Joint Rent Group
Thursday 20th August 2020, 10.30am
Via zoom
Frances McGonagle (tenant volunteer), Billy Neeson (tenant volunteer), Georgia McCambley (tenant volunteer), Stefan Kristmanns
(Housing Development Co-ordinator), John Kerr (Housing Development and Homelessness Manager), Alan Young (Housing Asset and
Investment Manager), Suzanne Bannister (Client Services Officer, Building Services), Janine Corr (Finance- HRA accountant), Councillor Diane
Docherty (Housing Convener) and Jane Mack (Senior Housing Development Officer, Tenant Participation).
Apologies received from June Todd, Kasia Pawlowska, Janice Rainey and Martin Feeney.
Alan talked through the Capital programme update and been a steady recovery process of most work types restarting. Being more cautious with internal work and particularly medical adaptation work still being planned and risk assessed due to vulnerable tenants.
Many programmes back on e.g. EWI, heating programme. Window supplier CR Smith able to increase number of installations by also doing some window fitting. EWI contractor also been able to increase productivity and hope is that whole budget will still be spent.
Shower installations been mainly in void properties as work on voids carried on throughout lockdown. For tenanted properties programme stalled during lockdown. Limit of 2 operatives in a house at a time has restricted complex work being carried out but is being reviewed.
In terms of the Capital programme report, group agreed it is easier to follow and has evolved well. Additional column after Budget to be added to show number of installations planned so that the YTD number has more meaning.
Group appreciated there would be slippage due to the lockdown and Janine was able to confirm that it would be carried forward so investment would still be done. Alan confirmed any work not done gets slipped into next years programme and with additional resources catch up. With larger slippages as this will probably need to phase in over a number of years as depends on the amount of work that can be managed. An accelerated programme been created and put into place so that as much outstanding work can be done as possible. Using roof contractor to help with roof renewals – are limited to existing contractors to increase productivity as procurement causes delays. Some work where
don’t use external contractors e.g. kitchens, showers and bathrooms need to be done by Building Services so needs to be done within current capacity.
Action JRG033-: Alan to add additional column to Capital programme report showing the number of installations planned for the budget.
Suzanne talked through slides – emergency response time was slightly affected by lockdown (up to 4.12hrs ) so target not met but still a good response time considering the circumstances.
Figures for first quarter of the year look good as less being done but later quarter won’t as focus on phased restart and catching up. Not clear yet how Regulator going to view performance affected by COVID but will still see it as valid benchmarking as all landlords in similar position. Specific key monthly stats being provided to Regulator as they want to ensure that landlords adhere to their statutory duties.
Repair appointments mainly been for emergency and RTR categories and did still get some no accesses during full lockdown.
Since 24 July reactive repairs restarted but with restrictions e.g. not sharing vans, so will have an impact on productivity. Not been inundated with new repairs as many tenants obviously still nervous about any unnecessary access to their home.
Alan talked through the year to date (YTD) figures – full Tenant Priority Budget
contribution been spent and 326 showers fitted. Also been another 263 showers fitted through other budgets. Internal Capital work like showers been affected by lockdown so will aim to get as many fitted as possible throughout rest of the financial year.
Stefan talked though outstanding action sheet.
JRG018 - re Enhanced Standard for High Rise flats (specifically the tenant welfare
component and PAT testing process) - no reports been provided to HIB so nothing to share.
JRG023 - Building Services report not been to committee yet and Martin Feeney to be asked for an update.
JRG024 - re outcomes of the pilot in North Drumry - no update provided, agreed action to be highlighted as outstanding and feedback provided for next JRG meeting.
JRG028 - re amended statement to the HRA methodology regarding the DLO Surplus – as Janice given her apologies , issue to be forwarded to next meeting’s agenda.
JRG029 - template / matrix to be completed for Revenue Budget and shared with group – Janine is working on it and hopefully available for next meeting.
JRG030 -‘tenant friendly’ version of the HRA Capital Budget - group happy with revised version and Alan agreed to add another column to give the number of installations planned for the budget so that the progress can be monitored more easily.
JRG031 – Call handling stats – still looking for data on the number of calls abandoned or how long callers have to wait until they get through. John to raise at DLO Board on 21/8/20.
JRG032 - updated information provided. Still number of cancelled jobs are high but text & alert system been very unreliable and not been available since March so not been having the improved impact envisaged. Suzanne also advised that contact numbers not always being collected plus people change numbers often. Number of appointments also higher than number of repairs as separate appointments are made for different trades so complex jobs will have a number of appointments. Cancellation of jobs was a concern for JRG and no access process had been changed so that get a phone call and try to reschedule
first to try to reduce cancellations. Also share info with HOs so they can help ensure access. Agreed that would be useful to have key performance info for repairs at each meeting so that performance could be monitored . Template for PIs, call handling and cancelled jobs to be created and sent to Repairs.
Action JRG034 - Template for PIs, call handling and cancelled jobs to be completed for each full JRG.
Joint Rent Group
Thursday 20th February 2020, 10.30am
Quay meeting room, 16 Church Street, Dumbarton
Frances McGonagle (tenant volunteer), Billy Neeson (tenant volunteer), Georgia McCambley (tenant volunteer), Stefan Kristmanns
(Housing Development Co-ordinator) and Jane Mack ( Tenant Participation officer).
Apologies received from June Todd and Douglas Clark.
Briefing note on Business Plan . Tenants happy with presentation from Janice and made Business Plan process clearer as had demonstrated the effect small changes can have over the 30 years. Seems to be limited opportunity for discussion with tenants. Proposal discussed in terms of the decision making matrix that Janine and Alan Young had produced for the HRA Capital Budget and for this to be done for Revenue Budget to help identify discussion opportunities.
20/2/20 Action JRG029: Stefan to arrange for template to be completed for Revenue Budget and shared with group. Also agreed to look at year- end accounts to see the difference between estimates and actuals to see what the difference was and see if assumptions were accurate.
Action JRG005: ‘Tenant Friendly’ Capital Budget Report (agreed 23/1/20 to be a standing agenda item) – report from Alan looks good but difficult to read small font so want in bigger font and with current year data. Want to use the report to monitor progress so tenants want to include the numbers of installations as well as financial cost so VFM can be monitored too. Focus to be on EWI, roof programme, windows, kitchens, bathrooms and showers which can be easily measured.
20/2/20 Action JRG030: Want ‘tenant friendly’ version of the HRA Capital Budget in a bigger font to make it easier to read and with current data. Also additional column wanted giving the numbers of installations along with the cost – i.e. Budget, YTD, Projected outturn in £ and separate column for outturn in numbers.
Focus to be on EWI, roof programme, windows, kitchens, bathrooms and showers.
Repairs Call handling stats. Repairs stats discussed but hard to follow and don’t show key information on the number of calls abandoned or how long people have to wait until call is answered. Stefan explained the stats provided and the graph shows the number of calls received and there was a spike in Oct-Nov which could be because of the new repairs system and more tenants phoning to check on repairs. Calls ‘presented’ was explained to mean the calls made for them to answer. A breakdown of the calls in terms of the type of repair they were phoning about is given and how long the call took once it was answered.
The stats provided were not felt to be useful or be sufficient to monitor the effectiveness of a service as focus is on when call is answered whereas for tenants the issue is getting through.
20/2/20 Action JRG031: Jane to contact Stephen Daly who manages the phone team and ask for key stats on how many calls to repair centre are made, how many get answered, how many get abandoned and what is the average time before a call gets answered. Also want clarification with the new phone system where callers are asked if an emergency, new repair or existing repair – are these calls prioritised or is this asked just for info?
Repairs Service Performance update 2019/20 Q3 Report discussed and in terms of appointments kept ,6312 appointments made out of 19010 repairs was still a low percentage. 5478 were kept but need clarification on how this is measured – is it if the operative attends or whether they get access or not?
Stefan has had the no access process clarified 21/11/19 – new process is if they get no access, operative phones scheduler to try to make contact with tenant and make alternative appointment and tenants has 2 chances before the repair gets cancelled down.
20/2/20 Action JRG032: Stefan to clarify with Repairs what the impact of the new IHMS system been on the number of appointments made and kept. Also want to know what impact the new no access process has had on reducing the number of repairs cancelled.
Next full JRG meeting - 19/3/20, 10.30am at 16 Church Street – HRA methodology on agenda as carried over from last full JRG meeting when ran out of time.
Next tenant volunteers meeting - 16/4/20, 10.30am at 16 Church Street.
Joint Rent Group
Thursday 23rd January 2020, 10.30am
Burgh meeting room, 16 Church Street, Dumbarton
Frances McGonagle (tenant volunteer), June Todd (tenant volunteer), Billy Neeson (tenant volunteer), Georgia McCambley (tenant volunteer), Kasia Pawlowska (tenant volunteer), John Kerr (Housing Development and Homeless Manager), Stefan Kristmanns (Housing Development Co-ordinator), Donna Kirkwood (Housing Development Officer), Janice Rainey (Business Partner), Martin Feeney (Building Services Manager), Alan Young (Housing Asset and Invest Manager), Janine Corr (HRA Accountant) and Cllr Diane Docherty (Housing
Convener).
Apologies received from Jane Mack and Edward Thomas.
Briefing note provided to JRG re the annual refresh of the Business Plan; how that is carried out, what the key assumptions and risks are and how process is agreed. Briefing highlighted CFCR is used. Some key assumptions are; 2% inflation assumed for the next few years, and bad debt provision due to Universal Credit. Buy backs cost to buy but they are bringing money back in through rent. Lots of information provided to tenants, who will now consider this at their next meeting.
Action JRG005: Tenant friendly Capital Programme provided by Alan and agreed among group that this version was much better than the previous one. Group to take copy away and review it at the next Tenant Volunteers meeting (20/2/20). Alan advised that he will look at editing the size of the writing on the document and it was agreed that this would be a standing agenda item at future meetings.
Action JRG018: JRG to be provided with copies of the monitoring reports relating to the Enhanced Standard for High Rise flats. Update from Edward was that first report has not been completed yet thus agreed that this would be an ongoing action and would be shared with the JRG after being provided to the HIB
Action JRG023: Not yet confirmed what committee the report relating to the assessment of Building Services, the ARK report and action plan will be provided to but when this is decided Martin is happy to provide a presentation to the JRG.
Action JRG024: Have had some site presence with the fire brigade checking installation in houses and PAT testing being carried out. Edward to provide a briefing note outlining detail.
Action JRG025: New call handling procedure for the repairs service gives tenants more options and informs them of their position in the queue. Also more call handlers have been employed in order to meet the demands. One tenant stated that he recently had a positive experience. Agreed that tenants should take the repairs performance document away and come back with any questions at the next meeting. Also agreed for the procedure to be monitored at upcoming meetings.
Action JRG028: Add as agenda item for 23/01/20 the amended statement to the HRA methodology regarding the DLO Surplus. Agreement that amended statement doesn’t improve transparency – should include how it’s calculated and an explanation about how the level is set–tenants want to ensure it is fair (was previously limited to 5%). No time on agenda - Action outstanding.
Next tenant volunteers meeting - 20/2/20, 10.30am at 16 Church Street.
Next full JRG meeting - 19/3/20, 10.30am at 16 Church Street.