Issue - meetings

(Report of the Assistant Director, Assets)

The Chair introduced the Assistant Director, Assets to the meeting to update the Committee on the implementation process for the new housing repairs contracts and to provide some performance statistics for the first year of the contract.

The Assistant Director reported that prior to March 2020, following a full formal tender process it was agreed by Cabinet that a new ten year contract for the delivery of repairs would be let for housing and non-housing stock and it was further agreed that we would bring in house the call centre through Customer Services.  The contract was awarded to Engie, with a commencement date of 1 April 2020, against the backdrop of full COVID lockdown.

The Assistant Director reported that initially due to the lockdown activities were limited to emergency repairs although by June 2020 urgent repairs were being undertaken and by August 2020 a full repairs service with appropriate safety measures was in place.  The call centre team coordinated with tenants regarding pre-COVID checks which supported good access rates for the repairs team. 

The Assistant Director reported that Engie had attended just under 14,000 repairs calls in the first 12 months of operation which was broadly similar to previous years, which had meant that no repairs backlog had built up even given the periods of lockdown experienced in the first 12 months of operation.

It was further reported that the Right First Time rates had been recorded at 94% with monthly satisfaction levels at between 90-97% which met and exceeded the performance targets for the first year in the contract.  In terms of complaints there average around 8 complaints per month. 

The Assistant Director reported that there were issues across the industry in terms of the supply of materials and labour, which would remain closely monitored.

In terms of gas servicing these rates remained high throughout the period. In addition Engie picked up some additional work to support health & safety checks in sheltered housing.  In terms of social value activity, despite COVID there had been some activities undertaken which supported social value, including the creation of apprenticeship roles, and undertaking some employability activities and further work continued to create How To videos for simply DIY activities.

The decision to bring the call centre activities back in house had supported the ability to seek qualitative feedback from tenants on the performance of the repairs activity, and generally the reported qualitative data showed a high level of satisfaction from tenants in respect of repairs completed.

The Committee sought clarification in the following areas:

·       In terms of satisfaction levels and complaints, whether the types of complaints received and their causes were categorised.  The Assistant Director reported that the Call Centre sought detailed qualitative feedback from a sample of repairs undertaken and issues were feedback to the contractor, however, these qualitative responses were not part of the performance statistics.  In terms of the types of complaints received, one of the more common areas was in respect of communication issues, as opposed to complaints  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29