Agenda item

Officers introduced the report which provided the results of the Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) for 2023/24and went through a presentation attached to these minutes.

A member asked whether older people tended to have a higher satisfaction rating because they did not have to take time off work for appointments. Officers did not know this for sure as the questions asked used standard wording that had to be used by all local authorities and housing associations; supplementary questions could then be asked and the issue of working residents needing to take time off work for appointments could be explored in future surveys. 

A member referenced residents asking about the stock conditions survey. Officers said information was on the Council website and they would check on the status of social media communications.

A member asked about KPIs in relation to complaints for future surveys and about complaints to the Ombudsman. Officers advised that targets had not been set in the action plan as this was the first year; the Council sought to be better next year than now. Trends would be apparent over time, targets would be set as further data became available, and officers noted issues around complaints and response times were included in performance reports. Complaints to the Ombudsman were reported on although there were not targets for this and officers were working to improve timeliness of responses.

There was a query about whether a cleaning contract was in place for all communal areas in flats. Officers stated some blocks received ad-hoc cleans rather than a scheduled clean and this was being addressed as part of the action plan.

Commenting on the fact that 1% of homes did not meet the Decent Homes standard, officers said some of these were properties where there was non-compliance in terms of access meaning that a legal process was being progressed, and the others were homes in which decarbonisation works were taking place.

Satisfaction levels for housing services were at 60% and a member asked how this compared with other local authorities. This was not yet known as all councils and housing associations needed to submit their data to the regulator by the end of June 2024 but Welwyn Hatfield’s data was known to be similar to a couple of other nearby local authorities.

A member asked about the gap between satisfaction ratings in the report and Morgan Sindall’s rant and rave which showed around 85% satisfaction levels. Officers noted that while both surveys measured satisfaction, they were asking slightly different things at different times which needed to be unpicked.  The member asked if there were plans to gain ownership of the Morgan Sindall satisfaction survey and officers confirmed this.

In terms of handling ASB cases, the report noted it was likely dissatisfaction was about matters the Council did not have powers to deal with. A member asked if a clear definition of ASB in the context of the questionnaire could be provided in the future. Officers agreed further context could be provided and advised that more questions about ASB would be asked in the next quarter’s survey.

A member asked about recruiting more tenants to the residents’ panel. Officers explained that the residents’ panel and staff promoted the panel at community events and it was positive some new tenants had joined the panel over the last few meetings.

RESOLVED

Cabinet Housing Panel:

a)           Noted the Tenant Satisfaction Measure results, both those generated from the perception survey and those generated from management information; and

b)           Noted the action plan (set out in Appendix B of the report) to address the findings of the survey results.