Performance Management Information - Board Report 30th May 2006 (Text only summary)

This report provides information on performance in key areas of the service for the year ended 31st March 2006.

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

Rent Collection and Arrears

• We collected 97.5% of the rent due, exceeding the target of 97.4%
• 610 tenants (4.3%) have more than 7 weeks of (gross) rent arrears, exceeding the target of 5%
• Arrears of current tenants as a proportion of the rent roll is 1.7% against a target of 1.9%
• The increase in arrears since week 1 as a % of rent due in the period is 0.6% against a target of 0.9%.
• 194 tenants (1.3% owe over 13 weeks rent (net of housing benefit and excluding those owing less than £250). The target is 3.2%.

In relation to rent arrears the following actions were taken:

• 1,742 notices seeking possession have been served during the year. This represents 19.6% of tenants in arrears and exceeds the target of 25%.
• 794 arrears cases were entered into Court.
• 85 Possession orders were granted.
• 548 evictions were applied for
• 144 evictions were carried out.

The above figures represent an excellent performance in achieving the targets despite the substantial work needed to collect the additional water charge debit of £3.5million. All rent collection and arrears targets were achieved or surpassed. It should be noted that with rent collection performance indicator, the Audit Commission allow the exclusion of housing benefit overpayments. This would increase performance from 97.5% to 98%.

Almost 3,000 tenants now pay their rent by direct debit, and 1,000 tenants now have arrangements with the Department of Work and Pensions for direct payment of their arrears / water charges to RBH.

The additional income generated for the housing revenue account from the collection of water charges was £239,000 assuming that an additional provision for bad debt of £307,000 is made by the Council.

The only concern is that the number of notices seeking possession's served reduced considerably on the previous year. Court applications, eviction applications and the number of evictions carried out actually increased.

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Empty Properties

1.6% of rent was lost with dwellings becoming empty, the target of 2.1% being exceeded. This is a massive improvement on the previous year and equates to a reduction in void loss of £220,000.

The average time to relet properties is 42 days. Although the long term target of 35 days has not been achieved, there was gradual progress towards it throughout the year with performance in the last quarter only failing by 1 day.

170 properties (1.2% of stock) are empty and available for letting.  The target of 1.4% was almost achieved and the number of void properties at year-end was the lowest in over 25 years.

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Repairs

98% of urgent repairs were completed within Government time limits. Performance equals the target of 98%

92% of repairs were completed within priority timescales. Performance is slightly below the target of 93.5% and has fallen slightlythis year. We have, however, had some difficulties with implementation of the new IT repairs module and we have carried out a major restructure of the service with the abolition of agency staffing and a reduction in the size of the permanent workforce of 52 posts.

The average time to complete non-urgent responsive repairs was 11 days, falling short of the target of 9 days.

An appointment was made and kept for 64% of repairs for which access was required. The target was 75%. Although performance is still disappointing, a lot of the difficulties are linked to the constraints of the IT system. We are in discussion with IBS on system changes, which will enable a much more flexible appointments system.

Overall, 91% of tenants are satisfied or very satisfied with the repairs service. This exceeds the target of 89%.

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Right to Buy and Mortgages

• 100% of Right to Buy applications were admitted or rejected within Government timescales.
• Right to Buy acknowledgement notices were served in an average of 17.6 days. The target is 17.5 days.
• 100% of Right to Buy offer prices were despatched within Government timescales.
• Right to Buy offer notices were served within an average of 30 days for houses (target 38 days) and 59 days for flats (target 58 days).
• Arrears as a % of the total outstanding mortgage balance stands at 1.8%, against a target of 1.3%.

All atrgets are being met with the exception of the last one, which is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve as the outstanding mortgage balance reduces.

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Neighbour Nuisance

1012 reports of neighbour nuisance were made as follows:

• North - 454
• South - 284
• Pennines - 127
• Middleton - 88
• Heywood - 59

In 928 cases action has been taken, as follows:

• Warnings/Acceptablel Behaviour Contact - 224
• Norice Seeking Possession - 30
• Possession - 5
• Anti Social Behavoiur Order -17
• Injunction - 13
• Other Court Action - 16
• Mediation - 6
• Referrals to other agencies - 131
• Other action by Legal Services and Enforcement Team (e.g., visits etc) - 68
• Action by Area Office - 418

Another very busy year with reported incidents for the year passing the 1,000 mark and up 14% on the previous year. Action taken increased over 17% on the previous year.

The amount of legal activity did reduce though, as more emphasis was placed on less punitive, but hopefully more effective, Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABC's).

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Formal Complaints

During the year 347 complaints were dealt with.

• 298 (86%) were responded to within the 15 working days target, against a target of 96%.
• The average time to investigate and respond to complaints is 15 working days against a target of 7 working days.

Of the 49 actioned out of timescale, 37 relate to complaints about Cruden Construction. Excluding the Cruden complaints, performance would have been 96% (on target) and 8 working days.

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Personnel

• 22% of new starters were from Asian Communities.  Despite lower levels of recruitment the annual target of 14% has been exceeded.
• 8.6% of employees are from ethnic minority communities, against a target of 10.5%. The low level of recruitment has impacted this year, resulting in an overall reduction of 8 BME employees compared to 2004/05.
• 4.1% of employees consider themselves to be disabled, exceeding the target of 3.5%. A recent workforce audit has resulted in an additional 6 employees declaring themselves as disabled.
• 4.3% of working days are lost to sickness, against a target of 4.5%. Levels of sickness absence have continued to reduce for the 4th consecutive year. Compared to 2004.05 there has been a further reduction of 0.66%.
• An average of 5.6 days are lost to short-term sickness per employee, missing the target of 5 working days.
• Long term absence stands at 5.6 days per employee and is 0.4 days under target. Active case management has helped in achieving this reduction.
• 39% of the top 5% of earners are women, against a target of 50%. Turnover of staff at this level remains low. the most senior female employee within the Company was the Deputy Operations Director. However, the post is now vacant.
• 10% of the top 5% of earners are from BME communities. This achieves the target of 10%. The number of BME employees in this category has remained static throughout the 12 month period.

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