Agenda item

To present to the Committee the progress on outstanding actions identified by the Committee along with general updates on other issues that fall within the responsibilities of the Committee.

Members heard an oral update  from one of the Council’s external auditors (BDO). The update provided, highlighted that the position regarding audits remained largely unchanged since the last committee meeting. However, a significant development  had been the consultation issued by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) on February 8^th 2024 concerning steps to address backlogs in the local government audit market. Although the consultation had closed in early March, final proposals from the Government were still awaited, with expectations that they would align closely with the consultation. Those proposals were likely to introduce a statutory backstop date of September 30th, 2024, for completing audits up to the 2022/23 financial year. While the completion of the 2021 audit was feasible, the inability to complete audits for 2021/22 and 22/23 would have necessitated disclaiming audit opinions on those financial statements. Work over the summer would have been required to issue disclaimed audit reports and report on the 2021 financial statements. Additionally, auditors were expected to undertake a single piece of value-for-money work covering all open years up to, and including, 2022/23, as per the consultation. Although final decisions were pending, this summary outlined the current understanding of the situation pending the Government's final proposals.

 

The report before the Committee outlined that the Table of Outstanding Issues  had been reviewed and updated since it  had last been  considered by the Committee in January 2024.

 

There were two main elements to this report as follows:

 

1.    Updates against general items raised by the Committee

2.    Updates against the 2023 Annual Governance Statement Action Plan

 

In terms of Item 1 above, there were no significant issues to raise, with actions remaining in progress or further details as set out below. In terms of Item 2, this set out the latest Annual Governance Statement published as part of the Council’s Statement of Accounts for 2022/23 on 1 August 2023. Activity remained in progress against the various items, which were reported to Members as part of this report going forward.

 

Outstanding actions – further details along with other issues identified

 

Continuing External Audit delays and an update on the External Auditor’s work on the Council’s Statement of Accounts 2020/21

 

 

Members heard that, in terms of the Government’s proposed response to the ongoing audit delays, they had undertaken a further consultation exercise across a number of issues including the proposed statutory backstop dates. At the current time, the Government was analysing the feedback from the consultation and it was hoped that they would publish their response shortly.

 

The East of England Local Government Association (EELGA) Housing Review

 

As Members were aware, there were changes happening within the Local Government Social Housing arena. The Regulator for Social Housing had had its power enhanced, under the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, and this had resulted in Local Authorities, from 1 April 2024, becoming part of the regulated social housing regime.

 

Members also heard that, as part of this process, the Regulator had introduced new consumer standards and 12 Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs). The four consumer standards that social housing landlords would be assessed against were:

 

• The Safety and Quality Standard which required landlords to provide safe and good-quality homes for their tenants, along with good-quality landlord services.

 

• The Transparency, Influence, and Accountability Standard which required landlords to be open with tenants and treat them with fairness and respect so they could access services, raise concerns when necessary, influence decision-making, and hold their landlord to account.

 

• The Neighbourhood and Community Standard which required landlords to engage with other relevant parties so that tenants could live in safe and well-maintained neighbourhoods and feel safe in their homes.

 

• The Tenancy Standard which set requirements for the fair allocation and letting of homes, as well as requirements for how tenancies were managed by landlords.

 

The Committee was told that the Council would need to report on the new consumer standards from April 2024 and to put in place processes to evidence that the standards were met from April 2023.

 

In order to be able to meet the new standards, the Council had requested support from The East of England LGA (EELGA) and other partners, to evaluate current policy and practice within the Housing Service, and to identify areas for improvement and recommendations for future action to meet the new regulatory requirements. Complaints handling, which the Housing Ombudsman  oversaw, would be linked to meeting regulatory standards. Also relevant was the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 and the good practice that had developed following this legislation. The lack of affordable housing combined with the current cost of living crisis had led to an increase in homelessness. As a result, the number of households placed in temporary accommodation and the associated costs had soared. The impact this was having on resources was also considered.

 

The Committee heard that the following areas were included as part of the evaluation:

 

Housing strategy and policy, tenancy management, tenant involvement, surveyors and management of the repairs and maintenance service, and homelessness. For each of those areas, the following was considered:

 

• People – organizational structure, culture, and skills, interdepartmental working

• Systems and processes – handling of complaints, repairs (including fire safety, damp, and mould), managing contractors, IT, and other system support.

• Budgets – the impact of the 7% rent cap, the balance between capital and revenue spend on repair and maintenance.

• Governance – clarity of decision-making and accountability, the quality of tenant involvement and empowerment.

 

To carry out the evaluation of the above, a number of different approaches  had been taken that included desktop reviews of documentation, interviews with staff, managers, and the Housing Portfolio Holder, tenants, and external partners. The level of compliance with regulations and legislation was also explored.

 

A more detailed explanation of the findings from the evaluation work carried out was set out below.

 

Strategy

 

The main strategies that one would expect to find were in place. However, key documents were not actively monitored against recommendations. Where documents were still current, in particular, the Housing Strategy and the Homeless Reduction and Rough Sleeping Strategy, they should be reviewed, and progress against commitments evaluated to identify gaps and priorities for the remainder of the strategy timeframe. The Resident Involvement Strategy which had now expired provided a good base from which to draw up renewed commitments to strengthening engagement with tenants across the whole of housing services.

 

This had led to a significant amount of work being undertaken to review existing policies as well bring forward new policies that were needed in order to deliver sustainable social housing.

 

To date the following housing policies had been reviewed and approved:-

 

Damp and Mould, Repairs and Maintenance, Fire Safety, Homelessness Prevention, Temporary Accommodation, Tenancy Deposit Guarantee, Rechargeable works policy.

 

Additional Housing policies were in the pipeline to be reviewed and delivered within the following twelve months.

 

Staff Culture

 

By and large staff were found to be dedicated and keen to move from what they described as a reactive service to a more proactive way of working. Many staff in Tendring had been employed by the Council for a long time and  were used to working in established ways. The combined impact of changing regulatory frameworks and changes to both working practices and the demand on some services as a result of the Covid pandemic had meant that new ways of working needed to be embraced. Leadership played an important role in setting and supporting the culture of the housing service. Managers must be visible and engaged with those they managed and with tenants. They needed to reinforce the importance of being outcome-focused and also respectful to tenants.

 

Regular meetings were held  by the Corporate Director  with the housing managers to discuss the progress being made to meet the regulatory requirements. Those discussions were then fed back to the various teams via their respective team meetings.

 

Data Management

 

This was an area of serious concern. Poor record-keeping was frequently  problematic. Restrictions on the sharing of information held by other departments with the Housing Services were highlighted as a hindrance and more work should be undertaken to understand the application of the GDPR to those scenarios. Shared main databases were not being populated. Performance data for decent homes and building safety was found to be incomplete with the result that Tendring would not be able to demonstrate that they met safety and quality standards in several areas.

 

In order to address the issues, an exercise  had been carried out to identify the gaps in the population of the databases and to then address those issues. Databases had been centralized and monitored to ensure that they were being populated appropriately.

 

New software, Lifespans, had been purchased and installed. Currently, the team was undergoing training and the information held on other databases was being uploaded to further centralize the data for ease of use/integration with existing work streams.

 

A contractor, Property Techtonics, had been commissioned to carry a 25% stock condition survey of the Council’s housing stock. To date, 10% of the surveys had been completed. This information would also be fed back into the Lifespan software as a continuation of the improvements to  the Council’s data collection.

 

A new Data Compliance Officer post had been created and filled. This post would ensure that data was collected, collated, and appropriately analysed.

 

Strategic Partnership Working

 

Tendring District Council had several effective partnerships addressing housing-related issues. Managers were actively engaged in those partnerships and were well-regarded by other agencies. Partnership working was delivering tangible benefits to Tendring in terms of joint working, funding, and engaging with the wider community. It was suggested that some thought was given to developing strategic work with other housing providers in the next iteration of the Housing Strategy and also the impact of a concentration of voluntary services located in Clacton. This was an area the Council would continue to explore.

 

Housing Budgets

 

Budgets were well-managed corporately. The Portfolio Holder for Corporate Finance and Governance received quarterly reports for the General Fund and the Housing Revenue Account. The impact of the 7% rent rise in 2023, which was below inflation, had been factored in and absorbed into the budget forecast for the HRA using balances. However, this was not a sustainable position. There were pressures on all budgets which would need to be factored in and managed for the future through the identification of savings, redirection of resources, and securing external funding. For the HRA revenue budget, the most significant pressures came from the increasing costs of day-to-day repairs. In the HRA capital budget pressures would come from the requirements to meet the Decent Homes Standard, safety standards, and better insulation of homes. For the General Fund, the cost of temporary accommodation and the use of the Homeless Prevention Grant both would benefit from closer planning and scrutiny and targeting to address need.

 

Complaints

 

Both the Ombudsman and the Regulator of Social Housing strongly emphasized complaints as an indicator of how well social landlords listened to and responded to the concerns of their residents. Tendring had introduced a new complaints policy that scored well against the Ombudsman’s Complaints Handling Code meeting all the obligatory requirements and all of the applicable recommended requirements. Increasing disrepair claims were a concern and further analysis was needed to establish whether they indicated this was simply because tenants were being targeted by external companies to make claims or whether they also reflected an underlying problem. There was active engagement with the Ombudsman and tenants over complaints that reached this stage.

 

Tenant Engagement

 

Historically, tenant engagement had been good and the Tenant Involvement Strategy which ran until 2019 had encapsulated good practice. The restrictions of the Covid pandemic had severely disrupted tenant engagement and this needed reinvigorating as a priority. Thought should be given to how to engage with a representative group of tenants, the value of a regular newsletter, and other channels of communication and having more of a presence on estates through walkabouts and events. The Tenant Engagement Strategy was being updated and should be widened to a Resident Involvement Strategy to include leaseholders. Tenant or resident engagement should be the responsibility of all staff.

 

The Council continued to work with its tenants, via the Tenant’s Panel to ensure that there was good dialogue and challenge from the tenants as to how the Council supported them.

 

The Council  had also reinstated our Tenants' newsletter and  was actively looking at other ways to engage with its tenants.

 

Housing Management

 

Housing management, in part because of long-term vacancies, directed most of its resource towards managing risk and enforcement work – getting the rent in, dealing with anti-social behaviour, and tackling fraud. A new tenancy sustainment post worked with tenants on wider tenancy issues, including hoarding and overgrown gardens, and links with the County Council and other agencies who provided additional support. When fully staffed housing management should have greater capacity to expand proactive tenancy sustainment work with tenants in both general needs and sheltered housing who would benefit from advice and support to address growing pressures from the cost of living increases, fuel poverty, and mental health issues.

 

Currently, the service was fully staffed and had also created an additional 4 posts to support tenancy management. Those additional posts would give the Council an opportunity to increase its engagement with its tenants as well as to support those who were in financial difficulty and to gain a better understanding of its tenants in general.

 

Repairs and Maintenance

 

This was an area where the building blocks were being put in place to build the capacity to meet the required standards, but there was still some way to go to achieve the required outcomes. A team of motivated surveyors oversaw the work of contractors, several of whom were being supported to gain professional surveying qualifications. A small in-house repairs team carried out some of the more straightforward day-to-day repairs for housing (and other coastal-related responsibilities). Complex and specialist repairs and maintenance were carried out by external contractors. As mentioned earlier, , a stock condition survey had been commissioned and was underway. This should provide the basis for a dedicated housing asset management plan that could inform the HRA 30-year business plan. A revised repairs policy had been adopted and had introduced a reduced number of categories, clear response times, and looked to strike a balance between landlord and tenant responsibilities, whilst having clear targets for performance. The work identified that there was a need to address gaps in data performance and management across a range of measures that would be included as Tenant Satisfaction Measures.

 

Many of the issues raised here had been addressed within the Data Management section above  and a draft Housing Asset Management Plan had been produced and was currently under review.

 

Housing Options and Homelessness

 

This service was well thought of within the council and was described as caring and supportive. However, an increasing volume of referrals (caseloads of 50-70 and 7 new cases a week), linked to the cost-of-living crisis and a lack of affordable housing for those in need was impacting on the morale and stress levels of staff working in this area. There was an immediate need for greater management support to address the pressures those staff were under.

 

It was  recognized the pressure that staff were under and  the Council was looking to create an additional post to provide extra support to staff in this area.

 

Temporary Accommodation and Prevention

 

There appeared to be relatively high numbers in temporary accommodation but few of those had an ‘accepted’ decision. The balance between homelessness prevention work and use of temporary accommodation needed to be reviewed. Linked to this was greater clarity on how the budget for the Homeless Prevention Grant  could be and was spent and the use of this and other funding to resource increased capacity for support and prevention work. An appraisal of the value for money and standards of temporary accommodation was also recommended.

 

The Council was  in the process of carrying out a review to explore how it ensured that it achieved the best value/efficient way to use the Homeless Prevention Grant.

 

Supported Housing

 

There were a number of supported housing schemes in Tendring meeting the needs of a variety of client groups. Partners cited a lack of supported accommodation for single people with more complex needs and challenging behaviours who  might not be suitable for existing shared accommodation. A Housing First Scheme  had been included in the homelessness action plan but had not yet been considered. The Council could also consider developing small sites for temporary modular homes for single people, which were becoming recognized as very successful in other areas. Access to floating support did not appear to have a clear and consistent pathway.

 

The Council was a member of the Essex-wide, Supported Housing Partnership Board and  would be developing a Supported Housing Strategy in conjunction with other Essex Authorities and this  would support the Council in meeting its  statutory requirement.

 

Conclusion

 

The review of the housing service had been a positive step in understanding the current policy and practice within the service. It had provided an overview to help identify what was working well and where further work was needed. Following on from this exercise, an accurate ‘position’  had been identified, and an action plan developed to build upon the positive areas identified as well as to be able to address those areas that fell short of the requirements of the new regulatory standards. Regular meetings were conducted to monitor the progress and the impact of the action plan.

 

The action plan had enabled the Housing Service to take a significant step forward to meet the requirements of the new Regulatory regime.

 

After an in depth discussion it was moved by Councillor Sudra, seconded by Councillor Fairley and RESOLVED that the progress against the actions, as set out in the report, be noted.