Agenda item

Report attached

Members received a presentation that outlined the eleven performance indicators (PI) for Quarter One that were reports to the Sub-Committee.

The PIs are the standards by which performance of services are measured within the Council.   These are compared over four quarters of the municipal year to monitor performance standards.  Most are given a “RAG rating” on the basis of Red (off track), Amber (at risk) and Green (on track).

The report indicated that there were performance ratings available for 10 of the 11 indicators.  Five indicators were Red (off target) and the other five were Green(on target).

One of the indicators was a demand rather than performance, therefore did not have a target assigned and was not given a RAG status.

The Sub-Committee was informed that in Quarter 1 of 2019/20, the total number of Stage 1 complaints closed within timescale (10 days) was 136 out of 145 (93.79%).This was a significant improvement compared to the same time last year where 122 out of 148 (82.43%) Stage 1 complaints were closed within timescales (15 days). 

It was stated that 95% of Stage 1 complaints relating to Housing Demand service were closed within the timescale of 10 days, 97.8% of Stage 1 complaints relating to Property & Land service were closed within the timescale of 10 days and 82.4% of Stage 1 complaints relating to Tenancy Sustainment service were closed within the timescale of 10 days.

The report indicated that from the beginning of Quarter 3 2018/19; targets for stage 1 complaints were revised from 15 to 10 working days.

The Sub-Committee noted that 88.7% of repairs were completed within the target timescale against a target of 95%. The main repairs contractor, Breyer's, performance was 87.7%. It was stated that continuous monitoring and regular meetings were still taking place with Breyer to ensure the trajectory remains upward.

Members noted that although Breyer have not met the cumulative KPI for repairs completed within target, the monthly performance have shown consistent improvement month on month and in June Breyer achieved 92.14.

Breyer have also consistently achieved over 95% for repairs “Right First Time” against a target of 85. Officers were confident that we will see further improvement in the Q2 2019-20 figures.

Officers stated that the performance of Breyer continues to improve and the service was confident that further improvements were expected in the Q2 2019-20 figures.

The report also outlined the following areas that required improvement:

The Sub-Committee was informed of the new KPI measure for Housing Revenue Account Arrears.

The calculation for this measure was the total arrears expressed as a percentage of the rent debit for HRA current tenants.  The pprovisional Quarter 1 performance was recorded at 2.96%. The total sum of arrears was stated at £1,593,872 over an estimated 2019-20 debit of £54 million.

The total number of HRA current tenants in arrears was 3356 out of 8587 total tenancies.

It was explained that the Universal Credit (UC) had a big impact on the HRA arrears. The Service was now promoting Standing Orders as a preferred method of payment with UC claimants. 

Members were informed that Havering was still one of the council with the lowest arrears. It was also indicated that Arrears indicator will be on target by the end of the financial year.

Planning Applications - It was stated that in accordance with the published government standards, speed of decision applies to all major and non-major development applications, with a threshold for designation set.

Based on the current performance, it was considered unlikely that the Council would be at risk of designation due to speed of decision but the figure would continue to be monitored. The Sub-Committee was informed that performance had improved in recent months following a new systems being introduced for prioritising of officer work and supporting officers to avoid applications missing deadlines.

Re-let – There were plans to improve on the current performance for minor voids and get the average days down to 10 working days. The Service was liaising with the responsive repairs team and working with contractors through weekly meetings and updates on current voids through monitoring sheets to improve turnaround times to meet the target.

It was also stated that improvement on Turnaround for lettings was targeted for 5 working days for properties advertised through choice based lettings systems or direct offers outside the regeneration decant scheme.

During discussion, Members were informed that the reason for the delay in gas servicing of some properties ranged from inability to gain access for reasons of mental health, the service was taking appropriate steps to ensure the servicing is carried out.

Members were assured that by quarter two, all planning indicators will be on target.

The Sub-Committee noted the performance report.