Performance Management Information - Board Report 17th May 2005 (Text only summary)

This report provides information on performance in key areas of the service for the year ended 31st March 2005.

Rent Collection and Arrears
Empty Properties
Repairs
Right to Buy and Mortgages
Neighbour Nuisance
Formal Complaints
Personnel

Rent Collection and Arrears

We collected 97.61% of the rent due, exceeding the target of 97.4%

Arrears of current tenants as a proportion of the rent roll is 1.96%, against a target of 1.7%

Arrears as a % of the rent due increased by 0.56% since week 1, exceeding the target of 0.9%

2.79% of current tenants owed over 13 weeks rent (net and housing benefit and excluding those owing less than £250), exceeding the target of 3.2%

In relation to rent arrears the following actions were taken:

• 2757 Notes Seeking Possession served
• 683 cases entered into Court
• 121 Possession Orders granted
• 493 evictions applied for
• 112 evictions carried out

Performance was excellent with 3 of the 4 targets exceeded and a reduction in possession orders and evictions.

The setting of targets for 2005/06  that are both realistic and achievable is difficult for 2 reasons.  Firstly the national Best Value Indicators for Rent Collection and Arrears Recovery have been revised for 2005/06.  Secondly, the Council has agreed with United Utilities that RBH will collect water charges as part of the gross rent.  This will entail a larger debit to collect (£3million on 2005/06) and an increase in the number of tenants with rent to pay.  Furthermore, although water charges will form part of the gross rent, the national BVPIs require them to be excluded from calculations.  It is therefore suggested that we set targets inclusive of water charges.  However, we will need to find a way of monitoring water charge collection rates separately even though they are accounted for as gross rent.  The following targets include water charges:

• Percentage of rent collected 97.4%
• Arrears of current tenants as a proportion of the rent roll - 1.7%
• Increase in arrears since week 1 as a percentage of rent due - 0.9%
• Percentage of all current tenants owing over 13 weeks rent (net of housing benefit) excluding those owing less than £250 - £3.2%

Although we would normally set targets for the next 3 years it is recommended that we defer setting targets for 2006/07 onwards until we have assessed fully performance in 2005/06.

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Empty Properties

2.4% of rent was lost with dwellings becoming empty.  Although the target of 2.2% was not achieved, steady improvement was made in the last 6 months and performance was affected by properties which were empty and requiring major works or were awaiting decisions on their long term future.

The average time to relet properties is 50 days.  Performance is extremely disappointing.  However, void procedures have been reviewed and streamlined, the Choice Based Lettings system has been fully implemented and many long term voids have been relet.  Therefore, the original target of 35 days should remain as a local target.

1.58% of stock is empty and available for letting.  The target of 1.5% was almost achieved and a target of 1.4% for 2005/06 is realistic.

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Repairs

Overall repairs performance was excellent with all targets being achieved or exceeded.

97.76% of urgent repairs were completed in Government time limits.  The target of 97.5% was exceeded and a target of 98% for 2005/06 is realistic.

The average time to complete non-urgent response repairs is 9.84 days.  The target of 9 days was almost equalled and the target of 8 days in 2005/06 is realistic.

93.5% of repairs were completed within priority timescales.  The target of 92% was exceeded and the target for 2005/06 has been revised to 93.5%

71.9% of repairs for which access was required has an appointment made and kept.  The target of 60% was exceedee and the target for 2005/06 has been revised to 75%.

All appointments made were kept.  The target of 100% was achieved and remains as the target for future years.

Overall, 87.4% of tenants were satisfied with the repairs service.  The target of 88% was almost achieved and a target of 89% for 2005.06 is achievable.

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Right to Buy and Mortgages

In spite of the sustained high level of Right to Buy applications the statutory timescales for issue of acknowledgements and offers has been met in 100% of cases.  The local targets for issue of notices have proved more difficult to achieve:

• Righ to Buy acknowledgement notices were served in an average of 18.63 days against a target of 18.46 days
• The average time to serve Right to Buy offer notices on houses was 38.88 days against a target of 37.5 days and for flats 66.85 days against a target of 57.54 days

These indicators have been difficult to achieve due to the volume of cases.  However, actual average timescales have improved during the year and the actual time taken to issue acknowledgements averages 66% of the time allowed by statute, whilst the timescale for service of offer notices averages 69% of the statutory limit.

Arrears of a percentage of the total outstanding mortgage balance is 1.56%.  Although the arrears have increased since the last year end the number of accounts in arrears has reduced by 40%.  The increase in arrears can be attributed to just a few stubborn cases, which are receiving attention by way of court proceedings.  There are also one or two accounts where the property is sale pending and the arrears have been allowed to accrue.  One such property was sold in April 2005 so this should see a reduction in the arrears levels.

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Neighbour Nuisance

891 reports of neighbour nuisance were made as follows:

• North - 233
• South - 323
• Pennines - 160
• Middleton - 75
• Heywood - 100

In 791 cases action has been taken, as follows:

• Warnings/Acceptablel Behaviour Contact - 174
• Norice Seeking Possession - 40
• Possession - 8
• Anti Social Behavoiur Order -37
• Injunction - 18
• Other Court Action - 13
• Mediation - 12
• Referrals to other agencies - 103
• Other action by Legal Services and Enforcement Team (e.g., visits etc) - 25
• Action by Area Office - 361

The Legal Services and Enforcement Team have undergone a number of changes of personnel over the last twelve months and have only briefly been at full strength early in 2005.  In spite of this there has been an increase in actions taken across the full range of remedies accessed by the company.

We have made full use of Acceptable Behaviour Contracts and formal warning interviews.  These have been backed up by applications for injunctions and Anti Social Behaviour Orders in appropriate cases.  Year on year the volume of legal orders for all types obtained has increased.

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Formal Complaints

284 out of the 334 complaints dealt with (85%) were responded to within 10 working days.  Of the 334 complaints dealt with 94 relate to Bramalls and 33 to Crudens.  50 were actioned out of timescale and of these 24 were relating to Bramalls and 10 to Crudens.

The average time to investigate and respond to complaints was 8 days.

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Personnel

28.9% of new starters were from Asian Communities.  During 2003/04 22 BME employees were recruited compared to 30 this year.  This level of recruitment is pleasing to note.

9.57% of employees are from ethnic minotiry communities. Compared to 2003.04 this is an increase of 7 employees.  Since the Company was established the number of BME employees has increased on a yearly basis.

2.82% of the workforce have declared that they meet the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 disability definition. Compared to 2003.04 the number of employees declaring themselves as disabled has increased by a further 5 employees.

4.96% of working days are lost to sickness. With revisions to the Managing Sickness Absence Policy being introduced during 2004/05 there has been a pleasing reduction in the levels of absence over the last 12 months.

An average of 5.57 days per employee were lost due to short term sickness and an average of 6.56 days were lost to long term sickness.  The number of days lost to short term absence is 0.5 over the target.  The extension of the trigger point from 9 months to 12 months will result in mor eemployees being interviewed over their levels of absence.  The number of days lost to long term absence is 1.5 under target.  Active involvement and monitoring of these cases has resulted in this pleasing reduction.

0.78% of the workforce retired on ill-health grounds.  This is an increase of 4 compared to last year.  This is due to more active involvement in managing long term absence cases.

47.27% of the top 5% of earners are women.  There is a fairly equal representation of males and females in these posts.  The most senior female employee is the Deputy Operations Director.

7.27% of the top 5% of earners are from ethnic minority communities. In the final quarter of this period the number of BME employees in the top 5% of earners has risen from 1 to 4.  This is due to the TUPE transfer of legal staff into the Company and 1 appointment.

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