needs of individuals.
· Improve performance on repairs to ensure they are done quickly, to a good quality and on the basis of reliable appointments.
· Develop a clear plan to deliver value for money and identify how savings made will be spent to improve services.
The report is available at www.audit-commission.gov.uk/housing where you can also find out further information about housing inspections. If you require further copies of this report, or a copy in large print, in Braille, on tape, or in a language other than English, please call the Audit commission on 0844 798 7070.
The Audit Commission uses a four point scale for judging the quality of services, as follows:
Strengths considerably outweigh weaknesses;
Strengths outweigh weaknesses;
A balance of strengths and weaknesses; and
Weaknesses outweigh strengths.
Family's response to the Audit Commission Inspection Results
Since the Audit Commission visited us in January we have been working with residents to develop an improvement plan which addresses all the areas of weakness that were identified during the inspection.
Improvement Plan
In January the Residents Forum, ‘One Voice’ approved our proposed approach to involving residents in the development of the improvement plan.
Workshops were then held with the two relevant Service Groups, Improving Repairs and Better Homes. At these workshops we discussed the outcome of the inspection and our proposals for how we were going to address the weaknesses identified.
Residents commented on the proposals and their views and suggestions were incorporated into the final version of the improvement plan which was agreed by One Voice on the 25 March 2009. The improvement plan was then presented to Family’s Board of Management for approval before being sent to the Audit Commission.
Monitoring our progress
One Voice has also agreed the way that residents will be involved in monitoring the delivery of the plan. Again this will mainly be done through the two Service Groups, with One Voice having an overall monitoring role to ensure that we are doing everything that we have promised to do. There will also be regular update reports in future editions of our residents newsletter, GN News.
Have your say…
If you would like to comment on the outcome of the inspection or would like to know more about our improvement plan, we would like to hear from you. Please ring our Customer Services Team on 0121 766 1100 and they will direct you to an appropriate member of staff.
We would also like to hear from anyone who would be interested in being registered on our Customer Sounding Board and provide us with feedback on a more regular basis.
There are a variety of other ways for you to get involved through the Customer 1st Involvement framework. If you would like to know more, please call us on 0121 766 1100 and ask to speak to a member of our Customer 1st Team. or view our Customer 1st pages on the website to see how you can get involved.