The council manages around 5,500 properties across the borough and this report aims to let tenants and leaseholders know how we have performed in the financial year, from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.

During 2022/23 the housing revenue account spent a total of £16.9 million in delivering services to you. In addition to this we spent £1.2 million on improving your properties, £1.7 million of which went on the decent homes programme and which saw the installation of new kitchens, bathrooms, heating etc. We spent £0.6 million acquiring new properties.

We will continue to improve your homes in coming years and will always welcome your feedback to help us improve our services; and so if there are any problems, please let us know. We hope you find the annual report of interest. There’s a lot going on and we offer our tenants a range of opportunities to influence our services.

Landlord service general (cross-service)

What we did last year

  • We implemented the new tenancy agreement after going through an extensive consultation process in the previous year
  • We procured a contract to digitise all five and a half thousand of our tenants’ house files and create an electronic document management system to reduce our reliance on paper;

What we are going to do

  • We are continuing our investigation into the creation of an online customer portal (including a mobile app) where a tenant can self-serve on a variety of tenancy-related matters, such as viewing their rent account and setting up a direct debit;
  • We will carry out a new-style tenant perception survey. This used to be called a ‘STAR’ survey. This new survey will now be carried out every year.

Customer engagement

Customers are at the heart of everything we do and we try to ensure that there are opportunities to have your say and get involved in a way which suits you.

We have a dedicated customer engagement team to support tenants and leaseholders in involvement opportunities including the Charnwood Housing Residents’ Forum, Senior Citizens’ Forum, Leaseholders’ Forum, Housing Management Advisory Board, focus groups, editorial panel and a readers’ panel.

What we did last year

  • We held our annual tenants gardening competition;
  • We made progress on the action in our three-year customer engagement strategy, which runs from April 2022;
  • We worked with our editorial panel to agree a design and print format for the tenant repairs handbook and new “Have Your Say” leaflet;
  • We held the tenant networking event in Loughborough Town Hall for the first time in four years;
  • We have recruited new members to our residents’ forum;
  • We have provided training for our tenant cleaning inspectors.

What we are going to do

  • Continue to deliver on our proposed actions in the new customer engagement strategy;
  • Organise roadshows in different areas to and engage tenants in new ways;
  • Develop a tenant training programme; 
  • Develop, recruit and train tenant members to a new mystery shopping panel;
  • Develop, recruit and train tenant members to a new scrutiny panel.

Investment in and improving tenants’ homes

Investing in our council properties to make them decent places to live is a key priority. This team delivers planned improvements such as new kitchens, bathrooms, heating, doors and external work such as roofing, fascias and soffits to name but a few.

What we did last year

The capital improvements work included 234 new heating systems 14 roof replacements, 14  structural works and 49 bathroom and kitchen replacements

What we are going to do

The 2023-24 programme has started and includes heating, kitchens, bathrooms and roofing replacements. We have procured new contracts and continue to prioritise any backlog from 2021/22.

Repairs

Our busy repairs team continues to provide across-team working between void and responsive work streams. This is how we performed last year against the targets we set:

What we did last year

% Tenants satisfied with responsive repair

  • Target = 97.40%
  • Actual performance = 92.05%

% Tenants satisfied with time taken to carry out responsive repair

  • Target = 97.60%
  • Actual performance = 91.23%

% Emergency repairs completed within 24 hours

  • Target = 100%
  • Actual performance = 99.72%

Urgent repairs completed within five days

  • Target = 97.00%
  • Actual performance = 95.44%

% Tenants satisfied that operative arrived on time

  • Target = 98.60%
  • Actual performance = 94.37%

Average number of days taken to carry out re-let repairs standard voids

  • Target = 14
  • Actual performance = 65.34

What we will continue to do

  • Put our customer at the heart at everything we do;
  • Maintain an excellent service;
  • Strive to deliver our key performance indicators within the target ranges.

Gas service and maintenance 

To keep our tenants safe and warm we work with our contractor, PH Jones, to ensure all gas appliances in our properties are working properly. 

What we did last year 

  • We completed landlord gas safety checks in 5,145 properties as part of a rolling programme to ensure our gas appliances are safe to use and well maintained; 
  • We completed 5,412 repairs with 90% within priority to maintain the gas central heating systems in our properties to expected standards; 
  • We replaced 234 boilers with modern efficient eco-friendly models.  

What we’re planning to do this year  

  • We will continue to provide annual safety checks to ensure gas appliances in our properties are safe to use. We will also work with our contractor to ensure repairs are carried out in a timely fashion to provide the best possible service for our tenants;
  • Boiler and central heating upgrades and replacements are planned for approximately 220 domestic properties in the remainder of this current year. 

Tenancy support and financial inclusion

We offer advice and help to tenants to help them maximise their income.  We support vulnerable tenants to maintain their tenancies and to reduce the risk of eviction and homelessness.

What we did last year

  • In total  799 tenants were helped by tenancy support and financial inclusion officers.
  • 157 tenants were helped with housing benefit applications;
  • 134  tenants were helped to claim discretionary housing payments;
  • We helped  274 tenants to get help through charity applications including applications to assist with cost of living difficulties;
  • We  assisted  four  tenants who were having difficulties maintaining acceptable and safe home conditions;
  • We helped  57 tenants to claim and maintain universal credit claims;
  • We dealt with  56  safeguarding concerns about children and vulnerable adults;
  • We supported homeless households  moving into temporary accommodation in Charnwood properties including with benefits, utilities and furniture;
  • We provided support, advice and assistance to tenants whose income and welfare had been adversely affected by increases in the cost of living.

We will continue to

  • support and advise tenants moving to universal credit through natural and managed migration in order to maximise income to the council and  help tenants  ensure that they can pay their rent and that there is no risk to their tenancies;
  • assist and advise new tenants to  claim housing benefit or universal credit;
  • help vulnerable new tenants set up their tenancies by assisting to set up gas and electricity accounts and access essential items of furniture;
  • advise and support tenants struggling with the increase in the cost of  living by helping them to gain access to all the financial, debt and health advice assistance that is available;
  • review the tenancy support policy.

Anti-social behaviour (ASB) services

What we did last year

  • 980 ASB incidents were recorded;
  • We dealt with 87.5 % of cases using non-legal interventions (this relates to cases where we could progress the case);
  • We referred nine cases to mediation;
  • We obtained three closure orders;

What we’re planning to do this year

  • Anti-social behaviour officers will attend the drop-in session attached to the estate walks;
  • We will continue to review the landlord services anti-social behaviour procedures;
  • We will continue to work with partners to ensure that we use the most appropriate tools to deal with anti-social behaviour.

Income management

The team of income officers gives advice and support to maximise income for tenants and refer relevant cases to the tenancy support and financial inclusion teams, helping them to pay their rent and avoid accumulating arrears.

What we did last year

  • The income management team collected 96.54% of the rent due from current tenants in 2022/23, including arrears brought forward. This exceeded our target of 95.70% by 0.76 percentage points;
  • The total rent collected in 2022/23 for all tenancies was £21,342,617;
  • We continued our excellent working relationships with our colleagues in the Department for Work and Pensions (‘DWP’) to ensure we assist our tenants to claim universal credit;
  • Following the introduction of any-day direct debits, there was an increase in direct debit payers. At the end of 2021/22, we had 2,434 tenants who paid via direct debit. At the end of 2022/23, there were 2,543 tenants. This is an increase of 109 more tenants than the previous financial year who have elected to pay their rent either weekly on any day, fortnightly, four-weekly or monthly;
  • We helped tenants on 932 separate occasions to sustain their universal credit claims and their housing costs.

What we’re planning to do this year

  • We will adapt our rent accounting computer system to improve our low-level rent arrears escalation approach so more automation of the arrears recovery process to takes place to enable income officers to work more efficiently;
  • We will continue to look at alternative solutions to enable texting tenants regarding their rent accounts to enable wider and more immediate reach;
  • We will continue to promote the any-day direct debit option to maximise income and assist tenants to make the payment on the day their income is received to reduce arrears;
  • We will continue to support tenants to maintain their universal credit claim to ensure they receive their housing costs to prevent or reduce rent arrears;
  • We will look at introducing new ways so tenants can have access to their rent account information and manage their payment methods

Tenancy and estate management

What we did last year

  • We received 57 mutual exchange applications. Of these applications 27 tenants moved to new accommodation through a mutual exchange
  • We contacted 95.27% of new tenants within four weeks of their tenancy commencing which exceeds the 95% target;
  • We continued to carry out communal area fire safety inspections, visiting every one of our 283 communal areas and 21 sheltered schemes every month;
  • We continued to monitor the performance of the new communal cleaning service to our general needs blocks of flats;
  • We reviewed the procedure guide used by  tenancy and estate management officers regarding requests for permission for pets;
  • Reviewed the letters attached to the procedure guide used by tenancy and estate management officers to ensure they match the requirements of the new tenancy agreement;
  • We carried out four estate walks and feedback the outcomes from the walk to tenants who attended the walk and published outcomes in Your Homes Matter;
  • Worked in partnership with our customer engagement team to recruit residents to carry out independent cleaning inspections in our communal areas

What we’re planning to do this year

  • Carry out five estate walks and feedback the outcomes from the walk to tenants who attend the walk and publish outcomes in Your Homes Matter;
  • Re-procure the communal cleaning contract for our 267 blocks of flats;
  • Commence a review of the tenancy and estate management pages on the council’s web site;
  • Review the procedure guide for mutual exchanges used by tenancy and estate management officers;
  • Review the procedure guide used by tenancy and estate management officers to investigate abandonments.

Leaseholders

What we did last year

  • We have continued to implement new communal door entry systems, replacement shed doors, roof replacements and emergency lighting installations;
  • We have and will continue to attend conferences and training events to enable to keep ourselves updated with changes in leasehold law and good practice;
  • We will develop further electronic communication of certified summaries and estimates to leaseholders as a preferred channel of communication;
  • We have offered leaseholders fire door surveys to check if their fire door is compliant;
  • We will offer leaseholders the option of having a new fire-compliant front door installed by us (chargeable) as part of our wider programme to replace tenants’ front doors where we have to;
  • We have introduced leasehold surgeries and continued to hold leaseholder forums quarterly;
  • We collected 93.15% of all leasehold service charges raised.

What we’re planning to do this year

  • We will continue to implement new communal door entry systems, replacement shed doors, roof replacements and emergency lighting installations
  • We will continue evolving our five-year plan
  • We will attend conferences and training events to enable to keep ourselves updated with changes leasehold law and good practice
  • We will develop further electronic communication of certified summaries and estimates to leaseholders as a preferred channel of communication
  • We will offer leaseholders the option of having a new fire-compliant front door installed by us (chargeable) as part of our wider programme to replace tenants’ front doors where we have to.
  • We will finalise the procedure for the Lease extension process and upload it on the Charnwood borough council website.

Warden services and Lifeline

This team supports our elderly and vulnerable tenants and gives them and their families peace of mind through an on-call warden and emergency response service. 

What we did last year – we dealt with

  • A total number of calls of 69,363 of which 91.8% were answered within 30 seconds and 96.5% were answered within 60 seconds
  • 715 calls due to customers falling;
  • 537 calls to the ambulance service;
  • 149 medical emergencies;
  • 157 medical requests;
  • 238 calls to wish customer ‘Happy Birthday’;
  • 208 out-of-hours warden calls.

What we’re planning to do this year

  • We will continue our work towards upgrading our alarm equipment in all of our sheltered schemes to ensure they are ready for the digital transformation

Where we spent money

During 2022/23 the housing revenue account (‘HRA’) spent a total of £13.7 million in delivering our services to you. In addition to this we spent £1.2 million on improving your properties, £1.7 million of which went on the decent homes programme which saw the installation of new kitchens, bathrooms, heating etc.

Capital spend (improvements to properties e.g. new kitchens, fire safety measures, adaptations) totalled £4m.

The £16.9 million HRA service costs are broken down as follows:

  • Repairs and maintenance/ planned and day to day maintenance - £6,507k
  • Supervision and management - £6,693k
  • Rents, rates, taxes and other charges - £947k
  • Debt management costs/bad debts - £35k
  • Interest paid - £2,737k

Last updated: Mon 9th October, 2023 @ 15:38